Research
Energy balance
Resting energy expenditure (REE) is primarily determined by the mass and specific metabolic rates of organs and tissues, with fat-free mass (FFM) explaining the majority of variance in REE.
Your resting metabolic rate is largely dictated by your body composition, specifically your fat-free mass (muscle, organs, bone). Maintaining muscle mass is key to preserving metabolic rate.
StrongSupportsHIGH confidence
REE is determined by the mass and specific metabolic rates of tissues and organs at rest... FFM appears to be the major determinant of REE and sleeping energy expenditure in linear regression models... FFM explained 67% of the variance in REE.
Why this rating
Supported by multiple studies cited in the review.
Source
Energy Expenditure in Humans: Principles, Methods, and Changes Throughout the Life Course
Rodrigo Fernández‐Verdejo et al. · Annual Review of Nutrition · 2024
DOI 10.1146/annurev-nutr-062122-031443
narrative_reviewCited 30×
Read the paper DOI resolved against Crossref · corpus check 2026-06-10
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