Resting Metabolic Rate (RMR)
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boomerkae
Posts: 217 Member
My former employer offered a variety of health prevention benefits. One was metabolic testing. I took advantage of this on my next to last day of work.
I updated my blog with the details (and pics): http://kimegetshealthy.blogspot.com/2015/02/metabolic-testing-and-numerical.html
But here are the basics! (note - this is from the blog, so excuse the writing style)
Metabolic Testing and a Numerical Representation of Me
Weight management is all about energy balance.
Take in more calories than you burn: gain weight
Take in less calories than you burn: lose weight
Take in the same number of calories as you burn: maintain weight
The number of calories needed depends on three things.
how many calories your body needs to function at rest.
how many calories your body burns during normal activity
how many calories your body burns while exercising
Metabolic testing measures the first - your resting metabolic rate (RMR). RMR determines what your body needs while at rest, or in other words, what your body burns in calories if you just sit and breathe all day. Using the RMR as a guide, you can determine how many calories needed to maintain, gain or lose weight.
I was always interested in knowing what my RMR was. Now that I've had my VSG, I've been curious as to what my rate was, so I could understand the now and the future.
Since the testing is free, and I was actually losing my job, I scheduled the appointment for this past Thursday, just 3 days after my 3 month post-op checkup.
After taking my basic vitals, as well as BMI and body fat percentage, the nurse and I traveled to another room, which must have been the nutrition room. I sat in a chair close to the machine, with a clamp on my nose and my lips around a tube. It reminded me of an incentive spirometer. All I had to do was sit and breathe through my mouth for ten minutes. Test complete!
My results showed that I have a slower than normal metabolism. Go figure!! I also burn 1,555 calories while at rest. Based on basic estimates for normal exercise and lifestyle energy output, I should burn about 2,100 calories a day. Based on those calculations, if I wanted to maintain weight, I should consume 1555-2020 calories a day. To lose, 1245-1555. Anything lower calorie wise should be medically supervised. Go figure, I've been hitting about 700 calories a day lately.
Very interesting stuff!
As I mentioned, I also had a 3-month checkup with my bariatric office this week. I was hoping they would do pictures and measurements, but apparently, that's not until 6 months out. So oddly enough, I was excited when I was able to get a body fat measurement at the wellness center.
For long range comparison, I found some older body fat measurements from health screenings held at the office.
(this chart will look nicer on the blog)
Year Weight BP BMI Body Fat% Comments
8/2011 264 126/82 42.6 45% almost a year after baby #2
4/2012 252 122/80 40.7 44.3% 12 pound loss, nearly 2 BMI points
3/2014 277.4 118/76 44.7 46.4% weight is back on
BMI = morbidly obese
almost 1/2 my body is fat
10/2014 258.5 41.7 48.5% One month preop. I don't understand how the % has increased while the weight decreases. Better equipment or fatter me?
2/2015 200 118/76 31.6 36.5% Three months post op. 10pts down in BMI
Body Fat is lowest it's been in almost 4 years
How crazy is that! Surgery has helped to change my life so much!
Fully clothed and full bladder, my weight was up a few pounds though. Boo.
Since we were in the nutrition room, I hit them up for some additional info.
This is 5lb of fat. I've lost 17 of these. Where does it go?? (picture on blog)
This is 5lb of lean muscle (picture on blog)
This is how they compare. Smooth and dense to funky and lumpy. (picture on blog)
I also snagged myself a portion place. (picture on blog)
Is your slice of bread the size of a cassette tape?
Two good visits this week. The baratric office is happy with my progress so far. My labs all look great. My iron is a little high, so I get to scale that back. I was already taking more than the recommended dose, and our water is full of iron so I was way high. Otherwise, everything was a go. Next check, with measurements and pictures - in three more months.
I updated my blog with the details (and pics): http://kimegetshealthy.blogspot.com/2015/02/metabolic-testing-and-numerical.html
But here are the basics! (note - this is from the blog, so excuse the writing style)
Metabolic Testing and a Numerical Representation of Me
Weight management is all about energy balance.
Take in more calories than you burn: gain weight
Take in less calories than you burn: lose weight
Take in the same number of calories as you burn: maintain weight
The number of calories needed depends on three things.
how many calories your body needs to function at rest.
how many calories your body burns during normal activity
how many calories your body burns while exercising
Metabolic testing measures the first - your resting metabolic rate (RMR). RMR determines what your body needs while at rest, or in other words, what your body burns in calories if you just sit and breathe all day. Using the RMR as a guide, you can determine how many calories needed to maintain, gain or lose weight.
I was always interested in knowing what my RMR was. Now that I've had my VSG, I've been curious as to what my rate was, so I could understand the now and the future.
Since the testing is free, and I was actually losing my job, I scheduled the appointment for this past Thursday, just 3 days after my 3 month post-op checkup.
After taking my basic vitals, as well as BMI and body fat percentage, the nurse and I traveled to another room, which must have been the nutrition room. I sat in a chair close to the machine, with a clamp on my nose and my lips around a tube. It reminded me of an incentive spirometer. All I had to do was sit and breathe through my mouth for ten minutes. Test complete!
My results showed that I have a slower than normal metabolism. Go figure!! I also burn 1,555 calories while at rest. Based on basic estimates for normal exercise and lifestyle energy output, I should burn about 2,100 calories a day. Based on those calculations, if I wanted to maintain weight, I should consume 1555-2020 calories a day. To lose, 1245-1555. Anything lower calorie wise should be medically supervised. Go figure, I've been hitting about 700 calories a day lately.
Very interesting stuff!
As I mentioned, I also had a 3-month checkup with my bariatric office this week. I was hoping they would do pictures and measurements, but apparently, that's not until 6 months out. So oddly enough, I was excited when I was able to get a body fat measurement at the wellness center.
For long range comparison, I found some older body fat measurements from health screenings held at the office.
(this chart will look nicer on the blog)
Year Weight BP BMI Body Fat% Comments
8/2011 264 126/82 42.6 45% almost a year after baby #2
4/2012 252 122/80 40.7 44.3% 12 pound loss, nearly 2 BMI points
3/2014 277.4 118/76 44.7 46.4% weight is back on
BMI = morbidly obese
almost 1/2 my body is fat
10/2014 258.5 41.7 48.5% One month preop. I don't understand how the % has increased while the weight decreases. Better equipment or fatter me?
2/2015 200 118/76 31.6 36.5% Three months post op. 10pts down in BMI
Body Fat is lowest it's been in almost 4 years
How crazy is that! Surgery has helped to change my life so much!
Fully clothed and full bladder, my weight was up a few pounds though. Boo.
Since we were in the nutrition room, I hit them up for some additional info.
This is 5lb of fat. I've lost 17 of these. Where does it go?? (picture on blog)
This is 5lb of lean muscle (picture on blog)
This is how they compare. Smooth and dense to funky and lumpy. (picture on blog)
I also snagged myself a portion place. (picture on blog)
Is your slice of bread the size of a cassette tape?
Two good visits this week. The baratric office is happy with my progress so far. My labs all look great. My iron is a little high, so I get to scale that back. I was already taking more than the recommended dose, and our water is full of iron so I was way high. Otherwise, everything was a go. Next check, with measurements and pictures - in three more months.
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