Low Metabolic Rate - Anyone?

mistyloveslife · May 2018

After being plateaued for 5 weeks, increasing activity considerably and journaling every morsel, I opted to have my metabolic rate tested at the suggestion of my family doctor. He did routine blood work (all normal aside from being slight anemic). Upon testing I've learned a few things that I've never really seen much mention on here in the "Help I've Plateaued" posts.

I have been on a strict clean eating diet. I consume1100-1400 calories per day. Never more than 1400 and I'm usually in the middle of the range I set. I've logged every bite. After 3 weeks of clean eating I lost 15 pounds. Which was insane. It tells you how much I ate prior to starting. Once I finished 3 weeks the scale never moved again. The last loss was 5 weeks ago and it was around a pound in a week. It goes up a half pound down a half pound etc. I'm stuck. 3 weeks ago I incorporated zumba 4 times a week. Walking more, hiking and I've even attended a couple weight training classes. Scale never moved. No change in my clothes. Nothing.

This morning I went for the metabolic testing. It incorporates your lifestyle, activity and you breathe into this little machine for 10 minutes. My maintenance calorie goal came back at 1350. This means I do nothing and I maintain my weight at 1350 calories a day. In efforts to lose 1/2 to a pound per week, it suggested I consume less than 1000 calories per day. The wellness coach did not encourage that. She simply told me to eat more protein, substitute 2 meals with replacement shakes and up the weight lifting. Muscle needs more calories than fat to exist. So it will be super slow. It will take time. I need to be patient and build muscle. Continue my lifestyle changes and keep on trucking....

Anyone care to share their experiences with this?

Starting Weight 200.2
Current Weight 184.4
Goal Weight 145ish

toxikon · May 2018

Hmmmm I'm not too familiar with metabolic testing and it's accuracy but that is surprisingly low.

What's your height and age?

Have you been tracking your solid foods with a digital kitchen scale, and your liquids with measuring cups?

cwolfman13 · May 2018

mistyloveslife wrote: »

After being plateaued for 5 weeks, increasing activity considerably and journaling every morsel, I opted to have my metabolic rate tested at the suggestion of my family doctor. He did routine blood work (all normal aside from being slight anemic). Upon testing I've learned a few things that I've never really seen much mention on here in the "Help I've Plateaued" posts.

I have been on a strict clean eating diet. I consume1100-1400 calories per day. Never more than 1400 and I'm usually in the middle of the range I set. I've logged every bite. After 3 weeks of clean eating I lost 15 pounds. Which was insane. It tells you how much I ate prior to starting. Once I finished 3 weeks the scale never moved again. The last loss was 5 weeks ago and it was around a pound in a week. It goes up a half pound down a half pound etc. I'm stuck. 3 weeks ago I incorporated zumba 4 times a week. Walking more, hiking and I've even attended a couple weight training classes. Scale never moved. No change in my clothes. Nothing.

This morning I went for the metabolic testing. It incorporates your lifestyle, activity and you breathe into this little machine for 10 minutes. My maintenance calorie goal came back at 1350. This means I do nothing and I maintain my weight at 1350 calories a day. In efforts to lose 1/2 to a pound per week, it suggested I consume less than 1000 calories per day. The wellness coach did not encourage that. She simply told me to eat more protein, substitute 2 meals with replacement shakes and up the weight lifting. Muscle needs more calories than fat to exist. So it will be super slow. It will take time. I need to be patient and build muscle. Continue my lifestyle changes and keep on trucking....

Anyone care to share their experiences with this?

Starting Weight 200.2
Current Weight 184.4
Goal Weight 145ish

Was the 1350 your maintenance or your BMR? BMR makes sense...BMR is the calories you burn doing nothing but existing. I would assume you do more than nothing. You're also going to burn calories going about your day to day activities and exercise.

I think you're confusing BMR or RMR with maintenance...BMR or RMR aren't maintenance calories. 1300-1400 calories BMR is pretty on par with the average female.

I have a BMR of around 1800...I lose about 1 Lb per week eating 2300-2500 calories because my actual maintenance with my day to day activities and exercise is around 2800-3000...well beyond my BMR.

apullum · May 2018

mistyloveslife wrote: »

After being plateaued for 5 weeks, increasing activity considerably and journaling every morsel, I opted to have my metabolic rate tested at the suggestion of my family doctor. He did routine blood work (all normal aside from being slight anemic). Upon testing I've learned a few things that I've never really seen much mention on here in the "Help I've Plateaued" posts.

I have been on a strict clean eating diet. I consume1100-1400 calories per day. Never more than 1400 and I'm usually in the middle of the range I set. I've logged every bite. After 3 weeks of clean eating I lost 15 pounds. Which was insane. It tells you how much I ate prior to starting. Once I finished 3 weeks the scale never moved again. The last loss was 5 weeks ago and it was around a pound in a week. It goes up a half pound down a half pound etc. I'm stuck. 3 weeks ago I incorporated zumba 4 times a week. Walking more, hiking and I've even attended a couple weight training classes. Scale never moved. No change in my clothes. Nothing.

