Metabolic test

cepiotrowski3
cepiotrowski3 Posts: 19 Member
edited November 20 in Food and Nutrition
Can someone please guide me In the right direction if I'm in the wrong place. My son whom is 19yrs , 6ft 3in and around 106kg was diagnosed with a fatty liver, enlarged spleen and a polyp on his gallbladder and high bp and his cholesterol ( triglycerides are very high) His kidney and liver function is normal.... He is muscular and quite lean ( looking) and if he does carry some weight it's around his tummy area but not a lot.
He is waiting on an apt to see a liver specialist. His diet isn't great and he was eating a lot of carbs and sugar laden foods. I now all of which can lead to a fatty liver.
Mean while for the last 6 weeks he has cut out all cool drink or any drink containing sugar , no rice or pasta or lollies. He has introduced some veg ( broc and spinach ) he HATES veggies with a passion.
Green smoothies with tonnes of spinach or kale. Although he's off on an with this unless I remind him lol ...
Today I took him for his second visit to a dietician with is very in tune with the Ketogenic way of eating which is kinda of what we do at home anyway.
He had a metabolic test and it came back at 3500 which she said is very high for someone of his height and weight which is good BUT his body isn't using fat as fuel only glucose.
He's body is obviously a awesome calorie burner.
Has anyone else had this test done?
Is he reading on par with others ??..
Thank u

Replies

  • skymningen
    skymningen Posts: 532 Member
    "A metabolic test" could be anything. As far as I know a real, medical testing of your metabolism is a very lengthy procedure with lots of measuring and different tests and eating specific stuff in specific amounts and all under medical supervision.
  • kommodevaran
    kommodevaran Posts: 17,890 Member
    "his body isn't using fat as fuel only glucose" sounds a lot like woo to me. Our bodies use the available energy and depletes and refills glycogen and fat stores cyclically - when glycogen stores are depleted, it turns to fat stores. We don't have to worry about this, it does it automatically.

    Forcing an adult to eat is usually not effective. Have you tried shopping and cooking and eating together? Trying new recipes? You can find a set of recipes that are both healthy and tasty. You will be his role model whether he likes/knows it or not.
  • cepiotrowski3
    cepiotrowski3 Posts: 19 Member
    Ohh dear .... No one is forcing him to eat anything if he doesn't want to but what he has to do is put the right stuff in. Being 19yrs old not 19months old he's not going to come shopping with me lol... I think we are awesome role models with our eating and family life tbh. I don't buy any crap including any breads etc he buys his own *kitten*.
    We are all adults and not young kids here I think eating together it's a little hard lol.. we all work different hours and have social lives believe it or not lol... his veggie intake was *kitten* for years. Forcing him or any child to eat something he hated was hard not impossible but the lad is friggan 19 going on 20 it's the here and now so I can't look back as to what I shoulda and coulda done..... As I said we eat a pretty much a Ketogenic lifestyle or hflc anyway.
    We don't eat nor do we eat "untasty" foods ... would u? Lol
    In fact I have hundreds of recipes thanks to Pinterest.
    Why would you go against what dietician said about his body isn't using his fat as fuel?.. his carb intake is high so he would be using glucose as his fuel. Our bodies are designed to use fat ( have to get into ketosis first and fat adapted) but being lazy and it will use the easiest way which is glucose!..
    Was wanting to know if anyone has been here before and has had this done..
    is his bmr something unusual or is it seen often.?
    She was a little surprised that his body burning this much.
    Thanks

  • cepiotrowski3
    cepiotrowski3 Posts: 19 Member
    His metabolic testing was a breathing machine
  • Azdak
    Azdak Posts: 8,281 Member
    cepiotrowski3 wrote: »
    His metabolic testing was a breathing machine

    And they are likely basing the conclusion on his RQ or RER (terms often used interchangeably).

    In the breathing test, the expired air is analyzed to the ratio of carbon dioxide produced to oxygen consumed.

    An RQ of 0.7 indicates that fats are being used for fuel, an RQ of 1.0 suggests mostly carbohydrates.

    A typical mixed diet usually produces a resting RQ of 0.8 (since we are always burning a mixture).

    If it was determined solely through a hand-held breathing device, there can be some accuracy issues. If if was determined using an actual metabolic cart (e.g. wearing a mask, connected to machine) that is usually more accurate.

    With something as dynamic as this, I'm not sure you can draw definitive conclusions based on one test. There are a number of reasons for an elevated RQ.

    I don't know that there is a definitive answer for you at this time. It looks like there are a number of things you have to sort through, and that can be frustrating. I think you just need to hang in there with your health care team and work on making the lifestyle changes they recommend.
  • misnomer1
    misnomer1 Posts: 646 Member
    OP, you sound to me like you believe ketogenic state is the natural state of metabolism. And that body burning glucose is it being 'lazy'. I don't understand these statements.
  • CTcutie
    CTcutie Posts: 649 Member
    edited August 2017
    Your son's diet/lack of proper nutrition doesn't seem healthy for him, though. I'm sure a kid that age is eating more processed carby stuff than you are, but at the end of the day, he's not healthy, & his metabolism is irrelevant (you said he's lean & muscular).
    If he doesn't get used to eating some vegetables/a balanced diet, it doesn't matter what his metabolic test result is at this age.
    His triglycerides, liver function, enlarged spleen & polyps are not indicative of a healthy teenager.
    (I once had screaming high triglycerides, enlarged liver & very high liver enzymes, too... when I weighed 227 @ 5'4" in my 30s.)
  • crackpotbaby
    crackpotbaby Posts: 1,297 Member
    Pointing you in the right direction would be worry less about the metabolic rate estimate and concentrate on getting the health issues in check with medical guidance rather than whether he is in ketosis or not.
  • MelissaPhippsFeagins
    MelissaPhippsFeagins Posts: 8,063 Member
    My 17 yo and my 20 yo are 6'3" and 6'2" and blow through 3500 calories a day easily. Neither of them weighs over 150 pounds though. They don't just look lean, they are lean. They actually need to hit the weight room and put on some mass, but I can't exactly drag them there.

    I am not sure how much your son exercises, but I am sure that exercise always improves how the body functions. Humans were made to move, which is why I leave my desk for 5 minutes every hour, walk at lunch and go to the gym 3-4 times a week after work.

    Life is about balance and helping our kids find it as youngsters is an important part of parenting.

    Good luck to him.
  • T1DCarnivoreRunner
    T1DCarnivoreRunner Posts: 11,502 Member
    I think you are talking about an RMR test and the ratio of fat to glucose comes from RER (as indicated by @Azdak ). I did that test in April and had a RMR of 1,500 and RER indicated 92% of my energy came from fat. However, that was after 1 year of low carb followed by 6 weeks of zero carb. During that 13.5 months, my body had adapted to primarily use fat for energy. A typical person eating a typical high carb diet would find a much smaller amount of fat being used for energy.
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