We Tried It II: Body Fat Percentage/Resting Metabolic Rate Test
This is the time of year when many of us are resolving to make healthy changes in our lives, and we know that making those changes isnāt always easy. It takes a healthy dose of determination and a decent amount of discipline to build and maintain healthy lifestyle habits.
A few facts and figures donāt hurt, either. And thatās where body fat percentage and resting metabolic rate testing come in.
I connected with Lisa Lovejoy, MEd, RD, CD, a registered dietitian with MultiCareās Center for Healthy Living, to see what getting these two tests involved.
After my Bod Pod experience, I prepared for the resting metabolic rate test.
Understanding your resting metabolic rate determines how many calories your body burns every day, just to stay alive (think, if you lay in bed for 24 hours straight and did absolutely nothing at all). This is crucial information in order to avoid over — or under — eating as part of your fitness or weight loss plan.
After the wardrobe requirements and sci-fi looking equipment involved in the Bod Pod test, resting metabolic rate testing sounds like a piece of cake. You simply sit still (in your regular clothes) and breathe through your mouth into a hose for 10 minutes. While you breathe the device calculates the calories you consume based on the oxygen you breathe in and the carbon dioxide you breathe out.
Easy, right? Honestly, I found it to be the harder of the two tests, mostly because it was more uncomfortable than I thought it would be. To keep you from accidentally breathing through your nose, itās clipped shut (more awkward than painful, but still a bit unpleasant). The inside of your mouth dries out quickly, and itās remarkably hard to swallow while youāre also trying to keep a tight seal on the hoseās mouthpiece.
āItās not unusual to drool,ā Lovejoy warned me before we started the test. She was right.
Still, a few minutes of discomfort was worth it to learn what my actual resting metabolic rate is, giving me, for the first time, a truly accurate idea of how many calories I should be aiming to eat each day.
View a full list of the services MultiCare Center for Healthy Living offers for weight loss, wellness and sports nutrition.
