What is BMR and how can I increase it?

On the Video about TDEE, Nikkiey explains that BMR is the minimum energy your body needs to stay alive: breathing, circulating blood, regulating body temperature and keeping your organs working. It can make up as much as 70% of your total daily calorie burn, so even lying in bed all day, your body burns a significant number of calories. On Ep. 108 she adds that no two women share the same number. It depends on age, weight, height, sex and body composition, and often lands around 1,000 to 1,300 calories or more.

That range matters, Nikkiey says, because some women are eating at or below it to chase results, then wonder six months later why nothing is changing. Pair that with a program that asks you to strength train, and you are asking more metabolically active tissue to work without feeding it what it needs. That is not a willpower problem. The plan is underfeeding you.

To raise your BMR, the answer on both episodes is the same: build muscle. Muscle tissue is more metabolically active than fat, so the more of it you carry, the more you burn at rest. Nikkiey uses herself as the example. She did not measure her BMR when she started, but after eight years of consistent strength training as a lifestyle, she has added significant muscle and her BMR has gone up with it. The payoff she points to is being able to eat more.

In the Video, she also places BMR within the bigger picture of TDEE, alongside NEAT, TEF and exercise. Building muscle lifts BMR, which lifts your total burn, and more daily movement adds to it. She notes that measuring these numbers yourself can be tricky, which is why she recommends working with a coach who knows how to read body composition and ask the right questions.