Had my metabolism tested - interesting results and some questions
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I also think that RMR she is quoting you is high, you sure that isn't TDEE? Here is a link for a study showing mean RMR of 1550 for obese women between 20-30 years. 1800 would be significantly more than that?
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/528122
The relationship between resting metabolic rate and different parameters of body size was investigated among 28 female volunteers in the age group of 20--30 years. The resting metabolic rate of the subjects was determined indirectly by measuring the oxygen consumption in a closed circuit, in which the oxygen concentration was stabilised. The fat percentage of the body was determined by densitometry. The population was divided into two groups: the obese, with an average fat percentage of 33.6 and the normal-weight with an average fat percentage of 20.4. Mean values for the resting metabolic rate were 1550 kcal/24 h (6.488 MJ/24 h) for the obese and 1421 kcal/24 h (5.948 MJ/24 h) for the normal-weight group. The resting metabolic rate per kg body weight was lower in the obese than in the normal-weight persons. However, expressed per kg fat-free body mass, energy expenditure under resting conditions in the obese was higher than in the normal-weight. No single body parameter seems to be suitable in the explantation of RMR in women with substantially different fat content. The best prediction of resting metabolic rate in this population of obese and normal-weight women is obtained when both fat-free mass and fat mass are used as independent variables in a linear regression equation.
It only tests RMR. I had to not exercise for 48 hours, and wasn't allowed to eat anything or drink anything so that it wasn't measuring my body doing anything or experiencing any type of stimulant.0 -
MaineMom76 wrote: »
You seem fairly adamant about your calorie tracking so let's assume that's not the issue. Do you take cheat days? If yes how often? How often do you eat food you did not prepare yourself (restaurants, family meals, etc)? The last thing I can suggest is to open your diary. If you eat a lot of pre-packaged foods that could be an issue even if you track them. Many foods simply lie on the label, something to the effect of 1 package (100g) = 200 calories so you just eat the whole package and log it. Thing is, if you weighed the contents of the package it's more than the 100 grams it claims to be. Other foods are simply just wrong about their calorie counts. If that too isn't the problem then a 2 week diet break (eating maintenance) might be what's needed here.MaineMom76 wrote: »
Any insight?
So the question is....do I stick with the 1600? Do I increase like she told me to? Or do I lower more?
I thought that by getting my RMR tested I would have more answers. It seems like i have more questions.
I have a history of eating super strict and then saying "screw it" and then eating a whole pizza and then the next day I wake up 3 pounds lighter. I've been trying to avoid that pattern but now I'm just stuck without that nice whoosh LOL.
You should still be losing weight even if you are eating less than your RMR though. If you are not losing on 1600, eating more will not make you lose.4 -
MaineMom76 wrote: »VintageFeline wrote: »So in reality you tracked for 4 weeks then the past two weeks you haven't. The past two weeks would add water and waste weight.
You actually don't have nearly enough data to judge what's happening.
You need to track faithfully for 6-8 weeks and reassess. Take measurements weekly.
I actually have been tracking for longer, but just not on MFP. I was doing it the old fashioned pen and paper way. But this is why I'm always hesitant to open my diary. In the past, I've found that people are more interested in "proving me wrong" instead of helping with the information I've given, which is why I made it private again (everyone has "the" way to do it right and it usually becomes about that and not the original question, which has already happened with this thread).
I don't think people are trying to prove you wrong by looking at your diary, but trying to find entries (which are very often incorrect) that you may be using and can change. I've seen people post often that they found an error down the road that they were using an incorrect entry that erased 250 cals from their deficit and used it for months because they used it once and then it was saved.
I think VintageFeline's advice is good. Tighten logging, and maybe weigh daily and track in a trending app. If you do take a diet break (I just took one last week), keep logging so you have the data! Good luck!!7 -
MaineMom76 wrote: »VintageFeline wrote: »So in reality you tracked for 4 weeks then the past two weeks you haven't. The past two weeks would add water and waste weight.
You actually don't have nearly enough data to judge what's happening.
