How your body burns the majority of your daily caloric intake (it’s not what you think).

Is it your daily spin class?

Nope.

How about that random 5k you were tricked into running?

Nope.

You burn 60 to 70% of your daily calories at REST (i.e.: if you lounged in bed for 24 hours and did nothing). This s called your basal metabolic rate (BMR); sometimes called resting metabolic rate (RMR). Think of your body idling - this is where you burn the majority of your calories each day.

These are the calories you burn when you're not moving a muscle and haven't eaten anything recently. This energy is used for essential functions like:

• Keeping your heart pumping

• Breathing

• Maintaining body temperature

• Brain activity

• Cell growth and repair

BMR is influenced by several factors, including:

• Muscle mass: Muscle burns more calories than fat, so people with more muscle tend to have a higher BMR.

• Age: BMR generally decreases with age as muscle mass declines.

• Sex: Men typically have a higher BMR than women due to muscle mass differences.

• Height and weight: Taller and heavier people tend to have a higher BMR because their bodies have more mass to maintain.

Knowing your BMR can be helpful for understanding your overall calorie needs. This can be useful for weight management, whether you're trying to lose weight, gain weight, or maintain your current weight.

If you want to get the biggest bang for your buck, you can increase the calories you burn doing NOTHING by increasing your lean muscle mass (hello strength training!).