{"id":8571,"date":"2024-09-18T07:00:00","date_gmt":"2024-09-18T07:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/macrofactor.com\/?p=8571"},"modified":"2024-09-18T22:37:48","modified_gmt":"2024-09-18T22:37:48","slug":"range-of-bmrs","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/macrofactor.com\/range-of-bmrs\/","title":{"rendered":"The (Surprisingly Wide) Range of BMRs in Adults"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Now that we\u2019ve completed our BMR series<\/a>, culminating in the release of our new BMR calculator<\/a>, I think it\u2019s time to zoom out and address a big-picture question: just how variable are human BMRs?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Based on my time in the fitness industry talking with other professionals, working with clients, and generally monitoring the chatter of people online, I think<\/em> most people tacitly think that human BMRs fall within a relatively<\/em> narrow range. Very frequently, I\u2019ll see the idea floated that the average female BMR is around<\/em> 1400 Calories, the average male BMR is around<\/em> 1800 Calories, and it\u2019s very rare for BMRs to fall outside the range of 1,200-2,200 Calories per day.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

There\u2019s a bit<\/em> of truth to that idea \u2026 but only a bit. It is<\/em> true that most BMRs fall between 1200 and 2200 Calories per day, but it\u2019s not particularly uncommon for BMRs to fall outside of that range. And, at the extremes, BMRs can be much<\/em> lower than 1,200 Calories per day, and much<\/em> higher than 2,200 Calories per day.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Starting with the extremes, you can find published instances of BMRs below 800 Calories per day (in the case of patients with anorexia<\/a>), or exceeding 3700 Calories per day (in the case of extremely muscular athletes<\/a>).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But, we don\u2019t even need to look at the extremes to see BMRs that fall below 1,200 Calories per day, or that exceed 2,200 Calories per day. For this point, let\u2019s turn our attention to two large, high-quality studies by Mifflin et al<\/a> and Pavlidou et al<\/a>. Both of these studies assessed BMR in large samples of people who were more-or-less representative of people in the general population. The subjects in the Mifflin study were a little<\/em> lighter, on average, than people today (since the study was from 1990), and the subjects in the Pavlidou study were a little<\/em> heavier, on average, than most folks, so blending these two studies should give us a pretty good overview of the \u201cnormal\u201d range of BMR values.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the Mifflin study, the lowest female BMR was 927 Calories, and the lowest male BMR was 1030 Calories. In the Pavlidou study, the lowest female BMR was 908 Calories, and the lowest male BMR was 1039 Calories.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Characteristics<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Similarly, the highest female BMR in the Mifflin study was 2216 Calories, and the highest male BMR was 2849 Calories. In the Pavlidou study, the highest female BMR was 2492 Calories, and the highest male BMR was 2595 Calories.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Characteristics<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

So, even within the general population, it\u2019s not unheard of for women to have BMRs below 1000 Calories per day, and for men to have BMRs below 1100 Calories per day, nor is it unheard of for women to have BMRs exceeding 2200 Calories per day, and for men to have BMRs exceeding 2500 Calories per day.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But, even then, you could say that we\u2019re no longer dealing with the extremes of extreme populations, but we are<\/em> still focusing on extremes (the highest and lowest values) within more \u201cnormal\u201d populations. So, let\u2019s go one step further.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We can estimate how common or how rare an observation should be if we know the statistical distribution describing those observations. In other words, for data that\u2019s roughly<\/em> normally distributed (which BMR data is), if we know the mean and standard deviation describing the data, we can estimate how common or uncommon an occurrence should be, using the normal probability density function<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the Mifflin study, women had BMRs of 1348 \u00b1 214 Calories (mean \u00b1 standard deviation), and men had BMRs of 1776 \u00b1 297 Calories. In the Pavlidou study, women had BMRs of 1533 \u00b1 308 Calories, and men had BMRs of 2006 \u00b1 346 Calories. When we pool the results of these two studies, we get the following distributions: for women, 1440 \u00b1 280 Calories; for men, 1890 \u00b1 340 Calories; and for both sexes combined, 1665 \u00b1 380 Calories.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

With that information, we can estimate how frequently we should observe various high or low BMR values. Of note, we shouldn\u2019t extrapolate too<\/em> far since we don\u2019t know the precise skewness<\/a> and kurtosis<\/a> values for these samples, but any values within 1.5-2 standard deviations from the mean should be relatively common. Since these are likely skew right distributions (there\u2019s simply a lot more room for BMR values to be very high than very low, because there\u2019s a much larger size difference between the largest people and average-sized people than between the very smallest people and average-sized people), I\u2019ll roughly define the \u201cnormal\u201d range as values between 1.5 standard deviations below the mean, and 2 standard deviations above the mean. In other words, if you were in a room with 100 people, you should expect<\/em> to find a handful people with BMRs below the bottom end of these ranges, or above the top end of these ranges.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Range in which about 90% of BMR values should fall<\/td><\/tr>
<\/td><\/td>Lower end (Calories per day)*<\/td>Upper end (Calories per day)*<\/td><\/tr>
Women<\/td>Mifflin<\/td>1027<\/td>1776<\/td><\/tr>
Pavlidou<\/td>1071<\/td>2149<\/td><\/tr>
Combined<\/td>1020<\/strong><\/td>2000<\/strong><\/td><\/tr>
Men<\/td>Mifflin<\/td>1330.5<\/td>2370<\/td><\/tr>
Pavlidou<\/td>1487<\/td>2698<\/td><\/tr>
Combined<\/td>1380<\/strong><\/td>2570<\/strong><\/td><\/tr>
Everyone<\/td>Combined<\/td>1095<\/em><\/strong><\/td>2425<\/em><\/strong><\/td><\/tr>
*Since these are likely based on skew-right distributions, the lower end is defined as values 1.5 standard deviations below the mean, and the upper end is defined as values 2 standard deviations above the mean<\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