You need to track faithfully for 6-8 weeks and reassess. Take measurements weekly.
I actually have been tracking for longer, but just not on MFP. I was doing it the old fashioned pen and paper way. But this is why I'm always hesitant to open my diary. In the past, I've found that people are more interested in "proving me wrong" instead of helping with the information I've given, which is why I made it private again (everyone has "the" way to do it right and it usually becomes about that and not the original question, which has already happened with this thread).
I don't think people are trying to prove you wrong by looking at your diary, but trying to find entries (which are very often incorrect) that you may be using and can change. I've seen people post often that they found an error down the road that they were using an incorrect entry that erased 250 cals from their deficit and used it for months because they used it once and then it was saved.
I think VintageFeline's advice is good. Tighten logging, and maybe weigh daily and track in a trending app. If you do take a diet break (I just took one last week), keep logging so you have the data! Good luck!!
Sorry, didn't mean the above poster was doing that. But in the past, that's what has happened. So I put it to private a while ago (a year or so ago when I was doing well).
I forgot to add - I weigh daily and it automatically logs in an app because it's a smart scale.2 -
Peeked at your diary and noticed you have a few days where you logged 1200 cals or below. Is that how much you were actually eating, or did you not log the entire day? Also saw some days where you were well above your 1600 goal by 400+ cals.
This can balance out in some situations (or just lead to a smaller deficit), but if you're not actually hitting the 1600 consistently you can't concretely say it's not working, especially given it's only 4 weeks of data tracked.1 -
Okay, I know you don't want people to pick apart your diary but the first thing that stands out to me is a mix of measurements (cups vs grams). Cups are inaccurate for solids so if those are truly how you are measuring that's the first easy thing to tighten up. Putting solids on a food scale and weighing grams.
The above is true also. You can view your weekly average in the nutrition tab, lots of people, myself included, use the weekly average so some days we can eat more and compensate with a little less on other days.
And you can take our advice or not. 9/10 times it's about inaccurate and inconsistent logging, often coupled with overestimated activity/exercise calories, that's why it is largely the go to advice.
The advice to knuckle down for 6-8 weeks is still my thinking. You've had the testing, it shows you absolutely should be losing at the calorie level you think you're eating, you've ruled out your RMR being lower than the average so really the only thing remains is eating too much.5 -
<strong>I am a recovering bulimic and a "recovered" anorexic, so being completely obsessive about my food is in my genes.</strong>
any chance history of eating disorders could screw with RMR/TDEE?1 -
VintageFeline wrote: »Okay, I know you don't want people to pick apart your diary but the first thing that stands out to me is a mix of measurements (cups vs grams). Cups are inaccurate for solids so if those are truly how you are measuring that's the first easy thing to tighten up. Putting solids on a food scale and weighing grams.
The above is true also. You can view your weekly average in the nutrition tab, lots of people, myself included, use the weekly average so some days we can eat more and compensate with a little less on other days.
And you can take our advice or not. 9/10 times it's about inaccurate and inconsistent logging, often coupled with overestimated activity/exercise calories, that's why it is largely the go to advice.
The advice to knuckle down for 6-8 weeks is still my thinking. You've had the testing, it shows you absolutely should be losing at the calorie level you think you're eating, you've ruled out your RMR being lower than the average so really the only thing remains is eating too much.
I still weigh everything. In my diary, it may say cups, but whatever the equivalent it lists in grams for that cup is what I'm measuring. Hard to explain but even when I measure in cups, I'm still measuring on the scale. I know that probably doesn't make sense. LOL
Can you tell me about the weekly average - I haven't explored all the different things on MFP so I'm still learning some of the features, etc.
I do appreciate the input, and again, my reason for not opening my diary is my past experiences with some pretty obnoxious people. I try to be a positive, supportive person and not get involved in drama, and unfortunately others are not so inclined.
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So I guess a followup question would be...
