Now that I know my RMR and Vo2 - what do I do with it?

[CowgirlJane 14,259]

I am in maintenance, currently at goal. I prefer to be UNDER goal to give myself a little bounce range, but considering we just came out of the "eating season" I am feeling okay with where I am at.

My plan for 2016 is about decreasing body fat % and otherwise improving my fitness while losing 10-15#... slowly. I did the bodpod to get my body fat%, but also did the metabolic test. I don't really count calories in general, but now that I know this number, I am trying to figure out how to use it! I googled it, but didn't really gt a clear idea so hoping someone here is educated on the topic! thanks

[Inner Surfer Girl 12,015]

I am not but am following so I can learn something new.

[Pinkgirl1234 761]

What is it and what kind of test?

[AvaFern 3,516]

So by RMR, you mean resting metabolic rate and VO2- the peak oxygen amount you're using at your highest exertion level?

I had my RMR done a few years ago and it was 1800, so basically if I just sat around all day and did nothing according to that test my body would burn 1800 calories all on its own. Of course since we walk around and exercise, this is then factored into the RMR, so if we burn an extra 1000 calories a day, bringing me to 2800, then in theory I can maintain my weight by eating 2800 calories a day. Wouldn't that be awesome if that were actually true? I have seen women with RMR's of 1000, and with up to 2200 (lucky b*tches), however I know that if I eat anywhere close to 1800 consistently, forget 2800 I will gain weight, so the RMR value for me meant very little. Basically if you want to lose weight, you consume less than you burn, so if your RMR is 1200 and you burn 500 extra calories a day, you want to eat less than 1700 calories a day to lose weight. That is the math, but again, I haven't found it to really be very helpful in actual practice.

In terms of VO2, my understanding is that your goal is to just continue to improve upon it. The more you exercise, if you focus on intensity (such as in Crossfit, or other interval based exercises) you should continue to improve your VO2 to optimal levels. I don't do a lot of interval work, because I prefer nice long, medium-paced runs, so my VO2 is less than someone who consistently engages in hard, fast exercise.

[CowgirlJane 14,259]

Well, I don't track calories because it never really worked for me in the past. It showed i have a RMR of 1600 which I understand is what you burn if you sat on your butt and watched tv all day - ha. Since I would like to lose 10# to get under goal... and lets say I aim to average 1# a week and burn on average 300 calories a day exercising- according to calorie math I could accomplish that averaging 1400 calories a day.

I suspect that while calorie math is bogus, that another part of the problem is that we might say we eat 1200 calories a day (mostly true) but the big splurge days up the average more than we think.

My main goal is to reduce my body fat % and I thought that there is some sort of way to use this info to create calorie targets to support muscle development, not just weight loss.

[lisacaron 5,075]

I had my RMR done at the surgeon's office, and they read that thing and told me I could eat approx 2000 calories a day and still be losing weight. Yeah right!! I could eat 800 calories a day and GAIN! Sorry I'm not sure where they get all this stuff from. I sat on a machine that measured your Oxygen and breath etc and it was all part of this metabolic test...but you know I am call Bullsh*t here.

My body likes to hang on to excess for dear dear life. I could exercise till the cows come home...walking, swiming, biking and more. Eating in a range of 800-1000 calories and you know what...Nothing. In a few days at that rate and my body rebels and I end up sick because my immune system turns on me thinking it's under some kind of attack when all I am doing is trying to be "healthy" so I have to say ladies I am at a loss....I haven't figured it out yet. If you have any insights please share them!! I could use all the help I can get!

[bellabloom 2,467]

Your rmr is what you burn doing nothing but breathing. You've said your very active with household/horse duties ect during the day, so I am guessing your tots caloric usage for the date is quite a bit higher. Rmr really isn't that useful to know because depending on your activity level it could be a much higher amount that you actually need.

To figure out what you actually need, the best way is to begin tracking your caloric intake for awhile and monitor your weight using an app like lose it. A couple weeks should give you an idea of what you actually burn in a day. If you lose weight, you need more. Gain weight, less. I'm guessing you fall around 2000 with a rmr of 1600. My rmr is 1250 but I need about 1900 at a light activity level, to give you an idea.

Once you know how many calories you need to maintain, make a small deduction to lose body fat. 250-500 calories. I'd say 250 is best to lose it slow. That will allow your body to lose body fat. You could also not cut calories at all but simply add in cardio workouts. Weight training all burns body fat. If your working out and not eating more, you'll lose body fat slowly.

To gain muscle, you need a weight training regime. 3-4 days of resistance training per week will do the trick. Consistency matters.

Cardio- burns body fat and raises rmr temporarily.

Weights- increase muscle mass and raise rmr permanently.

