Metabolic Testing

Rich and I did our metabolic testing today. An interesting thing. The testing shows how many calories we burn at rest and based on our lifestyles and the second part shows at what heart rate we burn fat versus not burning anything. As for me... my resting metabolic rate is 1348 calories. So my body needs at least 1348 in order to fuel my organs and that is without exercise. If I exercise, I need more calories to fuel that. Roughly based on no exercise... my body will burn to up 2022 calories a day. So if I ate more than that... I'd have excess calories floating in my body. Basically it summarizes to... I need to get eat more than 1348 calories and less than 2022 to lose weight. I'd need to eat 2022 to maintain. If I exercise and burn 200 calories... I'd add 200 calories to those number. If I exercise more than that... then I need additional calories. Ah, the math of it all. LOL! I'm not sure how many calories I'm taking in now. I'll need to measure things out one of these days to see where I'm at. I did lose this past week but I've been having stomach issues and eating hasn't been easy. As for my heart rate stuff....my heart rate runs very low. My aerobic base (AB) was a heart rate of 71. That is the maximum rate at which I burned fat during my test. Yikes, that's low. My anaerobic threshold (AT) was a heart rate of 114. Which is the maxiumum sustainable rate at which I burned calories (fat and carbs) during my assessment. Above 114, I burn carbs only. Unfortunately when I work out... I'm working my body much higher than that and when I do and I deplete my carb stores... I end up losing some lean muscle. Not good. It is going to be strange to have to work my body out less intensely for more benefit. So, that being said... I have a bit of a plan now to increase my aerobic base up to a higher rate. I have a treadmill workout that has me adjusting the incline and speed to keep my heart rate in certain ranges to work on this. Pretty interesting stuff. Not sure I "get" it all but still interesting. I'm not really looking to lose more weight but I'd like to build up my lean muscle mass and reduce my body fat so that's my goal. When you increase lean muscle mass, you increase your body's ability to burn fat at rest. We got the testing done through Andy Pfefferkorn who is a personal trainer and teaches the fitness class through our bariatric program at our hospital (Fair Oaks Hospital.) Luckily I got a heart rate monitor for Christmas from my dad. I asked for it but had yet to work with it. Now I can and will know how to use it. As for Rich his caloric range without exercise is 2088 (resting) and 2727 (max). His AB was 87 and his AT was 127. Kathy

Kathy, This is a subject I am very interested in. Would you tell us what the metabolic testing involves? Was it expensive? I presume it was done at a health club? Do tell! Thanks, Chris P.S. Have you seen your primary RE: fainting, chest pain and trip to ER?

Chris, The metabolic testing involves fasting and then putting on a mask and sitting very still to measure your metabolic rate at rest. You are hooked up to a computer for about 10-15 minutes. Then the second part of the test we had involved having the mask on, a heart rate monitor and being on a treadmill. Per the testor, you increase speed and incline to get the right intensity as the computer measures your aerobic/anaerbic heart rates. The testor has you adjust the treadmill based on how your body responds. This part took about 15-20 minutes. After the testing, we got printouts with our information and the trainer went over all of it with us and gave us the workouts designed for us to help us improve our fat burning. The testing was performed at a fitness center. It cost $150 which was a reduced rate supposedly. The specific software used was called "New Leaf". I did see my primary care phyisician this week and she wants me to go for a CT scan and to see the gastroenterologist. She agrees with me in that she thinks it is my stomach causing the other issues. I have found that when I eat... I can bring on the chest pains. She says the nerves run along there. I have the CT scan scheduled for Tuesday and I see the gastro on Wednesday. I may postpone the CT scan. I doubt they'll see anything. I may wait on that until the gastro does an endoscopy which I fully expect him to do in the near future. Thanks for asking! Hope the info helps. Kathy

Thanks so much for the info. I will have to look into this as I really wonder how badly I have damaged my metabolism with all the years of starving/binging/losing/gaining. You are such an excellent source of information! You are invaluable to this board! Thanks again, Chris

Wow, that's neat to know. I didn't do the metabolic testing like you did but through some other thing my dietician had me do said I needed at least 2300 to maintain...anything less would be more weight loss. I'm assuming that's an estimate but these things are really neat to know. Cool!

Your estimate isn't that far off from mine if I included 300 cals worth of exercise a day while I probably get when I go to the gym. This stuff is cool! Finer living through science, I guess. So nice to see ya around, Ana! Hugs, Kathy

Kathy, Thanks for posting all of this. I put my results away just before my trip. I will try and get them pulled out and see how I compare. Your test seems more thorough then mine. Now where did I put those? Lori