Resting Metabolic Rate Testing

Cherimoose

barefootdahl wrote: »

Thanks to everyone who has replied concerning my time line, nutrition, weighing food etc, but I am really just looking for input from people who have actually had this done.

My input was based on having done the test, and having administered it to others.

courtneyfabulous

For weight loss you need to eat less than TDEE and more than BMR.

GottaBurnEmAll

courtneyfabulous wrote: »

For weight loss you need to eat less than TDEE and more than BMR.

Eating above BMR isn't necessary and might not be something that certain subsets of dieters can pull off at certain points of eating at deficit.

If I were sedentary and eating 1200 which would be appropriate for my age and height, that would be below my BMR. It would only be 150 calorie deficit from the sedentary base calories MFP gives me for maintenance.

psuLemon

courtneyfabulous wrote: »

For weight loss you need to eat less than TDEE and more than BMR.

I have been asking for several years to see a study that would suggest the need for your suggestion, and no one has been able to do so. There are many factors in which you have to consider; how much of a variance between BMR/TDEE and more importantly how large of a deficit, how much protein, what kind of exercise program and how much weight do you have to lose.

gd7daws

Locally Kaiser (HMO) offers this to members for $55, and $75 for non members. It includes about 45 mins spent afterwards with the testing agent, who goes over the results and helps you understand all the numbers and set some calorie goals. I found it very helpful. While knowing my RMR was helpful, it was some of the other numbers that I really found helpful.

One of those numbers are what they called "lifestyle and activity" calories. In addition to my RMR, the lifestyle calories are what I would burn doing the normal things that people do on a daily basis, such as cooking meals, getting dressed, shopping, things like that. Although these are estimates, they are based on my test results. And since I can be very sedentary at times (home office worker, no kids, watch TV in the eve), I use only about 1/2 of the calories they estimate for this. That is during the week, but on the weekends I'm out and about most of the day, so I know I can use more of those calories. This allows me to be a bit more precise on a day to day basis depending on what I'm doing.

The other number I found very helpful was the estimated calorie burn for moderate planned exercise. I've used a heart rate monitor for years when doing cardio and somehow figured I burned about 400 calories an hour at my moderate pace (about 125 to 140bpm). When I started cycling and using a Garmin, my calorie burns were always much lower. So I just figured these type of units are not that accurate (and they are not when it comes to elevation). Imagine my surprise when this test was within 5 - 10 calories per hour of the Garmin. So now I have faith in what my Garmin says, both the low numbers when I'm out for a casual ride and the high numbers when I'm really pushing the watts or going long distance.

So having said all of the above, I found it very helpful and would gladly pay double the price to have the info I do. Sure, you can do on line calculators to give you some averages, but I got frustrated when using several different ones and getting up to a 500 calorie swing. Now my numbers are much closer than just averages. And when you are a 5'1, 56 year old post menopausal woman, the closer I can get to true numbers is best for me. Oh, and by the way, my Fit Bit regularly under calculates my daily calorie burn, so I don't rely on that either.

deannalfisher

TimothyFish wrote: »

deannalfisher wrote: »

my RMR was somewhere in the 1350 realm - so it made me acknowledge that the 1200cal that MFP initially had me on several years ago wasn't doable long-term

I've refined my eating over the last few years - focusing on TDEE and now focusing on body recomp vs losing weight - which has helped

1200 calories isn't supposed to be long term. You are supposed to lose weight and then go on maintenance. And if you are exercising (which you should be) then they would have you eating more than 1200 calories anyway.

I managed less than a week on the recommended MFP calories - and then said f-it and quit because it wasn't even close to sustainable...

glassyo

LPflaum wrote: »

That calculator is scary accurate. It calc'd my BMR at 1411. Professional test had me a 1424

It wasn't for me. At 5'2 104 lbs, sedentary most of the day, and all the light walking I do at night, it gave me close to 3000 tdee. I wish!!

Jthanmyfitnesspal

I have not needed to do it in the sense that I will lose 1lb per week when I follow the program (although, I often don't eat all my exercise calories).

I encourage you to just go have it measured and also seek advice from your doctor, a nutritionist, and/or a life coach. Maybe you'll learn something helpful.

MaddMaestro

deannalfisher wrote: »

MaddMaestro wrote: »

I actually has it done at a Chiropractor's office for $50. It was SUPER useful in helping me set my caloric intake goals. I was surprised to find out I didn't burn as many calories as most people think they would. 2000 cals a day? That's entirely too much for me when I only burn 1460. After that, I've tried to keep my calories under 1300 everyday while also exercising. I've lost 50 pounds in 6 months after being thorough with calorie counting

Try asking your primary doctor or maybe a local gym or community center to find a cheaper version of the test.

remember that RMR does not include calories burnt through the day - it is the basic sedentary calorie burn

Oh I know. I still restrict though. RMR is assumed that you do absolutely nothing for 24hrs, It doesn';t help that I have a sit down job

kar328

I do mine once a year. My gym has it for $50 (don't know if I'd pay $100) and I do find it useful - along with the test is the analysis/chat with the dietician and her recommendations. For me, losing weight this time around and making it stick (day 1506 here) is mostly due to education and that's one more area I learned a lot about. One of the repeat ones alerted me to the fact that I was losing too much muscle since I was in the mindset of cardio, cardio, cardio. My dietician recommended one of the trainers to help me learn strength training/weights and get those muscles back.