This morning I went for the metabolic testing. It incorporates your lifestyle, activity and you breathe into this little machine for 10 minutes. My maintenance calorie goal came back at 1350. This means I do nothing and I maintain my weight at 1350 calories a day. In efforts to lose 1/2 to a pound per week, it suggested I consume less than 1000 calories per day. The wellness coach did not encourage that. She simply told me to eat more protein, substitute 2 meals with replacement shakes and up the weight lifting. Muscle needs more calories than fat to exist. So it will be super slow. It will take time. I need to be patient and build muscle. Continue my lifestyle changes and keep on trucking....

Anyone care to share their experiences with this?

Starting Weight 200.2
Current Weight 184.4
Goal Weight 145ish

This is not what "maintenance" means. The number of calories required to maintain your weight if you do absolutely nothing--that is, if you are in a literal coma--is your basal metabolic rate (BMR). "Maintenance calories" are what it takes to maintain your current weight given your daily exercise and normal activity.

It may very well be that your BMR is 1350. However, if that's the case, then you would lose weight if you ate 1350 calories per day. You would not maintain your current weight.

It's a lot harder for me to believe that your maintenance calorie goal is 1350. I am less than 5 feet tall, weigh 70 pounds less than you, and I maintain my current weight with 1400 calories without exercise.

You mention eating "clean," which has nothing to do with weight loss. You don't mention weighing your food. If you're not weighing your food, then you are likely eating more than you think you are.

Meal replacement shakes have no special weight loss properties. You can drink shakes if you like them, but the only thing that matters for weight loss is making sure your body burns more calories than you take in. It doesn't matter if the calories come from protein shakes, pasta, a piece of pie, whatever. This makes me wonder if the "wellness coach" is trying to sell you shakes.

Most likely, your plateau is coming from a combination of not weighing your food (therefore eating more than you think) and water weight from your increased exercise.

Francl27 · May 2018

That's your BMR - if you were doing nothing but lying in day all day. You have to add activity calories to that to get your TDEE (what you really burn in a day). And that's even if those tests are accurate (I really have no idea)... it does seem kinda low (but you're not giving your stats).

How did you measure your calorie intake anyway? If you're not weighing your food, you're probably eating more than you think.

heybales · May 2018

So they know how to run the machine to get your RMR - which is daily calorie burn if you sat there like that all day.

Which you don't. It's barely above BMR used in calculations.

Their estimate of TDEE sounds non-existent. They just based it on RMR value. Wrong.

You lose weight eating less than you burn in total, not less than you burn resting all day.

Now - you can cause your body to adapt by eating too low in the first place - which frankly it sounds like it.
You can get around that by continuing to eat less and less, and eventually the body can't adapt anymore.
How low can you go!

You ate at a level that sounds right if you were sedentary the whole time.
Problem was you were not, sounds like active and worked out. Any household duties after work, busy on weekend?

So now you have 2 directions to go
One may likely spell future success, at sucking up some time maintaining right now.
One is eating less and less until you keep losing again - and see how well that works out when you attempt to go to maintenance later. (plus it's a stressed out body that had adapted max it can against the insanity).

Here's one study showing a reasonable rate of loss with exercise could have been beneficial - but you were much more extreme than that it sounds like.

MFP is trying to teach a life lesson about weight maintenance.
You do more, you eat more.
You do less, you eat less.

In a diet, a tad less in either case.

Yay for the wellness coach being more reasonable.

But during the time of strength training - you'll want to try to increase calories to max it can be.

http://www.myfitnesspal.com/blog/heybales/view/reduced-metabolism-tdee-beyond-expected-from-weight-loss-616251

Silentpadna · May 2018

mistyloveslife wrote: »

After being plateaued for 5 weeks, increasing activity considerably and journaling every morsel, I opted to have my metabolic rate tested at the suggestion of my family doctor. He did routine blood work (all normal aside from being slight anemic). Upon testing I've learned a few things that I've never really seen much mention on here in the "Help I've Plateaued" posts.

I have been on a strict clean eating diet. I consume1100-1400 calories per day. Never more than 1400 and I'm usually in the middle of the range I set. I've logged every bite. After 3 weeks of clean eating I lost 15 pounds. Which was insane. It tells you how much I ate prior to starting. Once I finished 3 weeks the scale never moved again. The last loss was 5 weeks ago and it was around a pound in a week. It goes up a half pound down a half pound etc. I'm stuck. 3 weeks ago I incorporated zumba 4 times a week. Walking more, hiking and I've even attended a couple weight training classes. Scale never moved. No change in my clothes. Nothing.

This morning I went for the metabolic testing. It incorporates your lifestyle, activity and you breathe into this little machine for 10 minutes. My maintenance calorie goal came back at 1350. This means I do nothing and I maintain my weight at 1350 calories a day. In efforts to lose 1/2 to a pound per week, it suggested I consume less than 1000 calories per day. The wellness coach did not encourage that. She simply told me to eat more protein, substitute 2 meals with replacement shakes and up the weight lifting. Muscle needs more calories than fat to exist. So it will be super slow. It will take time. I need to be patient and build muscle. Continue my lifestyle changes and keep on trucking....

