Curious - Has anyone had a metabolic fingerprint done before? I found out the local hospital down the street offers this for $55 If you did was it worth it? Seems like it may help hone in on the ideal amount of calories for weight loss.
Description
"The MedGem indirect calorimeter by Healthe Tech is a handheld device that determines your unique Metabolic Fingerprint(TM). A Metabolic Fingerprint(TM) or resting metabolism accounts for as much as 75% of the calories an individual burns everyday, which is critical information for personalizing any health and wellness plan. "
They also do a body fat, muscle and water measurement for $15 so I'm definitely going to have that done just so I can have a base point with the measurements I'm taking weekly.
Hi Everyone,
I thought I'd circle back to this thread as I went this morning and had this done.
How it was done
I had to breathe normally into a machine - it had to be 'sealed' by my mouth but I didn't have to do anything special/bite down hard or anything. It took about 10 minutes of regular breathing before it was done. A little bit of drool, I won't lie. Also you had to wear a nose plug - not terrible but a little uncomfortable.
After that the practitioner asked me questions around my exercise habits, sleep, and my weight loss goals. We talked about how a .5lb weight loss at my size was a good target.
Interesting Data
Online calculators gave my RMR (Resting Metabolic Rate) ~1380. But the test revealed my RMR was actually about 1580. Basically I need to eat 1580 calories a day (at my current weight) just to live. To maintain my weight I need about 2200 calories a day. Add in exercise and I'd need more calories.
Summary
So, (for me - your body will be different):
* To maintain 134: I need ~2200 calories (does not include exercise calories)
* To lose 1/2lb week I need ~1700 calories. (does not include exercise calories)
* To lose 1lb/week I need ~1500 calories - although this puts me under my RMR so I shouldn't do that.
Pretty eye opening as I've been targeting between 1400-1600/calories a day, sometimes more when I had a heavy exercise day to account for calories burned. I had no idea my body actually needed more.
Body Fat
I also got my body fat tested. Unfortunately I had a body fat of 24.8% which is just fair. (I wonder what it was when I first started). They wanted me to target 21.3-24.3 so maybe in 6 months I'll go back for another test. Definitely something I want to look out for.
My RMR will change too as my weight goes down, but it will go up if I increase my lean muscle mass.
Where I did it
My local hospital gave the tests. $55 for the RMR and $15 for body fat. They give referrals if you need one to nutritionists and weight loss specialists, but did give some tips for nutrition/exercise. They might be well known but thought I'd list them here:
* The biggest was to eat small meals + snacks throughout the day and always have a protein with each meal. 3 meals + 2 snacks, spaced about 2-3 hours apart. For protein with your snacks think apple + cheese, banana + peanut butter.
* Drink lots of water
* Exercise with intensity
* Strength/weight train
* Don't skip breakfast
* Don't starve yourself
* Lower your fat intake
* Get enough sleep
Anyway, just wanted to give a summary incase anyone was thinking of doing this!
This is very interesting. I wonder if they can do this for a breastfeeding mother as my calorie intake has to include enough for baby.
I would think they could do it - I'm not sure if your metabolism is changed when breastfeeding, or if you just burn more calories in general (sort of like extra exercise) because your body is busy making milk.
Its been awhile since I bf, but I seem to remember you burn something crazy like 500-1000 calories a day while bf? I do remember though that I likely burned a ton of calories the first 3 months and then the weight loss tapered for me (I bf for about 13 months). Good luck - seems like you're losing very well.
Your Blog post is good and More Reed Health and Fitness post
