Is it worth the money to get your metabolism tested?

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  • curryspicegirl
    curryspicegirl Posts: 28 Member
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    sean23 wrote: »
    Just an update. My wife has followed the same diet plan for the past three weeks that she lost weight on and has gained 5 pounds. Knowing that she didnt' eat enough to warrant all the weight gain, she went ahead and got her metabolism tested on a machine that shows amount of calories burned and figured her resting metabolic rate. To her surprise, she actually has a higher than average metabolism. The reason she is gaining weight is because she isn't eating enough. She tried bumping up her calories for 3 weeks and gained, but she only was adding about 100 per day. The test shows that she should be eating no fewer than 1400 calories and as high as 1700 calories and still lose weight. SHe can eat up to 2000 calories and maintain. Its hard to believe that she was eating 1200 calories a day and gaining 1 to 2.5 pounds per week. I have always read on here to eat more to lose weight. Now, since she has a test specific to her showing her what she needs to eat to lose weight, maybe now she'll be confident eating more. Its a hard thing to do to get someone who can't lose weight to accept eating more. We realize she will probably gain for a few weeks till her body adjusts, hopefully then, she'll get on track for good.
    I just wanted to recommend doing a metabolism test if you are struggling and nothing else is working. She was ready to give up and now she is hopeful again. I wanted to say thanks for all the good advice about eating more and fueling your body. I will update this and say how things are going. Thanks!

    I know it's been a while, but I'm wondering how it's going. I'm increasing calories and gaining weight like crazy - how did your wife do after bumping up?
  • Timshel_
    Timshel_ Posts: 22,834 Member
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    My take is, in a word, no.

    I think people focus WAY too much on the minutiae of weight loss when the simplest basics of it will serve them well. They want programs, and gimmick protein products, and bands, and outfits and etc.
    • To know your metabolism, set a caloric goal where you should be losing about a pound a week.
    • Make sure your are being EXACT in logging.
    • Do it over at least 3 weeks.
    • Adjust up or down depending on loss.
    • Do another 3+ weeks.
    • Adjust again.
    • Repeat until you consistently lose about a pound a week.

    You know your caloric level for weight loss. Most people can hit that 1 pound loss pretty close to what the calculators come up with for caloric deficit intake.

    That said, if it helps you with the efficacy to lose weight or whatever, it is worth EVERY PENNY.

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