I like data so to me it is worth it. If your budget allows it, you may find it useful. (I'm currently participating in a probiotic study that involves two DEXA scans I don't have to pay for, and I'm anxious to see those numbers when the study is over next month. All the data makes me happy )

deannalfisher

MaddMaestro wrote: »

deannalfisher wrote: »

MaddMaestro wrote: »

I actually has it done at a Chiropractor's office for $50. It was SUPER useful in helping me set my caloric intake goals. I was surprised to find out I didn't burn as many calories as most people think they would. 2000 cals a day? That's entirely too much for me when I only burn 1460. After that, I've tried to keep my calories under 1300 everyday while also exercising. I've lost 50 pounds in 6 months after being thorough with calorie counting

Try asking your primary doctor or maybe a local gym or community center to find a cheaper version of the test.

remember that RMR does not include calories burnt through the day - it is the basic sedentary calorie burn

Oh I know. I still restrict though. RMR is assumed that you do absolutely nothing for 24hrs, It doesn';t help that I have a sit down job

I have a heavily sitting job with a 2-3hr daily commute - but I focus on getting walk breaks in every hour; working out every night - I avg 1900cal and weight stable (focusing on performance)

sarabushby

@kar328 if you don't mind me asking... you said you do this once a year, have you noticed much difference in the results each time? If so, is it easily explained by something you've done differently? E.g did you lose or gain weight or muscle or fitness in between? How many have you done?

deannalfisher

as a follow-up if you don't want to pay the $100 for the BMR test - I had an inbody scan done this weekend (body comp) and one of the read-outs they give you is BMR - the guy testing said its not as accurate as the face mask - but for me the difference was like 20cal - so decently accurate and potentially cheaper (the test was $40 for me)

trigden1991

BMR/RMR are arbitrary numbers for weight loss.

TDEE is easy to calculate and is what you need to focus on to calculate your calorie deficit.

deannalfisher

while I sort of agree, they were slightly helpful to me in understanding my non-activity level calories burn a day - and the OP asked

trigden1991

deannalfisher wrote: »

while I sort of agree, they were slightly helpful to me in understanding my non-activity level calories burn a day - and the OP asked

Even on non-activity days; BMR/RMR are not what you can measure. It's still TDEE.

deannalfisher

but your BMR is relatively static - mine has remained stable in the 1450 range since I had the initial testing done (I got a package deal from a local university) - but my TDEE varies depending on where I am in triathlon training cycle - so I always aim to eat above my BMR no matter what - and adjust for TDEE accordingly

ninerbuff

courtneyfabulous wrote: »

For weight loss you need to eat less than TDEE and more than BMR.

Depends on how much weight one has to lose. If they are very overweight or obese, eating under their BMR is fine.

A.C.E. Certified Personal and Group Fitness Trainer
IDEA Fitness member
Kickboxing Certified Instructor
Been in fitness for 30 years and have studied kinesiology and nutrition

MandiKoch

I've done it and I found it pretty helpful because the formula based BMR calculations really don't take into account our different metabolisms. I also did a VO2 max test which I think has almost been more helpful. If you know your VO2 max you can use that and your heart rate during a workout to get a much closer approximation of how many calories you burned. I knew that the cardio machines were never accurate but this was eye opening. But there is still some margin of error with the tests so you will still need to track and monitor your progress. I'm a numbers geek so having this information was very helpful to me.

ninerbuff

If people are wondering how this is done, it's usually done by an indirect calorimeter. Not expensive, but not cheap either. Usually a college, University or hospital treating obese people will have them.

A.C.E. Certified Personal and Group Fitness Trainer
IDEA Fitness member
Kickboxing Certified Instructor
Been in fitness for 30 years and have studied kinesiology and nutrition

psuLemon

trigden1991 wrote: »

BMR/RMR are arbitrary numbers for weight loss.

TDEE is easy to calculate and is what you need to focus on to calculate your calorie deficit.

While TDEE is the most important factor, for some, finding your BMR gives you a more important starting point to estimate TDEE.

barefootdahl

Thanks everyone for all the awesome feedback!! This have given me a lot to think about. I did several (like 12) online calculators for my bmr and tdee the other day, entering the same stats each time and they were ALL different. Sometimes up to 200 kcals. So I took the average of them all for maintenance and loss calories and I will try eating that for the month and see if I get any movement. If not, I will suck it up and pay for a test. You urban folks are lucky to have fitness centers etc that will do this cheaper. The $100 I found was after a $50 coupon and is still an hour away!! Sigh. Farmland life.