Anyone care to share their experiences with this?

Starting Weight 200.2
Current Weight 184.4
Goal Weight 145ish

A few things to unpack in here:

1. You did not lose 15 pounds of fat in three weeks. Most of that was likely water. I am surprised this was not addressed by your doctor or wellness coach in your metabolic testing.
2. You have not mentioned whether you weighed your food. Logging means you've tracked it, but if you didn't weigh it, you could be tracking the wrong number. If it's food you eat consistently, you may be compounding a small error into a bigger one.
3. "Clean eating" doesn't really mean anything with respect to weight loss.
4. Incorporating more cardio-based exercise increases stress hormones in your body, resulting in more water retention. You could still be burning more fat, while holding onto some water or just the fluctuations masking what's going on.
5. How tall are you? How old are you? It seems, at 184 pounds, that 1350 calories per day seems low. Now, given the exercise you state you are doing, you should be burning well over 2000 calories per day. (I assumed your height and 5'6" and age at 35 - you can always give us the real numbers).
6. Remember, the 1350 you got was at rest. Did your tester tell you that this was your sedentary level? Or your RMR (resting metabolic rate)? It's an important distinction. You are clearly not at rest for your normal activity, so eating 1000 calories per day doesn't make any sense at all.

To lose 1/2 pound per week, you should at least:

1. Start weighing everything. And logging, but weighing is far more important.
2. Stick with an existing activity level for awhile - whatever you are comfortable doing - without overdoing it. Don't make excessive changes or increases while chasing a scale number. I'm not saying to not be as active as you want to be; what I am saying is be consistent enough to establish a baseline for data. That should take at least 4-8 weeks. You need this to able to accurately filter out fluctuation "noise" so that you can make decisions based on the real data.

You may really have a slower metabolism than most, but your numbers suggest a pretty big outlier (without knowing your height and weight, I'm not sure about that). According this article (https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4535334/) the percent error in RMR in women can be up to 30%. Your variation in RMR level looks to be at the high end of the range (based on my assumptions of you age and height), which tells me that the number is possible for you. You may have it a little bit tougher than most. But not a lot tougher.

Having said that, you are talking about 200 calories or so difference between you and average (depending the accuracy of my assumption). You may have to overcome that, but it shouldn't stop you.

First, be clear on your logging (and weighing - have I said that enough?). And second, take enough time to collect enough data. You've already shown that you can lose weight. Don't make any rash decisions or changes in the short term because you'll be making decisions based on something less than fact. Sorry to say that fat loss is not quick, easily masked by short-term fluctuations, and hard to measure because of those two things. The process works; you just have to find where your sweet spot is. I'll bet it's closer than you think.

[Edited for really poor grammar....probably a few more corrections coming - hopefully you get the point].

kimny72 · May 2018

Your calories if you do nothing is NOT your maintenance, it's your BMR. I'd say 1350 is a pretty normal BMR for a woman. Unless you literally lay in bed all day without moving, you burn more than your BMR.

You need a deficit from your TDEE - the calories you burn in a typical day of getting up, walking around, doing your job, etc. Not from your BMR. I'm kind of disturbed that wherever you went for this testing didn't understand that

My BMR the last time I ran my stats through a calculator was around 1350 as well. My TDEE is @ 1700-1800.

Do you use a food scale? Have you double checked that you are using accurate entries in the database?
Sorry you're struggling, hang in there :drinker:

tess5036 · May 2018

According to all the estimates I also have a low BMR,
and also a low.TDEE not because I'm unusual, but because I am 52 and only 5'1". My way of loosing weight is to increase the deficit with exercise. I regularly do at least an hour, often more, of heavy cardio (HIIT, BodyCombat, etc) and then only eat a portion of the calories back. I also use weights and lift, which I think has helped.

BTW, if it was calculated your basic requirement was what you did before any exercise, you will have a higher TDEE

mistyloveslife · May 2018

First let me say this. I weigh everything with a digital scale. This isn't my first rodeo with dieting/lifestyle change. By clean eating I mean I am eating less processed foods. I did this because I have rheumatoid arthritis and I am trying to combat the disease without medication. The medications were affecting my liver and have terrible side effects. Clean eating helped with this.

This test she did took into account that I get in 7K steps per day and have a sedentary job. She said my RMR is 1350 calories per day. That based on my lifestyle, this is all my body needs to maintain my current weight.

I am still new to this side of things so bear with me. This is why I'm here. To learn and understand this better.

According to what she told me, I would need to eat less than 1086 calories per day to lose less than a pound per week. She said if I wanted to lose a pound per week I would need to eat less than 1000 calories. Her suggestion of meal replacement shakes was simply to manage calorie intake and help me get in more protein to build muscle. It's easy with my work schedule and I honestly like them.