I would suggest hiring a trainer for a couple sessions to explain how to lift weights to increase muscle. There are various ways of doing it.

Hope this helps!

Edited January 19, 2016 by bellabloom

[SleeveSoon 191]

I am relatively new to formalized training and my niece (a college athlete) has been helping me. My medium term goals are to reduce body fat % and lose about 25 pounds. She convinced me to get an "Active Metabolic Assessment" where you get on a piece of cardio equipment and they measure "key cardiovascular training markers" used to develop a customized training plan. I wear a heart rate monitor during group training and get a report of my heart rate after each class. Based upon the assessment, five heart rate zones were determined ranging from low (weight loss - green) to very high (aerobic - red). The instructor monitors everyone's heart rates during the session and asks us to increase or decrease intensity based upon the goal of the class (i.e. weight loss, etc.).

I am about a month into this training and am still skeptical. The plan is to keep it up for another two months and then retest for VO2 and body fat. Hoping for the best and hoping I am burning fat and just not money.

[VSGAnn2014 12,992]

For those of you who suspect that someone else (not you) could not possibly eat 1800 - 2000 calories a day and not gain weight, listen to this: I HAVE to eat that much not to lose anymore weight. I'm 70 years old, weigh 135 pounds and am eating my ass off! And although I do walk a lot and have a much more active lifestyle than I used to have, I am not a gym rat or a runner.

I have a friend online who (like me) is a food measurer and tracker, a good cook, and scrupulously honest about what she tracks and eats. She gains weight if she eats over 1200 calories a day. She has to eat 800 calories/day or less to lose any weight at all.

I don't know what these blatantly unfair metabolic differences are due to. But they are very real. (I have some theories about why the differences exist, but I'll save those for another day.)

It sounds to me like @@CowgirlJane is one of those lucky people like me who can eat more than others and not gain weight. In your case, Jane, why don't you just trust the numbers you've been given and then for a few months track your food and see where you wind up? Ultimately, because of all our individual metabolic rate variances, that's what we each have to do anyway -- find out what works for us.

And by the way, you don't have to guess or wonder what "big splurge days" are worth, calorically (or other ways). You can just log them and find out. I think my biggest splurge day since WLS was 3,500 calories. I know someone who's been post-op for about a year more than me, and she says her biggest splurge days have been 5,000 calories. Yikes! However, I know how to make that happen: Lots of sugary alcoholic drinks.

Point is -- it's not mysterious. It's just about the data. But if you refuse to collect the data, you'll be living in the land of theory forever and won't ever be able to conduct any actual science about your own body.

[VSGAnn2014 12,992]

P.S. And then there is all the theory / ideology around "set points," which although there seems to be something real happening there it's discussed in scientific terms that make it sound like "something unicornish is happening here." There's been FAR too little real research done around what happens to prevent people from gaining / losing weight when they've been at a specific weight for a long time. Lots of hypothesizing, but not a lot of set-point conclusions that are actually supported by reliable, understandable data with large sets of subjects.

[CowgirlJane 14,259]

You know I don't consider it luck , I think it is years of physical activity even when I was obese. My RMR is 1600 which doesn't seem crazy high to me considering my muscle mass. I was eh.hem...blessed with stout German /Irish heritage and alot of farm work as a kid.

Anyway, I don't track except for a day or two at a time to check Protein grams.

When I went in I was only interested in the body fat thing and was convinced to do the RMR and VO2. I plan to be re tested body fat in about 6 months to check progress against goals. My goals don't relate to calories so it actually is just a theoretical curiosity.

[CowgirlJane 14,259]

My lack of tracking is very individual to me and I don't recommend it for others.

I have been tracking calories on and off since I was 8 years old. A wise advisor recognized that it was part of my failure pattern so I switched to counting only Protein and carbs in my head. It worked and continues to work for me, but I don't recommend for others.

[2goldengirl 2,076]

I'm SO glad to see this thread!

I looked into metabloic testing more than ten years ago. It was expensive and not widely available. I decided recently that the technology must surely have improved, and it has. I also found that I can drive an hour away from me to UC Davis Sports Medicine Clinic and have my RMR, active exercise metabloics, and functional movement tested, plus get recommendations from an exercise physiologist.

I have long suspected that my metabolism is low - I want to know HOW low. And I want to know what weight loss postop plus improved fitness will mean as I am able to become more active postop. I have lumbar scoliosis which means I have one hip higher and one shoulder lower on one side. I want someone who really knows what they're doing to help keep me out of trouble at the guym, because injury layoffs are a big drag.

All the advice we're given from our surgeons and dieticians is based on guesstimates of our RMR plus activity done via algorithm. For once in my life I'd really like to work with real, rather than imaginary, figures.