RMR Testing

[Running Mommy]

So I had my RMR (resting metabolic rate) tested this morning. It turns out I have a pretty high metabolism afterall! Go FIGURE?!
Anyway, the test was pretty cool. First off I had to fast for 8-12 hours, so they had me in for the test at o dark thrity this morning- 5:30 am. UGH!!
I am NOT a morning person!
The test uses a mask that I already have ( I've had my vo2 max tested before) so I just needed to be hooked up to the machine. They put me in a quiet room and had me sit with my feet up. You have to make sure that no air is escaping through the sides of the mask, so that took some adjusting. Then they hooked it up to a machine and I had to sit still and relax for about 5-10 minutes and let the machine do it's thing. Oh and you have to breathe through your mouth only. I must say that I'm not a claustrophobic person but this mask turned me in to one! UGH!
When all was said and done my RMR is 2648 cals. So to lose weight I should eat in a range of no less than 1700 cals and no more than 2000 a day.
I've actually been eating too little! As I usually eat between 1200-1500 a day.
I also had my body fat tested in a bod pod and that was interesting. You have to go in your swim suit and swim cap. I'm 29.8% bf.. UGH!!
Oh and another interesting # I got from all of this was that I have 123 lbs of muscle mass!! That is A LOT of muscle on a 5' 1" frame!!
So anyway, it was very interesting info thats for sure. Now I need to put it to good use!
The nutritionist noticed a few things in my food journal that I need to change. I eat too much fruit. She suspects that my body has gotten really good at burning sugar, so she wants me to watch the fruit. But I need to add more vegees and lean protein. She said my other carbs are fine. Oh- and I eat those little frozen lean cuisine or weight watcher meals sometimes when I'm too lazy to cook. She did not like that at all! oops!
Anyway, hopefully I can put all this info together to help me to shed some lb's! I'm getting tired of being in the Athena class at races!!

[five one]

I've been interested in doing this myself, both RMR and body fat. Did you arrange this through your nutritionist or doctor?

I'm at a place where I can't get the fat loss to kick in. I don't really care about the number on the scale. I eat well, ride a lot, lift weights. I know I'll never be thin. Not my body type. Like you, I have a lot of muscle, but the layer of "insulation" over it simply does not budge. I was always the classic pear shape, but that's changed with menopause and the possibility (or should I say likelihood?) of visceral abdominal fat is worrisome. It's probably time to see a professional to tell me what I already know. At this point, having some test results might be the push I need to turn things around.

Thanks for reporting your experience.

[RoadRaven]

This is really interesting to read, thanks RM

I didn't even know this kind of test could be done! I have had my VO2max tested, and for me even that test was claustrophobic, even though I was on the bike! I'm going to ask our local sports lab if they do this (I might have to wait til a visit to one of the bigger cities to get this done).

As for the body fat test - very interesting too - again, I didn't know how this was done. However, the thought of me in a swimsuit is a little bit scarey. I may not be brave enough...

five one... my partner and I have been experimenting with something that was very successful for another member of our cycle club. We have eliminated bread from our diet, consequently eating large quantities of rice now. We had both plateued in our weight loss, and its working for us...

[five one]

five one... my partner and I have been experimenting with something that was very successful for another member of our cycle club. We have eliminated bread from our diet, consequently eating large quantities of rice now. We had both plateued in our weight loss, and its working for us...

Ah...if only it were as simple as the elimination of a particular food. Maybe it is, but I eat very little bread as it is, so that's not the magic pill for me. I'm glad to hear it's working for you though. Step one will be to keep a more diligent food journal and see if I can spot a trend. I'd need to do that before seeing a nutritionist anyway. I suspect that like Denise, I'm probably not eating enough calories in the course of a day. I (mostly ) eat well and the thought of eating more is kind of scary. I'll have to experiment a bit with that. I know it's worked for others.

Thanks for the input. Wishing you continued good luck in your weight loss efforts.

[Running Mommy]

Five one- I had it done at a sports/ rehab place that does this kind of thing. They actually do a lot of different things from consulting athletes on performance, to weight loss, to sports rehab.
And the best part is my insurance is paying for it because my BMI falls in the "obese" range. Now personally I HATE the BMI charts and think they are a joke, but they worked in my favor this time. Because I'm considered "obese" they will pay for the referral to the nutritionist and what they consider a "reasonable weight loss plan that is medically supervised".
I had to jump through some hoops to get things approved, but I'm glad I did.

As for eleminating certain foods... I have heard that certain foods just don't "agree" with our bodies, and that if you can figure out which foods those are it will help to shed the lb's.
Personally I find that ANYTHING with high fructose corn syrup in it sends me into a tailspin! So I try to stay away from it. But I did find it interesting that the nutritionist thinks I'm eating too much fruit. She said I was just trading one sugar for another. Granted fruit does have a lot of nutrients and is much better for you, but it still has a lot of natural sugars.