I should note that I broke my foot a few years ago in a Spartan OCR/mud run that required 2 major surgeries. I was non weight bearing for a combined 7 months and had 6 months of physical therapy. I've spent the majority of the last few years sitting. Literally losing muscle and gaining weight. I gained 45 pounds!

livingleanlivingclean · May 2018

RMR is effectively what your body burns lying in bed all day doing nothing - consider it close to your bmr. You don't do that though...you move around, you get 7k steps as well. This adds to your calorie requirements.

I'd say 1350 is pretty normal...

mistyloveslife · May 2018

Thanks everyone for the tips. I should point out that I'm 5'4" and 38 years old. I am not defeated. I am just trying to understand all of this so I can be successful. I was in the best shape of my life prior to my injury (stated above). I felt defeated after that and spent a lot of time couch sitting. I declared that 2018 would be the year I reclaim my life. Whether it takes a month or all year, I am committed to it. I appreciate everyone taking the time to reply.

SilentPanda, your words were extremely helpful. It's encouraging to know I'm probably not far off since your assumptions were close to my stats. I'm gonna keep at it. It can only get better from here.

apullum · May 2018

mistyloveslife wrote: »

First let me say this. I weigh everything with a digital scale. This isn't my first rodeo with dieting/lifestyle change. By clean eating I mean I am eating less processed foods. I did this because I have rheumatoid arthritis and I am trying to combat the disease without medication. The medications were affecting my liver and have terrible side effects. Clean eating helped with this.

This test she did took into account that I get in 7K steps per day and have a sedentary job. She said my RMR is 1350 calories per day. That based on my lifestyle, this is all my body needs to maintain my current weight.

I am still new to this side of things so bear with me. This is why I'm here. To learn and understand this better.

According to what she told me, I would need to eat less than 1086 calories per day to lose less than a pound per week. She said if I wanted to lose a pound per week I would need to eat less than 1000 calories. Her suggestion of meal replacement shakes was simply to manage calorie intake and help me get in more protein to build muscle. It's easy with my work schedule and I honestly like them.

I should note that I broke my foot a few years ago in a Spartan OCR/mud run that required 2 major surgeries. I was non weight bearing for a combined 7 months and had 6 months of physical therapy. I've spent the majority of the last few years sitting. Literally losing muscle and gaining weight. I gained 45 pounds!

What you are describing is not RMR. RMR is the number of calories you'd burn if you stayed in bed all day, only doing a minimal amount of activity (like walking to the bathroom). It would not take into account 7k steps. It sounds like what you want is TDEE, total daily energy expenditure. This calculation takes into account all of your activity. I would be willing to bet money that your TDEE is considerably more than 1350.

However, the good news is that you don't actually have to calculate all these things. Just put your stats into MFP and set it for 1 lb. of weight loss per week. It will do the calculations for you.

cheryldumais · May 2018

I understand what you are going through. It took me two years to lose my weight. First of all my highest weight was 251 pounds (that was pre-MFP). When I started here I was at 232.8. The first year on MFP I got down to 165. I was losing at an average of around 1.4 pounds a week and on 1200 calories. It took me another year to lose the last 20. I wanted to lose 10 more but never did.

Right now what you could be experiencing is a water issue. Losing 15 pounds in 3 weeks is not likely all fat. If you think about it you would need a deficit of 17,500/ week or 2,500/day to burn that much fat. What happens is the body reacts to the change in eating by sometimes giving up alot of water. Thus the big drop then it decides "oh this is normal now" and the water comes back but in the meantime you are losing fat. This makes it look like you have stopped losing weight. On top of that if you are a woman you have hormones working against you as your body goes through preperation for menstruation.

My advice to you would be lose a bit slower and try to add in enough exercise to help you drop a little faster. You will get there but it might take you a little longer than someone with a higher metabolism.

My maintenance calories by the way are 1450. Many folks on here would be up in arms saying that can't be but months of experience tell me it's true. Not all of us get 2000 calories a day for maintenance.

Good luck and please don't give up. It will happen, I promise.

ckam78 · May 2018

While I have not had testing done, a friend (an older woman) had testing done and came back with similar results - what seemed like a shockingly slow metabolism meaning less than 1000 calories to lose moderately. She had testing done at same time my mom did, and their results were 100s of calories apart despite similar stats. Ignore this accusatory advice arguing your professional medical testing/advice must be wrong and that instead, generalized assumptions about weight/height/age calculatiosn generated from online tools are more accurate. Listen to your team and see if scale moves. Good luck! It sucks, but at least you have a plan of attack!

cmriverside · May 2018

You can raise your RMR slightly by weight training.

Alternately, to get more food, exercise more. I mean it is what it is - eat the right number of calories and get some exercise. That's what we all have to do when we need or want to lose weight.

heybales · May 2018

I hope that verbally was not the only way you were given the info from the test.

Look at the printout you should have received.
It should be very clear - low number is RMR, high number is estimated TDEE (sounds like without workouts included if 7K steps was it).

