Low RMR/REE

I had a revision from Lapband to RNY last August and I have lost 123 pounds. I am within 10 pounds of my goal weight so I got my resting metabolism rate tested. My expected RMR/REE was 1423 based on my height, weight, age but my actual was 857.

I assumed this number would be lower than normal but I was surprised by how low it was. It does explain why everytime I increased my calories into the 700's my weight loss really slowed down.

I plan on retesting in 6 months but I was wondering if anyone else had an RMR this low and if so did it increase over time? I'm also wondering if maybe I took this test too soon since I am still in the weight loss phase. Is there anything I can do to help increase this number?

Thanks for your help!

I have no personal experience with this, but I do recall reading about it in the "Biggest Loser" study a few years ago. Scientists looked at people who had lost massive amounts of weight after participating in the TV show, and they discovered that those people's RMRs were very low and even tended to slow down after weight loss.

https://korr.com/blog/biggest-loser-resting-metabolic-rate/

Thank you for the article. I found a few others on the biggest loser study that I read through as well. I'm interested to see if anything changes in 6 months, especially if I begin strength training. I will discuss it with my Dr at my next follow up and see what she has to say.

I don't know how accurate those tests are, but if your weight loss slows down when you get above 700 kcal, then maybe it's pretty accurate for you (I never had one done - I just experimented with calorie levels until I found my "sweet spot").

the only thing I know of that can increase metabolism is building muscle - i.e., through strength training. It takes a lot more calories to maintain muscle than it does to maintain fat.

Hopefully strength training helps. I plan on starting soon and look forward to getting some muscle back. Without all the weight behind me I feel much weaker.

Thanks!

Fasting and building muscle are the two ways to increase RMR. Here's an article from an excellent medical blog: https://idmprogram.com/fix-broken-metabolism/

Thanks for the article, very interesting. I started eating more frequently but I think I'm going to look further into fasting.

Thanks again!

Strength training should help because increased muscles increase your metabolism so your exercise focus should be strength training to increase your overall metabolic rate. There is something out there called reverse dieting and basically you increase your caloric intake gradually, concentration on whole food etc which will slowly result in an increased metabolic rate over time. It can, from what I understand, result in some initial weight gain.

I think I've actually been doing that without knowing that was what I was doing. I was still losing weight and wanted to stop because I'm bony, mostly in a size small, etc. It seemed to be the time to pull the trigger on maintenance. My nutritionist said to increase my calories by 100 at a time until I stop losing weight. I'm up to 1600 calories and I'm still losing off and on and if I don't get in my calories, I'll lose really easy. But what I've been doing fits the description of reverse dieting. Given that your RMR is so slow, you might could only increase by 50 calories, weekly or biweekly.

The theory behind it is that when you are on a severely reduced calorie diet, your body protects its fat stores by decreasing your metabolic rate which eventually becomes your "set point" so your body gravitates to those calories to maintain it's fat stores. You have to convince your body to let go of those fat stores and change the set point. The diet, from what I understand, is mostly done by weight lifters but I think it is spreading more into more "normal" dieters, weight loss folks.

You could also try keto, I suppose. I'm not a fan but others might be and for some, it has been a real success story. My thing is, whatever diet you choose should be something sustainable so, not so much a diet as a lifestyle change. I could not sustain a keto diet, I like some carbs like whole grains, etc. I don't eat bread or pasta to be honest but that's not a big deal, I wasn't a big bread/pasta person pre-surgery. I can eat the way I'm eating without difficulty. So far, I'm really not that tempted unless I'm around a lot of food for extended periods of time to overeat or eat a lot of "crap". I know that could easily change particularly if I don't eat mindfully. Right now, I like how i eat so it is sustainable.

I have been scolded for not eating enough so I plan and log food diligently because of that. I don't always stick to my plans but i.e. last night I had a snack scheduled and I wasn't really hungry. I ate it any way. I probably would have lost weight or more. I did lose about 3 or 4 oz which isn't a big deal. I just don't want to whoosh anymore and I do that at a drop of the hat. Trouble is, if I followed my hunger, I probably wouldn't eat more than 800 calories a day. That is so weird to me. I don't know if that will change more as time goes by. I have a friend and she eats pretty normally but she's also probably still about 50 lbs overweight but then again, she's maintained an over 200lb loss for 10 or so years and she's happy.

At any rate, research it, you can google reverse diet and get a lot of info. It may not be for you but it does seem to be keeping my metabolism going. I'm right now debating on going to 1700 calories since I do sometimes get to 1650 without gaining.

Has your surgeon talked with you about the bounceback regain phase of RNY? Sometime between month 18 and month 36 your body will finally heal from the surgery and a gain of twenty pounds is normal. My surgeon advised me to stay twenty pounds below his goal for me until after that bounceback phase. When it happened I was very glad that I had the cushion of extra weight lost to help with the rapid regain phase.

Ain't that the truth!! I wish I could go back to how easy it was before the end of the second year.

And at 10 years out it is even harder!!