I Had My BMR Tested - It's 1032 Calories

CATindeeHAT
CATindeeHAT Posts: 332 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
I'm posting this in the forums after receiving several requests to do so by my friends here at MFP.

This is just my experience, I do not claim to be an expert and I'm not suggesting anybody change their diet - So PLEASE try and resist ripping this thread apart to shreds.

When I was 17 I was diagnosed with having narcolepsy and I have been taking prescription Adderall (20mg/3x day) since then. The soul-suckers running my health insurance company require testing to 'reconfirm' a diagnosis every 5 years in order to be eligible for prescription coverage so last night I had a panel, cardiac stress test, sleep study, body fat measurement, and CT scan with iodine contrast done.

When the doctor was filling out the order to have my tests done, there was an option to also have my BMR tested and I elected to do so. These were my results:

The testing took a little over 20 hours. They had wake me up every 4 hours, walk on a treadmill for 10 minutes, stay awake for an additional 30 minutes, and repeat (it royally sucked). My BMR was tested immediately when I woke up from each interval and right before I started the next one. The stress test and CT scan were performed that next morning.

(Note: Normally sleep studies have you sleep throughout the night. However, I have had SEVERAL of these tests performed and my diagnosis has been reconfirmed a dozen times. So to demonstrate my narcolepsy eloquently, they studied my sleep in intervals. In 'normal' individuals it takes anywhere from 2-4 hours after they fall asleep to reach REM sleep - the deepest and most restful stage of sleep (you know, when you're drooling so much you start to form a puddle on your pillow) - but people with narcolepsy reach REM sleep almost IMMEDIATELY after they fall asleep. This makes for a rather 'colorful' and dynamic sleep report when you keep waking these individuals several times throughout the night, the kind of report sure to keep the insurance trolls off my back, at least temporarily.)

my BMR fluctuated from 1101 to as low as 899 for an overall average of 1032 calories.

Initially, I was SHOCKED after I learned how low it was. I told the technition who was administering the BMR test that I thought my BMR would be around 1400 calories, not 1000, and he said, "Yeah, that's what most people think their BMR is. I would say that the majority of people VASTLY overestimate it, probably one of the reasons so many people have such a hard time losing weight, but having a BMR of around 1000 calories is absolutely normal for a woman your age and build (23-years-old, 5'7", 145 pounds, 30% body fat)." He went on to tell me that the entire staff working on that floor in the hospital has had their BMR tested and the highest BMR came out to be around 1600 calories...on a male who weighed 220 pounds!

Mix that with a sedentary lifestyle and a poor diet and it's EASY to see why so many people are overweight.

He also said that from an evolutionary perspective a low BMR makes sense, it implies a longer lifespan and survival advantage (obviously not today with our abundant food supply), and our friends who seem to have a freakishly high metabolism would be the first to die if a famine were to hit. However, living in America that's probably not going to happen... at least not anytime soon...

( Check out this: https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=194713753973311&set=pb.137541376357216.-2207520000.1351022016&type=1&theater Brad Pilon, who if you didn't already know is one beefy fellow, had his BMR measured at about 1650. In retrospect, to think that I need only 200 or so calories less than this guy to survive is absolutely obsurd, now I know better.)

Anyways, I guess the moral of the story is that one size does not fit all. I've been struggling to lose weight becaues I've been consuming too many calories, it's as simple as that.

I once beleived that My Fitness Pal's recommendation of 1200 net calories was completely bogus, but now I've changed my mind.

I'm SO GLAD I elected to have my BMR tested along with my other tests. Other than having glue stuck in my hair now for probably the next week or so, I'd say it was a good experience. I feel as if I know my body that much better.

Cheers!
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Replies

  • penrbrown
    penrbrown Posts: 2,685 Member
    Huh. That's interesting...

    So are you going to be eating 1032 cals a day or 800?
  • CATindeeHAT
    CATindeeHAT Posts: 332 Member
    Huh. That's interesting...

    So are you going to be eating 1032 cals a day or 800?

    No. I will be eating 1200 net calories a day while being sure I get in some exercise everyday.
  • Lyra89
    Lyra89 Posts: 674 Member
    BUMP for the inevitable debate! :tongue:
  • philshjips
    philshjips Posts: 41 Member
    That's really interesting. I had no idea there was even a test to measure the amount of calories one needs to consume to be healthy/alive.

    Does it mean, then, that that's the amount of calories one can consume while living a somewhat active lifestyle? Like in order to burn fat you would need to go lower than 1032 calories? Or is the BMR the amount of calories one can consume to maintain weight while sedentary?
  • Ge0rgiana
    Ge0rgiana Posts: 1,649 Member
    *bump*
  • strikerjb007
    strikerjb007 Posts: 443 Member
    That is why I laugh when I see all these threads talking about BMR and eating more. The BMR is just an estimation. And most equations give you a higher number.
  • jacquirich
    jacquirich Posts: 105 Member
    I had my tested at a university, and it again tok all day, but to their shock my BMR was 2346, I am 5ft 2 inch
  • spangey13
    spangey13 Posts: 294
    Very interesting reading! Thanks for sharing :-)
  • samblanken
    samblanken Posts: 369 Member
    I find that any coal tar shampoo does a very good job of getting the glue out of your hair after a sleep study.
  • Christieson
    Christieson Posts: 36 Member
    What a great, educational post. Thanks!
  • sarahz5
    sarahz5 Posts: 1,363 Member
    Very brave! Thank you for sharing! :drinker:
  • giglqueen
    giglqueen Posts: 74 Member
    That's crazy! And it makes a lot of sense. Thanks for posting this! I wish I could get mine tested!
  • CATindeeHAT
    CATindeeHAT Posts: 332 Member
    I had my tested at a university, and it again tok all day, but to their shock my BMR was 2346, I am 5ft 2 inch

    How much do you weigh? If you don't mind me asking...
  • CATindeeHAT
    CATindeeHAT Posts: 332 Member
    I find that any coal tar shampoo does a very good job of getting the glue out of your hair after a sleep study.