Neither is correct for starting figure for what you eat to deficit of. Because neither is really close to total activity.

If you have step value, is that because you sync MFP with activity tracker?

7K steps is NOT Sedentary by MFP definition (no definition actually). That's actually leaving Lightly Active and entering Active level, depending on how much distance to those steps.
Sedentary job doesn't mean sedentary lifestyle as you demonstrate.

That's BMR x 1.4 or 1.6 for TDEE level if walking is it.

Any workouts you haven't mentioned?

With RH, body already under stress, diet is a stress too, to some level, more potential to your body.
Control the stresses you can, keep them minimal for the ones you can't control.

Francl27 · May 2018

Really, my guess is that whoever did that test has no idea what they are talking about, or they explained it poorly, or you misunderstood. That's RMR - resting metabolic rate. By definition, it doesn't include any kind of activity. It definitely doesn't include your 7k steps. No machine will ever be able to give you how much you burn with activity, as that's not something your body can measure at any time (and it constantly fluctuates as activity is never constant).

Also, the fact that she thinks that you can build muscle on 1000 calories just with drinking two shakes a day shows that she's completely clueless about how that works.

I mean, you lost 15 lbs, and I assume that wasn't eating 1000 calories a day. Yes, most of it was probably water weight, but to drop that much weight in 3 weeks, it means that you still have a pretty good deficit.

You want to test it? Keep weighing your food, using accurate entries, and eating 1400 calories. See how much you lose for a couple months. Then reassess (and come back to comment!).

CSARdiver · May 2018

mistyloveslife wrote: »

After being plateaued for 5 weeks, increasing activity considerably and journaling every morsel, I opted to have my metabolic rate tested at the suggestion of my family doctor. He did routine blood work (all normal aside from being slight anemic). Upon testing I've learned a few things that I've never really seen much mention on here in the "Help I've Plateaued" posts.

I have been on a strict clean eating diet. I consume1100-1400 calories per day. Never more than 1400 and I'm usually in the middle of the range I set. I've logged every bite. After 3 weeks of clean eating I lost 15 pounds. Which was insane. It tells you how much I ate prior to starting. Once I finished 3 weeks the scale never moved again. The last loss was 5 weeks ago and it was around a pound in a week. It goes up a half pound down a half pound etc. I'm stuck. 3 weeks ago I incorporated zumba 4 times a week. Walking more, hiking and I've even attended a couple weight training classes. Scale never moved. No change in my clothes. Nothing.

This morning I went for the metabolic testing. It incorporates your lifestyle, activity and you breathe into this little machine for 10 minutes. My maintenance calorie goal came back at 1350. This means I do nothing and I maintain my weight at 1350 calories a day. In efforts to lose 1/2 to a pound per week, it suggested I consume less than 1000 calories per day. The wellness coach did not encourage that. She simply told me to eat more protein, substitute 2 meals with replacement shakes and up the weight lifting. Muscle needs more calories than fat to exist. So it will be super slow. It will take time. I need to be patient and build muscle. Continue my lifestyle changes and keep on trucking....

Anyone care to share their experiences with this?

Starting Weight 200.2
Current Weight 184.4
Goal Weight 145ish

Metabolic testing carries a massive degree of error and you need multiple reading in conjunction with a second reviewer verifying your caloric intake and output (I do this for a living for regulatory submissions). The "Bodpod" and other marketing gimmicks are about as accurate as the handheld bodyfat analyzers, but it's bad marketing to adertise that 20% error.

What matters is consistency and developing long term habits. You aren't in any sort of plateau because these don't exist. Much of what you lost was water weight and now you're adjusting to this. The rate of bodyfat loss will diminish as you get closer to your goal - this is to be expected.

So what did MFP give you for your caloric budget? You didn't get that < 1000 kcal budget from here.

Do you plan on replacing 2 meals a day with shakes for the rest of your life? This practice leads to yo yo weight gain and you'll learn nothing. I do not recommend this as a long term strategy.

Momakanga · May 2018

I hear you!

Two years ago my maintenance calories were 1800 when I was 120 pounds. Now I maintain at 130 pounds 1350 calories. Same exercise, same calorie tracking. The difference is I was out of control hypothyroid (Graves Disease) and now I am medicated. It is all calories in calories out- but the rate of burn can change radically depending on what is going on in your body. Ya just gotta find your formula.

kimny72 · May 2018

mistyloveslife wrote: »

First let me say this. I weigh everything with a digital scale. This isn't my first rodeo with dieting/lifestyle change. By clean eating I mean I am eating less processed foods. I did this because I have rheumatoid arthritis and I am trying to combat the disease without medication. The medications were affecting my liver and have terrible side effects. Clean eating helped with this.

This test she did took into account that I get in 7K steps per day and have a sedentary job. She said my RMR is 1350 calories per day. That based on my lifestyle, this is all my body needs to maintain my current weight.

I am still new to this side of things so bear with me. This is why I'm here. To learn and understand this better.