If you totally ignored my comment about eating 1600 calories and I just told you, hey, my RMR is 1800, how many calories would you recommend me to eat to lose 1-2 pounds per week, what would be your recommendation? I know some people say TDEE minus 20%. Some people say to use MFP's calculations, etc. I'm just curious what would be your recommendation based on the RMR and not based on my history of eating a certain amount of calories.1 -
MaineMom76 wrote: »VintageFeline wrote: »Okay, I know you don't want people to pick apart your diary but the first thing that stands out to me is a mix of measurements (cups vs grams). Cups are inaccurate for solids so if those are truly how you are measuring that's the first easy thing to tighten up. Putting solids on a food scale and weighing grams.
The above is true also. You can view your weekly average in the nutrition tab, lots of people, myself included, use the weekly average so some days we can eat more and compensate with a little less on other days.
And you can take our advice or not. 9/10 times it's about inaccurate and inconsistent logging, often coupled with overestimated activity/exercise calories, that's why it is largely the go to advice.
The advice to knuckle down for 6-8 weeks is still my thinking. You've had the testing, it shows you absolutely should be losing at the calorie level you think you're eating, you've ruled out your RMR being lower than the average so really the only thing remains is eating too much.
I still weigh everything. In my diary, it may say cups, but whatever the equivalent it lists in grams for that cup is what I'm measuring. Hard to explain but even when I measure in cups, I'm still measuring on the scale. I know that probably doesn't make sense. LOL
Can you tell me about the weekly average - I haven't explored all the different things on MFP so I'm still learning some of the features, etc.
I do appreciate the input, and again, my reason for not opening my diary is my past experiences with some pretty obnoxious people. I try to be a positive, supportive person and not get involved in drama, and unfortunately others are not so inclined.
I sometimes do this too if I'm using the app. Another way is to edit the item when using the website. View the nutrition information and then say "No" where it asks if it is correct. Edit and put grams (1/2 cup (40g) for example) in the serving size and save. This makes it easier for the next user to see both measurements and select the correct one vs saying 1.1 servings for 44 grams.5 -
deannalfisher wrote: »<strong>I am a recovering bulimic and a "recovered" anorexic, so being completely obsessive about my food is in my genes.</strong>
any chance history of eating disorders could screw with RMR/TDEE?
That would have shown up in the RMR test.
Despite what OP is saying there is really only one course of action.
Step one: log your food accurately6 -
midwesterner85 wrote: »TimothyFish wrote: »midwesterner85 wrote: »TimothyFish wrote: »midwesterner85 wrote: »OP, I've been in this situation a few times before, with the exception of having an RMR test. I was losing at a certain calorie level, albeit slowly, and then suddenly stopped losing. I weighed every morsel that could be measured with weight and otherwise measured liquids. I used an activity tracker as well, and yet weight loss just magically and instantly stalled. Everyone on the forums was convinced that I must be eating while I'm sleeping without knowing it or lying about weighing my food.
As it turned out, I was in true plateaus. The worst of which lasted 6 months. After 2 months, I got really frustrated and was about to just plain give up. In compromise rather than give up, I gave up half the time (basically the every other day diet). I still logged everything, but was eating to satisfaction with no restrictions on alternating days. This ended up being about 10K calories on those days. On the diet days, I ate 500 calories per day max. Of course, this was a huge surplus and I should have immediately started gaining weight fast, right?! Nope, because I was in a true plateau. Day-to-day fluctuations became larger, but my weight still hovered around the same base number. After 6 weeks of that, I returned to a normal daily deficit because I figure I had proven I was in a true plateau and if I kept eating at a deficit, maybe there would be a "whoosh" some day. In fact, that is what happened. About 2 months after returning to a normal daily deficit, I finally ended up losing about 9 lbs. in a few days and it stayed off (i.e. not just normal daily fluctuations).
It might be that you are truly in a plateau. If that is the case, then keep eating at a small deficit and trust that you will eventually experience a whoosh. Since you have a pretty good idea of what your RMR is and you track your food in the most accurate method possible, then you should be able to keep at a deficit even if you don't see the loss right away.
