Yesterday I had my RMR tested and it was lower than it should be(1181). The tester said that I was also at a pretty high "RQ" for part of the test (the beginning) which meant I was burning some carbs at rest. Does anyone know exactly what this means? He said he would email me more info but it will be next week sometime. I want to know now...lol

Also, he told me that I shouldn't work out "in the middle zone". He said work out either at high or at low because I shouldn't confuse my body as to what it should be burning for energy. He, again, said he would email me more info but I am not sure what he considers high or low. Does anyone have any idea and have you ever told this to a client?

On the plus side, with the daily life I lead and the exercise I do, he did say that my calorie range was pretty accurate but if I want to tone down the exercise , I will have to eat less which is discouraging.

The best part of the day was when I had my body fat tested and it was19.6% I was hoping for 20% so I was quite pleased.

Thanks for any help you might be able to give me.

How old are you? You are small, and that's not an astoundingly low RMR for someone your size, depending on your age. There's simply not that much of YOU to burn calories.

Yes, it is true that for either losing or maintenance your choice is to move more or eat less, or both. Moving more, building more muscle mass will eventually raise your RMR. One of the great things about strength training and cardio is that you'll burn more calories for a few hours (up to 24 depending on how you push your body) after you finish working out. If you exercise less and eat less, you may stay the same scale weight, but your body composition will change and you'll end up relatively fatter and larger. 117 at 19% bf looks and feel a lot different that 117 with 26% body fat. Yes, the scale number is the same, but it's really all about what you are made of.

From the sounds of your post, I'm inferring that you've pretty much reached you goals You must feel and look great!

To stay that way, keep doing what you've been doing. Or change the intensity and variety of your exercise. To maintain what you've achieved, you still need to workout. Just eating less won't keep you fit

Mel