According to what she told me, I would need to eat less than 1086 calories per day to lose less than a pound per week. She said if I wanted to lose a pound per week I would need to eat less than 1000 calories. Her suggestion of meal replacement shakes was simply to manage calorie intake and help me get in more protein to build muscle. It's easy with my work schedule and I honestly like them.

I should note that I broke my foot a few years ago in a Spartan OCR/mud run that required 2 major surgeries. I was non weight bearing for a combined 7 months and had 6 months of physical therapy. I've spent the majority of the last few years sitting. Literally losing muscle and gaining weight. I gained 45 pounds!

To repeat, your RMR does NOT include your lifestyle. RMR is a real thing with a real meaning. It literally stands for Resting Metabolic Rate. If this "professional" told you your RMR includes your daily activity, it would be like a doctor telling you that being diabetic means you have too much salt in your blood. So the person who gave you your test results was embarrassingly uneducated about the information they were giving you, and I would strongly suggest you disregard anything else they told you.

T1DCarnivoreRunner · May 2018

It has been a year since my last test, but RMR was 1,500 at that time (6% less than predicted based on gender/age/height/weight). The estimate was that 1,650 calories is maintenance for a sedentary activity level.

deannalfisher · May 2018

Momakanga wrote: »

I hear you!

Two years ago my maintenance calories were 1800 when I was 120 pounds. Now I maintain at 130 pounds 1350 calories. Same exercise, same calorie tracking. The difference is I was out of control hyperthyroid (Graves Disease) and now I am medicated. It is all calories in calories out- but the rate of burn can change radically depending on what is going on in your body. Ya just gotta find your formula.

FIFY - Hyper is graves not hypo

Momakanga · May 2018

Yep, my typo, hyper not hypo. Thanks for the catch!

mom23mangos · May 2018

CSARdiver wrote: »

mistyloveslife wrote: »

After being plateaued for 5 weeks, increasing activity considerably and journaling every morsel, I opted to have my metabolic rate tested at the suggestion of my family doctor. He did routine blood work (all normal aside from being slight anemic). Upon testing I've learned a few things that I've never really seen much mention on here in the "Help I've Plateaued" posts.

I have been on a strict clean eating diet. I consume1100-1400 calories per day. Never more than 1400 and I'm usually in the middle of the range I set. I've logged every bite. After 3 weeks of clean eating I lost 15 pounds. Which was insane. It tells you how much I ate prior to starting. Once I finished 3 weeks the scale never moved again. The last loss was 5 weeks ago and it was around a pound in a week. It goes up a half pound down a half pound etc. I'm stuck. 3 weeks ago I incorporated zumba 4 times a week. Walking more, hiking and I've even attended a couple weight training classes. Scale never moved. No change in my clothes. Nothing.

This morning I went for the metabolic testing. It incorporates your lifestyle, activity and you breathe into this little machine for 10 minutes. My maintenance calorie goal came back at 1350. This means I do nothing and I maintain my weight at 1350 calories a day. In efforts to lose 1/2 to a pound per week, it suggested I consume less than 1000 calories per day. The wellness coach did not encourage that. She simply told me to eat more protein, substitute 2 meals with replacement shakes and up the weight lifting. Muscle needs more calories than fat to exist. So it will be super slow. It will take time. I need to be patient and build muscle. Continue my lifestyle changes and keep on trucking....

Anyone care to share their experiences with this?

Starting Weight 200.2
Current Weight 184.4
Goal Weight 145ish

Metabolic testing carries a massive degree of error and you need multiple reading in conjunction with a second reviewer verifying your caloric intake and output (I do this for a living for regulatory submissions). The "Bodpod" and other marketing gimmicks are about as accurate as the handheld bodyfat analyzers, but it's bad marketing to adertise that 20% error.

What matters is consistency and developing long term habits. You aren't in any sort of plateau because these don't exist. Much of what you lost was water weight and now you're adjusting to this. The rate of bodyfat loss will diminish as you get closer to your goal - this is to be expected.

So what did MFP give you for your caloric budget? You didn't get that < 1000 kcal budget from here.

Do you plan on replacing 2 meals a day with shakes for the rest of your life? This practice leads to yo yo weight gain and you'll learn nothing. I do not recommend this as a long term strategy.

My Bodpod RMR estimate was horribly off. It predicted 1000 calories and my measured RMR was 1340.

OP, do you have the printout they gave you? Can you upload a pic?

collectingblues · May 2018

mom23mangos wrote: »

CSARdiver wrote: »

mistyloveslife wrote: »

After being plateaued for 5 weeks, increasing activity considerably and journaling every morsel, I opted to have my metabolic rate tested at the suggestion of my family doctor. He did routine blood work (all normal aside from being slight anemic). Upon testing I've learned a few things that I've never really seen much mention on here in the "Help I've Plateaued" posts.