10,000 in one day? I'm calling that nonsense. You could literally eat two gallons of ice cream and still not have eaten 10,000 calories. You could eat a restaurant meal six times and not have 10,000 calories. Even Tour de France riders who are on a mountain stage aren't consuming that many calories. It seems to me that you have just demonstrated that your problem was inaccurate calorie counting, not some "true plateau" while waiting for a "swoosh".
On true cheat days, I've consumed way more than that even. It isn't as hard for some of us who have an insatiable appetite. Consider that a lot of restaurant pizzas are around 3K, more or less, just by themselves. And that is only 1 pizza. If I'm eating as much as I want, you think I'm only going to eat 1? No, I'll eat some cheese-sticks too and a cinnastix 'pizza' for dessert. There is half of the calories just for dinner.
Actually, its more like 2,400 for a deep dish pizza. I can believe you might eat a whole pizza and some other stuff to go with it. What I don't believe is that you would eat that much more than three times over in one day. There's a limit to how much you can stuff yourself before you make yourself sick. If you aren't doing something to get your blood pumping, that food is just going to sit in your gut or come back out the way it went in.
My favorite pizza (taco) from my favorite place is 2,864 calories for a large. That doesn't include the sauce that I then add on top, which gets it closer to 3K, depending on how much I actually use. Other meals during the day included donuts (yep, I eat them by the dozen if I am not restricting), cookies, potato chips for snacks, and then either burgers and fries and a shake, chinese, or pizza for lunch. Alternatively, a couple boxes of Fruity Pebbles and milk plus some donuts or cookies. It's rather easy to get to 10K per day. Like I said, I've done far more than that when actually having a cheat day. To do that on an every other day normal day is pretty easy.
If I didn't think it would put you into a diabetic coma, I would offer to pay for all that food just the watch you try to eat it.7 -
MaineMom76 wrote: »So I guess a followup question would be...
If you totally ignored my comment about eating 1600 calories and I just told you, hey, my RMR is 1800, how many calories would you recommend me to eat to lose 1-2 pounds per week, what would be your recommendation? I know some people say TDEE minus 20%. Some people say to use MFP's calculations, etc. I'm just curious what would be your recommendation based on the RMR and not based on my history of eating a certain amount of calories.
2 lbs per week would be (IMO) too aggressive.
So to lose 1 lb per week, you would need to eat 1300 plus any exercise calories (assuming RMR is about the same as NEAT). So a deficit of 500 calories per day. At 1600 (I know you said to ignore it) you'd lose in the neighborhood of a half pound per week.
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Start using a trending weight app to track your daily weigh ins.
For all you know your ~2lb a month actual weight loss is disappearing in a ~6lb a month TOM and waste food in body variations3 -
OP I recently found myself in a true plateau for around 3months. It was very frustrating. I decreased my activity for a few weeks and lost again this past week. I think maybe it was truly the inflammation from my weight training making me appear stuck.
I'd recommend to keep doing what you are doing but also start taking measurements and progress pics. The scale isnt always the best indicator of progress.0 -
MaineMom76 wrote: »VintageFeline wrote: »Okay, I know you don't want people to pick apart your diary but the first thing that stands out to me is a mix of measurements (cups vs grams). Cups are inaccurate for solids so if those are truly how you are measuring that's the first easy thing to tighten up. Putting solids on a food scale and weighing grams.
The above is true also. You can view your weekly average in the nutrition tab, lots of people, myself included, use the weekly average so some days we can eat more and compensate with a little less on other days.
And you can take our advice or not. 9/10 times it's about inaccurate and inconsistent logging, often coupled with overestimated activity/exercise calories, that's why it is largely the go to advice.
The advice to knuckle down for 6-8 weeks is still my thinking. You've had the testing, it shows you absolutely should be losing at the calorie level you think you're eating, you've ruled out your RMR being lower than the average so really the only thing remains is eating too much.
I still weigh everything. In my diary, it may say cups, but whatever the equivalent it lists in grams for that cup is what I'm measuring. Hard to explain but even when I measure in cups, I'm still measuring on the scale. I know that probably doesn't make sense. LOL
Can you tell me about the weekly average - I haven't explored all the different things on MFP so I'm still learning some of the features, etc.
