Research

Energy balance

Resting metabolic rate (RMR) is highly homogeneous in healthy young adults after adjusting for metabolically active tissue (total body potassium), with protein turnover explaining only a small but significant fraction (approx. 20%) of the remaining variability.

If you are healthy, your resting metabolism is likely very similar to others of your size and active tissue mass. Don't blame 'slow metabolism' for weight issues; focus on body composition. Protein turnover plays a minor role in RMR differences.

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This study examined whether variability among healthy young adults in resting metabolic rate, normalized for the amount of metabolically active tissue (assessed by total body potassium), is related to protein turnover... After adjusting metabolic rate for total body potassium, the standard deviation was only 89 kcal/day, or 5.5% of the average value... The regression analysis suggested that the contribution of protein turnover to resting metabolic rate was ~20% in an average subject.
Stephen Welle et al. · American Journal of Physiology-Endocrinology and Metabolism · 1990

Why this rating

Controlled clinical study with rigorous measurement of RMR (indirect calorimetry) and protein turnover (stable isotope infusion) in a homogeneous healthy population.

Source

Relationship of resting metabolic rate to body composition and protein turnover

Stephen Welle et al. · American Journal of Physiology-Endocrinology and Metabolism · 1990

DOI 10.1152/ajpendo.1990.258.6.e990

cross_sectional · n=47Cited 184×
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DOI resolved against Crossref · corpus check 2026-06-10

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