I have been on a strict clean eating diet. I consume1100-1400 calories per day. Never more than 1400 and I'm usually in the middle of the range I set. I've logged every bite. After 3 weeks of clean eating I lost 15 pounds. Which was insane. It tells you how much I ate prior to starting. Once I finished 3 weeks the scale never moved again. The last loss was 5 weeks ago and it was around a pound in a week. It goes up a half pound down a half pound etc. I'm stuck. 3 weeks ago I incorporated zumba 4 times a week. Walking more, hiking and I've even attended a couple weight training classes. Scale never moved. No change in my clothes. Nothing.

This morning I went for the metabolic testing. It incorporates your lifestyle, activity and you breathe into this little machine for 10 minutes. My maintenance calorie goal came back at 1350. This means I do nothing and I maintain my weight at 1350 calories a day. In efforts to lose 1/2 to a pound per week, it suggested I consume less than 1000 calories per day. The wellness coach did not encourage that. She simply told me to eat more protein, substitute 2 meals with replacement shakes and up the weight lifting. Muscle needs more calories than fat to exist. So it will be super slow. It will take time. I need to be patient and build muscle. Continue my lifestyle changes and keep on trucking....

Anyone care to share their experiences with this?

Starting Weight 200.2
Current Weight 184.4
Goal Weight 145ish

Metabolic testing carries a massive degree of error and you need multiple reading in conjunction with a second reviewer verifying your caloric intake and output (I do this for a living for regulatory submissions). The "Bodpod" and other marketing gimmicks are about as accurate as the handheld bodyfat analyzers, but it's bad marketing to adertise that 20% error.

What matters is consistency and developing long term habits. You aren't in any sort of plateau because these don't exist. Much of what you lost was water weight and now you're adjusting to this. The rate of bodyfat loss will diminish as you get closer to your goal - this is to be expected.

So what did MFP give you for your caloric budget? You didn't get that < 1000 kcal budget from here.

Do you plan on replacing 2 meals a day with shakes for the rest of your life? This practice leads to yo yo weight gain and you'll learn nothing. I do not recommend this as a long term strategy.

My Bodpod RMR estimate was horribly off. It predicted 1000 calories and my measured RMR was 1340.

OP, do you have the printout they gave you? Can you upload a pic?

Ditto. My BodPod RMR was 1100 something, and the actual measured RMR (30 minutes laying down, air mask, dark room, etc.) was 1436.

heybales · May 2018

mom23mangos wrote: »

CSARdiver wrote: »

mistyloveslife wrote: »

After being plateaued for 5 weeks, increasing activity considerably and journaling every morsel, I opted to have my metabolic rate tested at the suggestion of my family doctor. He did routine blood work (all normal aside from being slight anemic). Upon testing I've learned a few things that I've never really seen much mention on here in the "Help I've Plateaued" posts.

I have been on a strict clean eating diet. I consume1100-1400 calories per day. Never more than 1400 and I'm usually in the middle of the range I set. I've logged every bite. After 3 weeks of clean eating I lost 15 pounds. Which was insane. It tells you how much I ate prior to starting. Once I finished 3 weeks the scale never moved again. The last loss was 5 weeks ago and it was around a pound in a week. It goes up a half pound down a half pound etc. I'm stuck. 3 weeks ago I incorporated zumba 4 times a week. Walking more, hiking and I've even attended a couple weight training classes. Scale never moved. No change in my clothes. Nothing.

This morning I went for the metabolic testing. It incorporates your lifestyle, activity and you breathe into this little machine for 10 minutes. My maintenance calorie goal came back at 1350. This means I do nothing and I maintain my weight at 1350 calories a day. In efforts to lose 1/2 to a pound per week, it suggested I consume less than 1000 calories per day. The wellness coach did not encourage that. She simply told me to eat more protein, substitute 2 meals with replacement shakes and up the weight lifting. Muscle needs more calories than fat to exist. So it will be super slow. It will take time. I need to be patient and build muscle. Continue my lifestyle changes and keep on trucking....

Anyone care to share their experiences with this?

Starting Weight 200.2
Current Weight 184.4
Goal Weight 145ish

Metabolic testing carries a massive degree of error and you need multiple reading in conjunction with a second reviewer verifying your caloric intake and output (I do this for a living for regulatory submissions). The "Bodpod" and other marketing gimmicks are about as accurate as the handheld bodyfat analyzers, but it's bad marketing to adertise that 20% error.

What matters is consistency and developing long term habits. You aren't in any sort of plateau because these don't exist. Much of what you lost was water weight and now you're adjusting to this. The rate of bodyfat loss will diminish as you get closer to your goal - this is to be expected.

So what did MFP give you for your caloric budget? You didn't get that < 1000 kcal budget from here.

Do you plan on replacing 2 meals a day with shakes for the rest of your life? This practice leads to yo yo weight gain and you'll learn nothing. I do not recommend this as a long term strategy.

My Bodpod RMR estimate was horribly off. It predicted 1000 calories and my measured RMR was 1340.

OP, do you have the printout they gave you? Can you upload a pic?

Bodpod gives a decent BF%.