I do appreciate the input, and again, my reason for not opening my diary is my past experiences with some pretty obnoxious people. I try to be a positive, supportive person and not get involved in drama, and unfortunately others are not so inclined.
I sometimes do this too if I'm using the app. Another way is to edit the item when using the website. View the nutrition information and then say "No" where it asks if it is correct. Edit and put grams (1/2 cup (40g) for example) in the serving size and save. This makes it easier for the next user to see both measurements and select the correct one vs saying 1.1 servings for 44 grams.
Ah, gotcha, thanks!2 -
MaineMom76 wrote: »VintageFeline wrote: »Okay, I know you don't want people to pick apart your diary but the first thing that stands out to me is a mix of measurements (cups vs grams). Cups are inaccurate for solids so if those are truly how you are measuring that's the first easy thing to tighten up. Putting solids on a food scale and weighing grams.
The above is true also. You can view your weekly average in the nutrition tab, lots of people, myself included, use the weekly average so some days we can eat more and compensate with a little less on other days.
And you can take our advice or not. 9/10 times it's about inaccurate and inconsistent logging, often coupled with overestimated activity/exercise calories, that's why it is largely the go to advice.
The advice to knuckle down for 6-8 weeks is still my thinking. You've had the testing, it shows you absolutely should be losing at the calorie level you think you're eating, you've ruled out your RMR being lower than the average so really the only thing remains is eating too much.
I still weigh everything. In my diary, it may say cups, but whatever the equivalent it lists in grams for that cup is what I'm measuring. Hard to explain but even when I measure in cups, I'm still measuring on the scale. I know that probably doesn't make sense. LOL
Can you tell me about the weekly average - I haven't explored all the different things on MFP so I'm still learning some of the features, etc.
I do appreciate the input, and again, my reason for not opening my diary is my past experiences with some pretty obnoxious people. I try to be a positive, supportive person and not get involved in drama, and unfortunately others are not so inclined.
When you are using the mobile app, scroll to the bottom of your diary page, there is a nutrition button. Once in there you can view calories and switch to week view. It will show you net and gross calories. Second number down is your weekly net average. In your settings you can adjust what this shows, a rolling average or a week to week starting on a certain (my week shows Mon-Sun for example). If all that makes sense?
That way you can "bank" calories from one day to use on another day if you like.
And I get the cups thing, others do it (though it creates more washing up!).
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rainbowbow wrote: »deannalfisher wrote: »<strong>I am a recovering bulimic and a "recovered" anorexic, so being completely obsessive about my food is in my genes.</strong>
any chance history of eating disorders could screw with RMR/TDEE?
That would have shown up in the RMR test.
Despite what OP is saying there is really only one course of action.
Step one: log your food accurately
Thanks.
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Oh and I started at 220lb at 5'5. I have used MFPs goal and eaten most of my exercise calories back. My losses are always in line with my deficit on average but I experience a lot of stalls and whooshes.
I don't use TDEE because my exercise can be inconsistent and I wear a fitness tracker (Garmin) linked to MFP to adjust my calories.3 -
Tacklewasher wrote: »MaineMom76 wrote: »So I guess a followup question would be...
If you totally ignored my comment about eating 1600 calories and I just told you, hey, my RMR is 1800, how many calories would you recommend me to eat to lose 1-2 pounds per week, what would be your recommendation? I know some people say TDEE minus 20%. Some people say to use MFP's calculations, etc. I'm just curious what would be your recommendation based on the RMR and not based on my history of eating a certain amount of calories.
2 lbs per week would be (IMO) too aggressive.
So to lose 1 lb per week, you would need to eat 1300 plus any exercise calories (assuming RMR is about the same as NEAT). So a deficit of 500 calories per day. At 1600 (I know you said to ignore it) you'd lose in the neighborhood of a half pound per week.
Where do you get the 1300 calories from? The RMR is if I were to lie in bed doing nothing all day, not eat or drink or move. It doesn't take into account daily activity, or exercise calories.0
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