[five one]

Agreed that BMI is a joke. Anything that takes only your height and weight without factoring in fat/lean ratio isn't giving you anything you can work with. My BMI puts me in the overweight category. You wouldn't think so to look at me. When I was about six years old, one of my grandmothers referred to me as "sturdy". Yep, that's me - sturdy. And I'm fine with that, but I'd like my waistline back and get rid of any visceral fat before it becomes a real problem.

I'm due for a physical, so I'm going to bring up this whole issue and see where it leads. I have a feeling I'd be paying out of pocket for any testing, but that's fine.

Thanks for the info, RM.

[Zen]

... But I did find it interesting that the nutritionist thinks I'm eating too much fruit. She said I was just trading one sugar for another. Granted fruit does have a lot of nutrients and is much better for you, but it still has a lot of natural sugars.

I think "just trading one sugar for another" is a bit simplistic. Different sugars have different structures. Carbohydrates are sugars but they're the body's main fuel.
I think it also depends on when you eat those sugars.

What's wrong with the Lean cuisine? Most diet entrees are exploding with sodium but the Lean Cuisine Spa entrees look OK to me.

[rabidgirl]

This is all quite interesting. I never had to fight off the weight until recently. Then, it became seriously difficult to lose anything, and sometimes I would even gain more weight when dieting. No matter how long or hard I trained (I was up to running 15 miles regularly and still not losing weight) the weight never changed. I am no expert, but here's what I have learned after much research and experimentation:

Over the past year, I have done a good bit of reading and changed my whole nutrition plan. That change has been incredible simple and successful. I went from 165# and 30% body fat to 125# and 16% body fat in 6 months, without horrendous workouts. The key was eating clean, unprocessed food, and monitoring when I ate certain foods. What was different? I switched to managing my insulin.

Here's the thing: insulin promotes the release of human growth hormone (useful for tissue repair & recovery). It also helps turns carbs in glycogen (energy stored in the muscle, but not fat) & fat. So, you eat simple sugars (fruit or junk candy or high fructose corn syrup), your body releases huge amounts of insulin in response to the sugar influx, and the sugars then become builders, glycogen, or fat... all depending on what's needed at the time. If you've been lfting or biking and immediately have some simple sugars, they will become glycogen & aid in recovery and stimulate relase of HGH. Eat too much sugar, and it turns into fat. Continue the overdosing and you get insulin resistance, diabetes, & obesity. That's why your nutritionist poo-poo'ed the fruit as similar to high fructose corn syrup; the sugar in fruit is fructose and is treated similarly by the body. By eating whole, unprocessed complex carbs, the sugar is released slowly into the bloodstream and insulin is only released in small amounts over a much longer timeframe. Less of the carbs are converted into fat.


The second issue is processed food... it is highly concentrated forms of food items that were at some point fine to eat when they were whole. However, the processing has removed to fiber, moisture, minerals, vitamins, etc that made the food "healthy". Also, who knows what junk has been purposefully (or mistakenly) pumped into processed food. Ever hear of the story where a manufacturer lied on their nutrition label? I believe it was an ice cream company who horribly falsified the sugar & fat content. That's why prepared frozen meals aren't the best choice.

Notice that I never mentioned fat. Sure, I eat lean cuts of meat (to include chicken, tuna, steak, and turkey), but I don't even count the amount of fat that I eat. I cook in olive oil, have oil & vinegar on my salad, and I even eat peanut butter (lots of it) to get extra fat in my diet. Fat is not a concern, so long as it is ingested in reasonable amounts.

I also never mentioned eating less. I eat enough to sustain my energy demands (right now it's 6 meals a day, with about 4oz of lean protein and 20g of complex carbs). RMR testing is incredibly beneficial here. However, I have found some reasonable estimators online (there's even one on the Friel training website), and then I add in the calories consumed during my workouts. If you cut your calories consumed, you slow your metabolism. Slowing the metabolism means that your body becomes greedy, and converts a larger portion of the food you eat into fat. Over eat just a few times with a damaged metabolism and the fat just piles on. You ABSOLUTELY must eat enough food to support your needs. Cutting calories more than 15% in an effort to lose weight poses a great risk for slowing the metabolism.

Of course, all of this goes along with the disclaimer that this may not work for all people... I have figured out that I am what is termed "carb sensitive". This protocol has worked exceptionally well for me.

Sorry this is so long, I just wish we were all taught this in school.

[equus123]

I 150% agree with you on the school thing. The garbage we learn has nothing to do with the real world or life!!!


I just wanted to say - excellent post. Very informative and educational. Thank you

[Running Mommy]

You sound just like me!!
Please give me an example of what you eat on any given day.

What you said is in line with the nutritionist. And I know that in the past when I cut down on the sugars and eat just a lot of lean protein and veggies with a sprinkle of whole grain carbs thrown in I lose weight. And I'm not a fat- o- phobe either. I eat peanut butter on whole grain toast for breakfast, and I also cook with olive oil.