    THANK YOU! Where do I get it?
  • CATindeeHAT
    CATindeeHAT Posts: 332 Member
    That's really interesting. I had no idea there was even a test to measure the amount of calories one needs to consume to be healthy/alive.

    Does it mean, then, that that's the amount of calories one can consume while living a somewhat active lifestyle? Like in order to burn fat you would need to go lower than 1032 calories? Or is the BMR the amount of calories one can consume to maintain weight while sedentary?

    BMR is the amount of calories I would need to survive while in a coma.
  • psuLemon
    psuLemon Posts: 38,432 MFP Moderator
    Keep in mind that even stuff like Katch McArdle only fit about 70% of the population. Its a law of averages.
  • chivalryder
    chivalryder Posts: 4,391 Member
    That is a very good read. It's not often you get something worth reading on the forums. That certainly opens up the ideas and really challenges what is considered "right."

    With your numbers, if you were sedentary and rarely/never exercised, you'd have to eat 700 kcal every day to lose 1 lb/week. That would certainly stir up a storm on here!
  • bmreed0920
    bmreed0920 Posts: 139 Member
    Interesting. Thanks for sharing.
  • miadhail
    miadhail Posts: 383 Member
    Hmm it actually makes perfect sense. of course your BMR is going to be 1032. BMR represents your body's energy consumption if you were just to lie down and do nothing (or in this case, the above BMR you got from the test represents what what you were doing during that test) basically the energy your body with its organs etc needs to live. TDEE is the energy your body needs when you do regular activities everyday (and that differs from person to person) . To lose weight, from my understanding is to cut the intake from your TDEE NOT your BMR. Say, if your TDEE is an average of 2100, then losing weight would mean about 1800 or so depending on how much you want to lose in a specified period. I hope this clears up the confusion.
  • AmyP619
    AmyP619 Posts: 1,137 Member
    This was fascinating to read. Thank you for posting.
  • Slavic_Spice
    Slavic_Spice Posts: 78 Member
    Very interesting. Thanks for the info.
  • T1mH
    T1mH Posts: 568 Member
    BMR is the amount of calories I would need to survive while in a coma.
    But the BMR that MFP uses is got some activity figured into it doesn't it? Even the sedentary setting isn't assuming coma is it?
  • CATindeeHAT
    CATindeeHAT Posts: 332 Member
    BUMP for the inevitable debate! :tongue:

    Yup. I'm expecting this.

    Here are my predictions:

    1. The tests where in accurate (even though they were take multiple times in a university hospital).
    2. I am a freak of nature (yes I have narcolepsy, but I was told, MORE THAN ONCE, that my BMR is what was expected).
    3. "Me, my mom, dad, brother, sister's boyfriend, and the neighbor's dog all lost weight by eating more." - The usual battery of anecdotal evidence.
  • yarwell
    yarwell Posts: 10,477 Member
    That's really interesting. I had no idea there was even a test to measure the amount of calories one needs to consume to be healthy/alive.
    The test measures how much oxygen you take in (and perhaps how much CO2 you give out). As oxygen is the fuel for "burning" calories, the amount of oxygen absorbed (what went in minus what came out) gives you the calories used at (from memory) 5 kcals per litre of oxygen.
  • aproc
    aproc Posts: 1,033 Member
    That's really interesting. I had no idea there was even a test to measure the amount of calories one needs to consume to be healthy/alive.

    Does it mean, then, that that's the amount of calories one can consume while living a somewhat active lifestyle? Like in order to burn fat you would need to go lower than 1032 calories? Or is the BMR the amount of calories one can consume to maintain weight while sedentary?

    Thats what your body needs to function. Like if you were to sit on the couch all day and do absolutley nothing.Your body needs calories to maintain the functioning of organs. Please don't think you should go lower than bmr estimates..... That would only be doing harm.
  • CATindeeHAT
    CATindeeHAT Posts: 332 Member
    BMR is the amount of calories I would need to survive while in a coma.
    But the BMR that MFP uses is got some activity figured into it doesn't it? Even the sedentary setting isn't assuming coma is it?

    No, I believe it's BMR multiplied by 1.2 (for sedentary). Which to me makes it even more reasonable.
  • Dave198lbs
    Dave198lbs Posts: 8,810 Member
    wow...good thing you were able to get it tested
  • lambertj
    lambertj Posts: 675 Member
    That's very interesting and thanks for sharing. I had mine done at a local hospital and it came out to 1700 (even the nurse was surprised). Just goes to show you that online calculators are truly just estimates
  • bcattoes
    bcattoes Posts: 17,299 Member
    Interesting. I can't say I'm completely shocked by it. I've used several online calculators for BMR and TDEE and found that they seemed to overestimate mine since I'd been maintaining for over a year with regular moderate to intense exercise on only slightly more than the number of calories the calculators said was my TDEE at sedentary.
  • crystalflame
    crystalflame Posts: 1,049 Member
    Yeah, a trainer at my gym told me he sees a lot of women thinking their BMRs are around 1400 because they used an online calculator, but really they're between 1000 and 1200 and they end up overeating. He estimated mine to be 1100 based on my height and weight. I appreciate seeing some evidence suggesting this is true.

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