CSARdiver

barefootdahl wrote: »

Thanks everyone for all the awesome feedback!! This have given me a lot to think about. I did several (like 12) online calculators for my bmr and tdee the other day, entering the same stats each time and they were ALL different. Sometimes up to 200 kcals. So I took the average of them all for maintenance and loss calories and I will try eating that for the month and see if I get any movement. If not, I will suck it up and pay for a test. You urban folks are lucky to have fitness centers etc that will do this cheaper. The $100 I found was after a $50 coupon and is still an hour away!! Sigh. Farmland life.

This would have a greater impact if you said "cityfolk"

Spent the vast majority of my life rural - I feel your pain, but wish I was back there.

omma_to_3

I've had it done twice and am going back in a couple of weeks. I was surprised the first two times to find that my RMR tested about 10% *higher* than expected. I really thought I'd be on the low side. But, both times it came back 10% higher than expected (and I was about 25 lbs. different in weight between the two tests). I haven't had it done in about 3 years now and it seems like my metabolism has really dropped. I've been tracking food and exercise daily for about 6 years now. If my BMR/RMR was the same as it was 3 years ago, I would've lost about 40 lbs. over the last year. Instead, I gained 7! So, I'll be interested to see what my test results say in a couple of weeks. I would caution you to have it done at a hospital system, rather than a fitness place. The fitness places don't always have good equipment, or people that know how to use the equipment. If they're only telling you not to eat or drink for a few hours, look elsewhere. It should be like a fasting blood test. The place I go to is a research lab affiliated with the local university hospital system. They require at least 10 hours of fasting, no exercise for at least 24 hours, no food or drink, etc. The test takes about an hour (30 minutes resting then 30 minutes testing).

In the past, the test results didn't alter what I was doing, but I am a data geek so I did find it very helpful. This time, the results could alter my course, depending on what the results say. If it comes back similar to before, then I'll have to talk with my endocrinologist about other reasons I'm not losing weight.

Jthanmyfitnesspal

The debate about what you need to calculate seems rather circular. MFP estimates your TDEE on a daily basis by using a base calculator (which we've all seen) and adding in additional "exercise calories." For me, it works fine.

We can't forget that the proof is in the pudding: are you getting measurable results, in terms of weight and/or measurements. I know it takes some patience (e.g., a few weeks), but you will know if it's working.

If it doesn't, there's every reason you should get your BMR measured, talk to experts, read books, join support groups, etc.

In the end, the laws of physics dictate that if you get your calorie intake below your expenditure you will lose weight. Yay!

mom23mangos

I had it done and found it useful in figuring out my maintenance range. My calc'd BMR was 1000 calories, but due to decent muscle mass, my actual was closer to 1400.

yirara

LPflaum wrote: »

That calculator is scary accurate. It calc'd my BMR at 1411. Professional test had me a 1424

That's close! But people are different. It calculates my maintenance TDEE for an office job at around 1540. It's more like 1750-1800 plus workouts.

not_a_runner

Jthanmyfitnesspal wrote: »

The debate about what you need to calculate seems rather circular. MFP estimates your TDEE on a daily basis by using a base calculator (which we've all seen) and adding in additional "exercise calories." For me, it works fine.

We can't forget that the proof is in the pudding: are you getting measurable results, in terms of weight and/or measurements. I know it takes some patience (e.g., a few weeks), but you will know if it's working.

If it doesn't, there's every reason you should get your BMR measured, talk to experts, read books, join support groups, etc.

In the end, the laws of physics dictate that if you get your calorie intake below your expenditure you will lose weight. Yay!

Agree.
I think a lot of people struggle with the patience/consistency it takes to really see how accurate the estimate is. One day of the week "off" tracking and I very well might not lose any weight that week, despite the estimate being spot on, or at least close enough to see progress even if it's not at the expected rate. For these people I would discourage paying to be tested, because the true issue is more with their adherence to the estimated calories than an incorrect estimate. They still may not succeed even after the testing because the problem was not the estimate to begin with.
(Maybe paying for the test and gaining a sense of security is helpful to some. For me, I know my own estimate is pretty much spot on but I still struggle with adherence from time to time. I think the confusion for some lies in not adhering as well as you think you are/not enough patience.)

cwolfman13

MaddMaestro wrote: »

I actually has it done at a Chiropractor's office for $50. It was SUPER useful in helping me set my caloric intake goals. I was surprised to find out I didn't burn as many calories as most people think they would. 2000 cals a day? That's entirely too much for me when I only burn 1460. After that, I've tried to keep my calories under 1300 everyday while also exercising. I've lost 50 pounds in 6 months after being thorough with calorie counting

Try asking your primary doctor or maybe a local gym or community center to find a cheaper version of the test.

Your BMR of 1460 is the calories you burn merely existing on this planet...I assume you do more than that. If you do the math, at your level of consumption relative to your rate of loss, that puts your TDEE (maintenance calories) at around 2,300ish calories. You'd still lose weight eating 2,000 calories.

cwolfman13

glassyo wrote: »

LPflaum wrote: »

That calculator is scary accurate. It calc'd my BMR at 1411. Professional test had me a 1424

It wasn't for me. At 5'2 104 lbs, sedentary most of the day, and all the light walking I do at night, it gave me close to 3000 tdee. I wish!!

I'm going to go out on a limb and suggest you did something wrong with your inputs...