Increasing your BMR is the most sustainable way to ensure continual fat loss. Why? Because your BMR dictates how many calories you burn around the clock, even while sleeping.

You might be a little confused, however. After all, every single new product that hits the market claims to be the next best thing for raising BMR.

So here are some real factors that influence your BMR:

1. Age. As you age, BMR goes down. Why? Because you lose muscle mass. What's the best way to prevent this? With resistance training. A solid resistance training program will do wonders for your BMR in additional to your hormonal profile.

2. Lean to fat mass ratio. More muscle translates into more calories burned even while you sleep. Add to this some proper nutrition, and the mitochondria in your cells will burn even more calories.

3. A high fever. A strong fever will also raise your BMR. Does this mean you should try to get sick? Absolutely not! But it doesn't hurt to know the facts.

4. Lots of stress. Stress will create a cascade of events which release certain hormones into your blood stream. And these hormones will raise your BMR. So should you go get stressed out? No, because in the long run too much stress will ruin your immune system and burn through lean tissue.

5. Changes in ambient temperature. When you move into a hot or cold environment, your body burns extra calories while adjusting. Tip: swimming is a great way to burn lots of calories.

6. Caloric drops. If you fast or starve, your BMR will drop very fast. Probably a lot faster than you think. In order to reduce the damage from dieting, you should only slightly restrict calories and never skip meals.

Discovering how to optimize your BMR is the best thing you can do to ensure fat loss success. After all, your BMR has the biggest influence on how many calories your burn on a daily basis. So ignore the hype and stick to the proven facts.

Writer Katherine Crawford, a Harvard fitness expert and recent arm fat sufferer, instructs women on how to get skinny arms. Learn how to get sexy arms by exploring her website about how to get rid of flabby arms now!