RMR Testing

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Originally Posted by Running Mommy

I was amazed to see that I was only eating around 1300 cals a day. I just think it was to little for my body based on my activity level.

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:eek:

Yeah, that'd be low even at a fraction of your activity level. That is such a great lesson to learn, I am so amazed your body could function at all.

Right on re the shorts :D That is such a fantastic feeling. I bet you anything it'll all start to come together and your energy levels/training will be off the charts.

Anyway, just wow. I've used your example to friends who are trying to lose weight and do severe diets and can't figure out why it isn't working. They aren't doing near the activity level (if any at all) but sometimes it's a matter of getting tested and having someone analyze what you're eating.

OK- I've got a stupid question, and this is really long, but here goes:

I guess I consider myself to be very knowledgeable on working out and the science of training. Not boasting, just giving background here: I've done an IM, and many marathons (and other things), and feel very confident that my physical training is exactly where it needs to be. Physical training: I do well :) - nutrition training: I do poorly :( . When training for my IM last summer, I started reading a lot more about nutrition, but didn't do much about it. Now I'm ready to clean my diet up for good.

Brief background: I lost a lot of weight with WW a couple years ago (which was fine), but I don't think it really taught me to eat better. It taught me to count points. Now that I've put back on 25 lbs (I lost 60 altogether) and am endurance athlete, I need to re-think my whole nutritional plan. I think part of what I put back on is muscle mass. I was down to a size 2/4 (which was realistically way too small for me even tho I'm only 5'3"- I looked way too skinny), and I don't want to be that small again because it would mean losing muscle in my butt/thighs that is my powerhouse now.
I was reading this thread the other day and was very interested in what you ladies were saying. Thanks for all the wisdom, rabidgirl. Because of what I've been reading in books and online, I've been adding more protein in my diet (about 130-150g a day). I've been really trying to clean up my diet and eliminate most sugar (it's like crack to me- I'm an addict and I just can't have it around).


OK- so here's the question. I've been meticulously writing down every calorie that goes in my mouth and I'm doing well. Without having done the RMR testing (they don't even do it in my city), I'm guessing that I need to eat about 1400 calories a day to lose weight. My question is: do I eat all the calories from the exercise that I've burned?
For example: I rode 2.5 hours yesterday and burned 1800 cal. Do I eat my 1400 and then all or part of the 1800? I know I need to eat some of what I burn because otherwise 1400 just isn't going to cut it for fueling my body properly and I'll be hurting myself. Just wondering what your thoughts are on how much of the calories burned through exercise that you need to eat (1/2, 2/3?)
I want to be eating enough to maintain my current activity level, but still lose weight. I've been toying with this for the last month and have only lost 2 lbs. I'm a little frustrated. I train approximately 1.5-2 hours a day- with one day of rest a week. I need the fuel, and DON'T want to starve myself, but don't want to be overeating (by eating my cal's burned) and then not doing any good.

Does any of this make sense?

What do you ladies think? Rabidgirl- RM???

I went to a nutritionist about 3 years ago (before WW and all this exercise started) and wanted to lose weight. She was a joke. I kept track of my food intake and she would look over it and tell me I was doing everything right (but I wasn't losing any weight- obviously I wasn't doing things right). I'm leary of finding another, but would like to. How do you go about finding a sports nutrtionist who actually undertands and works specifically with athletes to help them fuel?

I'm happy to answer your question, but note that I am not a nutritionist. My knowledge is based on my experience and readings of other people's work.

That said, you should be calculating your caloric requirements that include calories lost from exercise. That means your caloric need includes your Resting Metabolic Rate (RMR) PLUS the calories consumed during activity. If you have a polar that estimates Own Cal, that is among one of the best ways to judge expenditure. There is also a multiplier you could use... based on your description of your activity, you could use 1.55 (that's your RMR times 1.55). Now, to lose weight, you cut the caloric requirement by no more than 500 calories. Cut out more calories and you just won't have the energy you need and you could throw your body into starvation mode.

There are two additional points to note:

1) You should not be worried about your total body weight per se, but rather your body fat percentage. A trainer should also be able to do this. Or, get some calipers and do the testing yourself. In weight loss, the goal is to lose the fat, not the muscle. By being consumed solely on your weight, you could inadvertenetly be losing muscle... not good.

2) Macronutirient percentages (% of carbs, protein, & fat) and nutrient timing for exercise recovery are extremely important for maintaining muscle, providing energy, and refueling the body. Of course, the macronutirent breakdown depends on the level and type of exercise you are doing. A rough basis for estimating macros is 20% protein, 20-30% fat and 50-60% carbs. If you are just building endurance you would eat more fats; higher intensity activity requires more carbs; protein stays roughly 1 gram per pound of bodyweight. Be sure to get carbs in before activity, replenish carbs and protein during activity, and get plenty of carbs and protein IMMEDIATELY after exercise.