I am very interested in this! It sounds like you found success just by eating the right thing at the right time. So that just seals the deal for me. I have to break the sugar cycle!!

[Jones]

Runningmommy and rapid,
Thank you both for the great posts. I know I need to break the sugar cycle.
I would love to see a sample menu for a day or even a few days, and what about spices? Can we use any that we like so long as they are whole and unprocessed or maybe just dried?
I have been overweight since I quit smoking 5 years ago and this year decided I really wanted to take care of the weight issue. Total I wanted to lose 70lbs and the first 25 pounds just fell away but now I can't seem to shift even an ounce. I know I have cheated several times but the odd thing is when I allow my self to have a piece of cake at special events, I turn into a sugar craving monster. All sweets seem to become even harder to resist and then I binge on sugar and don't want any thing else. Does this ever happen to anyone else?
Jones

[rabidgirl]

I have included what I eat daily below. The disclaimer is this: I've being working on it for a year now. It is the minimal calories my body can handle without freaking out. I am 5'8", 125# and 16% body fat. This diet supports my body at my activity level. I lift very intensely 2 times a week and bike about 10-12 hours a week at varying intensities. I think I actually need to bump myself up in total intake, as I have been very hungry since increasing my activity level (started a more endurance based plan two weeks ago).

On rest days, I eat 36g of protein and 1 to 2 cups of fiberous veggies 6 times daily. My first meal includes 1/4 cup of old fashioned oatmeal.

On workout days I eat 30g of protein 6 times daily and 25g of carbs with the first four meals. I add in 1 to 2 cups of fiberous veggies anytime.

Fiberous veggies are lettuce, green beans, broccoli, yellow squash, zucchini, asparagus, peppers, onion, or tomatoes.

Carbs are sweet potato, whole long grain brown rice (not precooked in any way), apples, banana, pineapple, strawberries, raspberries, and blueberries.

Proteins are egg whites, 99% lean ground turkey, 95% lean ground beef, chicken breast, tuna in water, sirloin steak (sometime a t-bone), and rarely an extra lean pork loin.

I do drink protein shakes to stay on track when in a time pinch. I use the Dymatize Elite Whey... 1 scoop with carbs or 1.5 scoops when I'm not eating carbs.

To fend off hunger, I will sometimes eat 10 plain almonds or have 1 - 2 TBS of natural peanut butter.

I eat first thing in the morning and immediately after workouts. That means I have to time my workouts such that it is about 45 min. after I eat.

Once every week or two I go out and splurge on one meal. I may have a few slices of pizza or spaghetti... whatever. But, it is just once that day, and then back in line. That single calorie push keeps my metabolism from slowing down. I limit my condiments to lite soy sauce, worstcheshire (unknown spelling), salsa (homemade), KC Masterpiece Low Calorie BBQ sauce (a real treat), tabasco sauce, and Ms. Dash products. Garlic and pepper are fine. Sodium is something I try not to over indulge in. But, as I tell my cohorts... better to put some salt on your food & drink extra water than cheat & ruin the whole diet.

Oh.... I do use the Gu packs on my rides of 2 hours or more. I have one every 45 minutes. I do not count them anywhere in my diet.

I drink AT LEAST a gallon of water (mixed with Crystal Light is ok) every day. No caffeine; nothing else. Just water.

I guess that's about it. Feel free to ask any additional questions...

[teigyr]

Running Mommy,

Since you've been tested and are doing a different type of diet, have you noticed a difference? I've been thinking a LOT about the testing and it makes sense. My guess is you are performing better due to having adequate nutrition but I wanted to ask

[Running Mommy]

Thanks to the recomendations of the nutritionist and rabidgirl I have been consuming a LOT less sugar, and I am really starting to see and feel a change.
I haven't yet had the nerve to get on the scale. I was out of town the last 3 weekends, so I don't feel like I have had enough consecutive "clean eating " days to have made a huge difference. But I have been a lot more aware of what I have been eating. I am also logging my food in fitday again. 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.
Even when we were out I tried to watch it, and I had a lot of salads with grilled chicken and no dressing- or just oil and vinegar. Tony is trying to lose weight as well, so it's easier when you have a spouse right there with you. I did have some sugar at legoland. I just couldn't resist the granny smith apple fries. YUM! But I paid the price later when I felt like crud!
But like I said, I am feeling better, more energy, sleeping better etc.
Oh- and I wore a pair of shorts today that previously were too tight and uncomfortable! And I wore them to the gym for my personal training session... So I was feeling pretty dang smug today!
Oh- and that is another thing... I have really turned my training around. I am now with a trainer twice a week working on upper body and core. We do legs too, but I kick butt on the leg machines. He laughs that my legs are so strong- yet ,my arms aren't... OY! sigh...

[Blueberry]

Wow! Glad things are going well

You are SUCH an inspiration