Basal metabolic rate diet: the core principle of scientific dieting

What is Basal Metabolic Rate (BMR)?

Before understanding the BMR weight loss method, we must first understand the concept of BMR.

Basal metabolic rate (BMR) refers to the minimum amount of calories the body needs to maintain the normal functioning of all organs. In other words, when losing weight, if you don't want to negatively impact your health and the normal functioning of your organs, your daily calorie intake must at least meet your BMR.

Based on what we've discussed earlier, weight loss requires appropriate dietary control, but excessive dieting is not advisable. Previously, we didn't define excessive dieting or specify how much constitutes dieting. Today, I'll define it as follows: When your total calorie intake consistently falls short of your BMR, you are considered to be excessively dieting. This is because your body's supply of calories to maintain organ function is compromised, and your health is threatened. In short, to lose weight healthily, you cannot excessively diet; to avoid excessive dieting, your daily calorie intake must meet your BMR.

This leads to the idea that to lose weight quickly, you should eat as little as possible; however, to lose weight healthily, you must eat enough to meet your basal metabolic rate.

Therefore, if someone wants to lose weight quickly while maintaining health, their total daily calorie intake should equal their basal metabolic rate. Equaling your daily calorie intake to your basal metabolic rate—this is the core of the basal metabolic rate (BMR) diet.

Of course, this is only an interpretation from a calorie perspective. Weight loss involves many other aspects, such as nutrition, exercise, sleep, and body constitution, which will be discussed in detail later. Compared to the recommendations of the World Health Organization and the American College of Sports Medicine, the advantage of the BMR diet is its individualization. It determines the minimum calorie intake based on each person's unique physical condition, rather than setting a one-size-fits-all value. It ensures the dieter's health, preventing a decline in metabolic rate and subsequent weight rebound due to long-term excessive dieting, while also ensuring the speed of weight loss, allowing the dieter to achieve the fastest weight loss while maintaining health. Therefore, even people over fifty with declining metabolic rates can lose weight effectively using the BMR diet.

Let me show you an example. I have a follower from Nantong, Jiangsu Province. She's 50 years old this year, 163 cm tall, with a BMI of 22, classifying her as slightly overweight, but with a body fat percentage of 29.6%. She knows how difficult it is for slightly overweight people to lose weight, and given her age, it's even more challenging. Later, I enrolled her in two weight loss camps. The first was a basic camp, helping her understand healthy and nutritious eating habits and develop good lifestyle habits. The second was a dedicated camp, where I prescribed traditional Chinese medicine to regulate her constitution and improve her slow basal metabolic rate. In 21 days, she lost 4.4 catties, significantly reducing visceral fat and body fat percentage, while maintaining good muscle mass, protein content, and basal metabolic rate. The effectiveness and quality of her weight loss were exceptionally high, surpassing many younger people!