Joe Friel has co-authored a book titled "The Paleo Diet for Athletes". I just started getting into it, but it seems to follow much of what I have been reading and practicing myself. It is much more restrictive than what I have been following due to the exclusions of foods causing blood acidosis, but I'm looking forward to learning more and giving it a try.

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Originally Posted by rabidgirl

That said, you should be calculating your caloric requirements that include calories lost from exercise. That means your caloric need includes your Resting Metabolic Rate (RMR) PLUS the calories consumed during activity. If you have a polar that estimates Own Cal, that is among one of the best ways to judge expenditure. There is also a multiplier you could use... based on your description of your activity, you could use 1.55 (that's your RMR times 1.55). Now, to lose weight, you cut the caloric requirement by no more than 500 calories. Cut out more calories and you just won't have the energy you need and you could throw your body into starvation mode.

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Thanks for your answer! So I'm to understand that I should consume enough calories in a day that includes my RMR, and whatever calories I burn through exercise?

I use a Nike HR monitor (same as Polar in all the functions) that calculates cal burned based on info I put into it.

When you say cut the caloric requirement by no more than 500 calories. What do you mean? What caloric requirement (the RMR, right?). So if my RMR is 1500 cal, and I burn 800 through exercise, I should consume 1800 calories that day? (1500+800-500?). Am I understanding right? Sometimes I have to have things spelled out for me like I'm 5. ;)

My body fat percentage is high. To me that is the more important number than the scale. At my lowest, my trainer at the gym measured me at 18% body fat. Currently I'm at 27. I'd be thrilled with 24.

Thanks again so much for your information!!! It really helps me! :)

TriGirl, You've got it right.... 1500 (RMR) + 800 (cals burned) - 500 (for weight loss) = 1800 total cals. To be honest, if I were you, I'd start at 2000 and see how it goes. You can safely lose 1 pound of body fat per week. If you aren't losing that, then go to 1800 cals. The goal is to avoid pushing the body into starvation mode. Be sure to get enough protein and good fats. One nifty trick is to eat carbs around exercise (for energy and recovery) and eat more fat & protein on non-exercise days and in the hours after exercise (if you exercise in the morning, then the evenings could have more fats & protein with less carbs).

I see you live in tornado alley... whereabouts? I'm just north of KC, MO. One of my long term goals is to complete an Ironman... I'd love to get your take on training for the average human being. :-)

Woo hoo! I understood. Thanks, again, for helping me see clearly. I will go ahead and start with 2000 cal + exercise cals burned - the 500. According to some rough calculations that I've made today based on Nancy Clarks Sports Nutrition for Athletes and some internet searching I did, I probably need to eat 2400 calories a day to maintain weight. Granted, my body may be different, but until I get the RMR test done- this will be a good starting point.

I live in OKC- right now we are not so much tornado alley, but just one big marshland. I guess with all the rain the severe thunderstorm/tornado threat has disappeard. I can be thankful for that. :)

As for training, it wasn't easy, but I don't have kids and I have a husband who's very understanding. I did the trifuel 36 week program, and it was great for me (www.trifuel.com- under the training section). When I do another, I'll use that program again. As for nutrition for going long distance, I used the book Going Long by Friel and somebody else (can't remember). Excellent book on fueling for iron distance events.

I'm soooooooo glad you posted about this, RM!!! Thank you for sharing your findings. If you hadn't- I wouldn't have sought someone to do the test and get myself measured. I think knowing EXACTLY the number of calories I need to consume will be very beneficial (for weight loss currently, but also for maintaining weight and when I do another IM I'll know exactly how much to eat to fuel me properly).

So I did the RMR test yesterday.
The test was nothing exciting. Like RM- I had to do some adjusting to make sure the mask had a snug fit (man- that was a little confining). I just sat in a chair with my feet propped up for 15 min. with a mask over my mouth and nose and had to be still and relax and breathe normally. It was interesting, but VERY hard for me to sit still that long. I'm a figdeter, so being still that long was kinda tough.
He e-mailed me my results later this afternoon. Said my RMR was 1383 calories per day. There are 4 factors that go into figuring your daily caloric needs. RMR is one of them. The others are:
1. ADL (activities of daily living- what you burn just going about your normal day- I'm wearing a monitor for a week to measure how many calories I burn just doing normal things- not exercise).
2. TE (thermal effect of digesting, transporting and abosorbing food). Don't know how that's measured- we'll get into that next time.
3. Excercise (what you burn exercising daily)
4. RMR

He also said that depending on where you're at in your monthly cycle, your metabolism can have an increase of about 150 calories- you burn more at mid-cycle. Interesting. I didn't know that. No wonder I want to eat more at certain times of the month. ;)

After I turn in my monitor that's measuring my calories burned through daily activity (non-exercise) we'll figure in exercise and the thermal effect then come up with a number of how many calories to eat daily to lose (and then maintain). I'm very excited. Sometimes too much information is just- well, too much information. But in this case, I think too much information is a good thing. Hopefully it'll get my butt in gear and help me lose this weight that I've been struggling with for a year.

Thanks, RM and rabidgirl for all your help!!!! :)