The formula's for RMR based on it was off - and they use different formula's. Mine was Nelson RMR, and research has shown that one to be underestimated as was in my case.
Cunningham was closer to tested for me.

Bodpod is another test where I've heard of the tech commenting that it was measuring your RMR, not calculating it from what it really measured.

Sounds like we have 2 techs that went to same training - how to use the equipment - not what it actually does.

dangerousdashie · May 2018

Hey, my estimated maintenance calories are 1355 but my estimated BMR is 1164. To lose weight I eat around 1084 calories. Maybe the 1350 number you got isn’t your bmr, but your maintenance because that could put you around 1000 calories a day for weight loss.

I’m able to eat enough protein for my body. I also track my micros and I hit all of the ones on mfp and am starting to track them on cronometer as well. And I’m satisfied everyday and losing at a normal rate. I don’t understand why your nutritionist would think that’s too low if it’s what the test showed. Obviously you must be small/small framed if those were your results, so even though <1000 may sound low, it’s not if you’re under 80 lbs lean mass or maybe have a slow metabolism.

I’ve had a lot of people freak out at me for eating under 1084 calories but I can see their food diaries and they aren’t even hitting their micros or protein at 1800 calories and no ones worried about them. If it’s appropriate for your body and you’re eating nutrient dense food I personally don’t understand why it would be a problem.

mywayroche · May 2018

As has already been said, that's about right if you're in a coma.

amusedmonkey · May 2018

dangerousdashie wrote: »

Hey, my estimated maintenance calories are 1355 but my estimated BMR is 1164. To lose weight I eat around 1084 calories. Maybe the 1350 number you got isn’t your bmr, but your maintenance because that could put you around 1000 calories a day for weight loss.

I’m able to eat enough protein for my body. I also track my micros and I hit all of the ones on mfp and am starting to track them on cronometer as well. And I’m satisfied everyday and losing at a normal rate. I don’t understand why your nutritionist would think that’s too low if it’s what the test showed. Obviously you must be small/small framed if those were your results, so even though <1000 may sound low, it’s not if you’re under 80 lbs lean mass or maybe have a slow metabolism.

I’ve had a lot of people freak out at me for eating under 1084 calories but I can see their food diaries and they aren’t even hitting their micros or protein at 1800 calories and no ones worried about them. If it’s appropriate for your body and you’re eating nutrient dense food I personally don’t understand why it would be a problem.

This may be the case for you because you're tiny, but she's 180+ lbs and looking at her goal weight, she's likely not very short. There must be something going on there.

OP: while dieting (especially low calories dieting like you've been doing) can decrease your BMR to some extent temporarily and extended dieting can result in some permanent decrease, it's very unlikely your TDEE (maintenance calories) is that low. Do you have printed results?

If this is not a misunderstanding on your part and you really are an extreme outlier here are a few things that may help you feel better (I'm a slight outlier myself):
- Once you stop dieting and start maintaining, your metabolic rate will increase a little.
- If you focus on preserving muscle mass (by progressive resistance training), your metabolic rate will be better off
- If you focus on preserving and building muscle, you may be happy with the way you look at a higher weight than your current goal weight, which means you get to eat more.
- If you focus on increasing your NEAT (non-exercise activity), you can bump up your TDEE by quite a bit! The more active you are throughout the day the more you will be able to eat. My TDEE is about 150-200 calories lower than predicted calculations and I can even it out by an evening walk so my calories are not too different from those whose TDEE is closer to the calculated estimate, I just need to move a bit more than them to achieve it. I'm then able to take it all the way higher by being active throughout the day. You don't need to ramp up your activity all at once. In fact, it's best to do it gradually, but the end result is worth it.

Aaron_K123 · May 2018

mistyloveslife wrote: »

After 3 weeks of clean eating I lost 15 pounds. Which was insane. It tells you how much I ate prior to starting.

Honestly its more telling how much sodium you consumed and how much water you drank before and after because 15 pound loss in the first 3 weeks is water weight. If you "eat clean" typically what people mean by that is they stop eating processed foods (which tend to be high in sodium) and eat only whole foods (which tend to be extremely low in sodium). On top of that people in "clean eating" kicks tend to drink a bucket ton more water than they used to. The combination of the two means there sodium levels drop from abnormally high and unhealthy to abnormally low and unhealthy and they drop 10+ pounds in water weight that they were retaining to be in osmotic balance with their sodium level. Sodium isn't something to avoid entirely, it is something to get a reasonable amount of in balance with the amount of liquid you intake.

You don't lose 15 pounds of fat in 3 weeks...that doesn't happen.

As for the rest it might not be a bad idea to gain muscle but you can't gain muscle in caloric deficit, not practically anyways. So if you want to gain muscle you are going to want to eat in caloric excess and lift heavy to put on some weight. You don't have to do that, you can decide instead to calorically restrict to lose fat....but don't kid yourself that you are going to lose fat and build muscle at the same time because that isn't going to happen.

Low Metabolic Rate - Anyone?

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