So, even when conservatively<\/em> describing the range of normal BMR values, it becomes clear that BMRs below 1200 Calories or above 2200 Calories per day aren\u2019t terribly uncommon. A BMR of 1200 Calories per day is a little less than 1 standard deviation below the mean for women, and a BMR above 2200 calories per day is a little less than 1 standard deviation above the mean for men. Stated another way, you should expect approximately 1 in 5 women to have a BMR below 1200 Calories per day, you should expect about 1 in 5 men to have a BMR above 2200 Calories per day, and you should expect about 1 in 5 people<\/em> to have a BMR below 1200 Calories per day or above 2200 Calories per day.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Of course, this is all still one step removed from being useful and applicable for you<\/em>. It might be nice to learn about the range of human BMRs generally, but you\u2019re probably a bit more interested in the likelihood that you<\/em> have a particularly high or low BMR. Clearly, BMRs below 1200 Calories per day are going to be more common for smaller people, and BMRs above 2200 Calories per day are going to be more common for larger people.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Thankfully, we can model that easily enough. For the charts below, I used the weight-based version of the Oxford\/Henry BMR formula<\/a> to model average BMR as a function of weight. From there, based on the data discussed in this article<\/a>, I assumed that the distribution of differences between actual and predicted BMR values has a standard deviation of 200 Calories. Finally, all that was left to do was calculate the probability of having a BMR below 1200 Calories, above 2200 Calories, or between 1200 and 2200 Calories per day at each body weight using normal probability density functions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Probability<\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"Probability<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

I realize these graphs are a bit busy, but these are some key points and landmarks:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    \n
  1. It\u2019s very uncommon for women to have BMRs above 2200 Calories per day, but BMRs below 1200 should be relatively common at lower body weights.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  2. Women who weigh 65kg have a ~1-in-5 chance of having a BMR below 1200, with the likelihood increasing at even lower body weights. Other landmarks: at 80kg, there\u2019s only a ~1-in-20 chance, but at 50kg, it\u2019s closer to a 50\/50 proposition (i.e., 1200 Calories is an average<\/em> BMR for 50kg women).<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  3. BMRs below 1200 Calories are considerably less common for men, but also aren\u2019t terribly uncommon at body weights below 60kg.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  4. BMRs above 2200 Calories are considerably more common for men. 100kg men have a ~1-in-5 chance of having a BMR above 2200 Calories per day, and above 115kg, most<\/em> men should expect to have BMRs above 2200 Calories per day.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  5. The body weights at which you\u2019re the least<\/em> likely to have a BMR below 1200 or above 2200 Calories per day: about 100kg for women and about 75kg for men.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n\n\n\n

    To wrap this article up, I wanted to state my main reason for writing it: I think a lot of people wind up confused, frustrated, and disappointed because they underestimate the variability of human physiology. If you think that we\u2019re all extremely similar, then it\u2019s easy to spin your wheels trying to follow standard advice and heuristics that don\u2019t apply quite<\/em> as broadly as most people assume. And, if you fall outside the \u201cnormal\u201d range, it\u2019s easy to think that there\u2019s something wrong with you, especially if you\u2019ve been led to believe that the \u201cnormal\u201d range describes >99% of individuals. But in this case, the \u201cnorms\u201d don\u2019t describe >99% of individuals \u2013 they apply to about 80%. It\u2019s not at all uncommon<\/em> to have a BMR below 1200 calories per day, or above 2200. About 1 in 5 people fall outside that range (especially women who are a bit smaller than average, or men who are a bit larger than average). So, standard weight loss or weight gain advice and heuristics tailored to the \u201caverage\u201d person frequently<\/em> don\u2019t apply to a lot<\/em> of people. Understand it, embrace it, and don\u2019t be afraid of a bit of self-experimentation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    This article helps you understand the range of BMR, continuing our effort to clarify what’s considered “normal.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":8572,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"default","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"disabled","footer-sml-layout":"","ast-disable-related-posts":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"set","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[8,526],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-8571","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-articles","category-bmr"],"yoast_head":"\nThe (Surprisingly Wide) Range of BMRs in Adults - 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