Burning fat and losing weight is a goal for many people. A common question is whether just resting and doing nothing can help burn fat and calories. The answer is more complex than a simple yes or no.
What Happens During Rest
When your body is at rest, it is still burning calories to keep basic functions going. This is known as your basal metabolic rate (BMR). Your BMR accounts for 50-70% of the calories you burn each day. It’s the energy your body requires to keep your heart beating, lungs breathing, maintain body temperature, and keep other essential processes working.
Your BMR is influenced by your:
- Age
- Sex
- Body size and composition
In general, men and younger adults have a higher BMR than women and older adults. Bigger bodies with more muscle mass also burn more calories at rest.
So even when you are sleeping, resting, or doing nothing, your body is constantly burning calories to maintain itself.
Fat Burning During Rest
At rest, your body will burn a mix of fat and carbohydrates for fuel. However, it tends to get a higher percentage of its energy from burning fat when you are at rest versus during activity.
During exercise, your body shifts to burning more carbs. After a workout, your body will continue to burn a higher ratio of fat for a few hours.
So while resting does burn calories from fat, it generally won’t burn fat at the same rate as being active.
Resting Metabolic Rate vs. Total Daily Energy Expenditure
Your resting metabolic rate is the number of calories you burn at rest in 24 hours. This is contrasted with your total daily energy expenditure (TDEE), which is the total number of calories you burn in a full day.
Your TDEE includes:
- Basal metabolic rate
- Calories burned during activity
- Calories burned digesting food (thermic effect of food)
While resting burns a certain amount of fat over 24 hours, most people need to burn additional calories through activity and diet to create the calorie deficit needed for significant fat loss. Just your BMR is usually not enough calories burned for weight loss goals.
How Many Calories Are Burned Resting
On average, here are estimates for how many calories are burned at rest for different groups:
| Group | Calories burned at rest per day |
|---|---|
| Sedentary women | 1200-1400 calories |
| Sedentary men | 1600-1800 calories |
| Active women | 1400-1600 calories |
| Active men | 1800-2200 calories |
As you can see, calories burned at rest can vary quite a bit based on your sex, size, and activity level. Larger bodies with more muscle mass burn more calories around the clock.
Ways to Boost Calories Burned Through Resting Metabolism
While resting metabolic rate is largely based on factors you can’t change like age and sex, there are some ways you may be able to give your resting calorie burn a boost:
- Build muscle through strength training. Muscle tissue burns more calories than fat, even at rest. Adding muscle mass through resistance training can increase resting calories burned.
- Get enough protein. Eating adequate protein helps maintain and build muscle mass.
- Stay adequately hydrated. Dehydration can temporarily lower metabolism. Drink enough fluids daily.
- Get enough sleep. Not getting quality sleep can disrupt hormones that regulate metabolism.
- Manage stress. High cortisol from chronic stress can cause resting calories burned to drop.
While these tweaks may help, they often only increase resting calorie burn by up to 10%. Significant fat loss requires a combination of diet, exercise, and lifestyle changes.
The Role of NEAT in Fat Loss
NEAT stands for non-exercise activity thermogenesis. This refers to calories burned through daily movement like walking, fidgeting, maintaining posture and doing household chores. NEAT accounts for 15-50% of calories burned each day.
Increasing incidental low-intensity activity through NEAT is an important factor for weight loss for most people. NEAT burns additional calories without requiring dedicated workout sessions.
Ways to boost NEAT include:
- Using a standing desk
- Taking short walking breaks
- Parking further away and walking
- Taking the stairs
- Doing housework
- Pacing during phone calls
- Fidgeting
Increasing daily non-exercise activity can create a significant calorie deficit over time to help with fat loss.
The Limitations of Fat Burn During Rest
While resting does burn some level of fat for fuel, there are limitations to relying solely on resting metabolism for fat loss:
- BMR accounts for the majority of calories burned during rest. BMR is largely determined by unchangeable factors like age, sex, height, and body composition.
- Calories burned at rest is generally not high enough to create the 500-1000 calorie daily deficit recommended for losing 1-2 pounds per week.
- Lean tissue burns more calories than fat, even at rest. Losing weight without exercise can cause muscle loss, slowing metabolism.
- Exercise provides additional metabolic, cardiovascular, and health benefits beyond just burning extra calories.
For these reasons, while rest does burn some fat, it is not generally enough on its own for significant weight loss for most people.
The Role of Diet in Fat Loss
Diet plays a critical role in fat loss and body composition changes. Without also being in a calorie deficit, resting metabolism is not enough to burn large amounts of fat.
To lose one pound per week, you need a deficit of 500 calories per day. This can be achieved through diet, exercise, or a combination of both.
To lose fat through diet alone, you would need to reduce your food intake enough to create a 500+ calorie per day deficit after accounting for the calories burned through your resting and total daily metabolism.
For many people, focusing on diet alone for a deficit can be challenging both mentally and in terms of preserving muscle mass.
A combined approach of a moderate calorie deficit from diet and additional calories burned through exercise is often the most sustainable approach.
Healthy Fat Loss Diet Tips
Here are some diet tips for maximizing fat loss:
- Create a moderate calorie deficit of 500-1000 calories below your TDEE.
- Increase protein intake to help retain muscle.
- Reduce processed carbs and sugar.
- Prioritize whole foods like vegetables, fruits, lean proteins, whole grains, beans and legumes.
- Drink plenty of water.
- Reduce alcohol, which has high calories but low nutrients.
The Importance of Exercise for Fat Loss Goals
While resting metabolism does burn some calories and fat, exercise is essential for most people to reach fat loss goals.
Exercise provides these key benefits:
- Burns additional calories – Exercise creates an added calorie deficit beyond resting metabolism needed for significant fat loss.
- Increases metabolic rate – Your body burns calories at an increased rate for hours after exercise.
- Builds muscle – Strength training helps build lean muscle mass which burns more calories at rest.
- Boosts hormones – Exercise releases hormones that assist with fat metabolism and loss.
- Reduces stress – Exercise manages cortisol which can slow resting metabolism if chronically elevated.
- Improves health – Exercise provides cardiovascular, mental health, joint, and other health benefits.
A combination of cardiovascular exercise and resistance training provides the best overall program for fat loss and body recomposition.
Fat Burning Exercise Tips
Here are some tips to maximize fat burning through exercise:
- Mix moderate intensity continuous training like jogging with high intensity interval training.
- Lift weights 2-4 times per week to build muscle.
- Focus on compound exercises using multiple large muscle groups.
- Aim for 30-60 mins of exercise most days.
- Add in NEAT activities throughout your day.
Conclusion
Resting metabolism does burn some level of fat for energy. However, resting calories burned is generally not enough to induce significant weight loss for most people without also incorporating diet changes and exercise.
While exact fat burning varies by factors like age, sex, and body composition, resting metabolism only accounts for 50-70% of total daily calories burned. To lose 1-2 pounds per week requires a deficit of 500-1000 calories per day.
Creating this deficit through exercise and healthy diet changes in combination with resting metabolism is the most effective approach for fat loss for most people.
In summary, resting alone burns some fat, but not likely at a rate to achieve aesthetic, fitness, or health goals for most individuals without also incorporating regular physical activity and a healthy diet plan.