What is your goal? Many people use diet and exercise to get to those goals. But are they actually doing what their body needs? You might be cutting calories and watching your macros to lose weight. But how many calories do you need a day? Are you actually under eating or eating the wrong ratio of proteins, fats and carbohydrates?
You might be trying to gain muscle and get a better body composition, but if all you are doing is burning your sugar stores then you might not get to your goal!
If your goal is better health then would it be amazing to have a starting point. I agree to a point that how your clothes fit is a better gauge than the number on the scale, but even better is knowing how your body uses the fuel you put in each day. Are you burning the 70,000+ calories of fat you have stored or are you churning through the mere 2,500 calories of carbohydrates? I believe most people want to be burning fat when they are sitting watching a good movie, or doing errands, or most activities during the day. If you are an athlete and looking to do events longer than an hour, then you really want to know what your fuel mix looks like at rest and then as you work progressively harder. A resting metabolic test will give you that data at rest and a VO2 gives you the information as you start to exercise and move to your anaerobic threshold (and beyond).
You might be trying to gain muscle and get a better body composition, but if all you are doing is burning your sugar stores then you might not get to your goal!
If your goal is better health then would it be amazing to have a starting point. I agree to a point that how your clothes fit is a better gauge than the number on the scale, but even better is knowing how your body uses the fuel you put in each day. Are you burning the 70,000+ calories of fat you have stored or are you churning through the mere 2,500 calories of carbohydrates? I believe most people want to be burning fat when they are sitting watching a good movie, or doing errands, or most activities during the day. If you are an athlete and looking to do events longer than an hour, then you really want to know what your fuel mix looks like at rest and then as you work progressively harder. A resting metabolic test will give you that data at rest and a VO2 gives you the information as you start to exercise and move to your anaerobic threshold (and beyond).
I talk about the value, but sometimes pictures can really help. I had hoped to do a resting metabolic test before a class this morning, but ran out of time. I did an Orangetheory class in a fasted state - not a great idea for women, but wanted a clean slate for the RMR test post workout. Since I broke my toe earlier in the week I used the elliptical and was able to row, but with a little less power on the leg drive. It was a workout divided between row, elliptical and floor. When there is a lot of down time my HR plummets, so between that and the broken toe it is not surprising that I eked out only 1 coveted splat point. From an aerobic standpoint this should have been a great fat burning session. (stay tuned for a calorie burn analysis with the 4 different devices I have!)
I had to pick Jack up from track before I could get the first RMR test done, so I was 1 hour post workout for the first test. My base REE - resting energy expenditure - what I need to stay alive - was 1397 calories. Yup pretty much a bummer with what I consume daily. But I digress. My RER or respiratory exchange ratio was .87. RER is the ratio between the amount of CO2 produced in metabolism and O2 used. An RER of .7 means you are using predominantly fat as your fuel source. A value of 1.0 means you are using all carbohydrates (remember we only have 2,500 calories of carbs stored on our bodies at any one time). An RER of .85 will put you in the 50/50 mix realm. When you get to .9 you are predominantly burning sugars and affectionately named a sugar burner by me! At .87 I am higher than I would like to be. I would prefer to be burning through more fat stores when I am sitting in a chair with a nose clip pinching my nostrils closed.
How do you get there? Well nutrition is a HUGE component. Yes, exercise is important and should be a part of everyone’s lives, but it is nutrition that plays bigger role in our overall health. I tell people that to get their body burning more fats they need to change their fuel mix. I tell them that it is important to get protein and good fats in post workout. I tell them that they should strive to get protein in their mouth first at a meal before any good carbohydrates. And guess what - the proof is in the charts.
I did a second RMR test after having 2 eggs with some cheddar cheese and a dollop of guacamole. I had three bites of just the eggs first (and no I am not normally so good at doing what I tell my athletes to do!). The second RMR test was about a half hour after first and just a few minutes after eating. My REE was now 1301 calories. That means that yes there is an after burn effect - however it is small (80 calories) and only last a couple of hours for women. If I had gotten more time at a higher heart rate I would have seen a bit more, but when I did the test a few months ago the extra calorie boost was short lived. The studies on the awesome after burn have been done on men. Sorry ladies don’t count on churning through hundreds of extra calories post workout. The bigger news is that my fuel mix changed. I ate breakfast and then went to do the 2nd test. It was not enough time to get to my stomach and be digested, but during the first phase of digestion your saliva moistening food helps to create a food bolus, so it can be swallowed easily. Saliva contains enzymes that break down some starches and proteins. So you are already digesting before food reaches the stomach. Your brain will receive messages about the food you are eating and allows your body to react. Did you know that if you swish a glucose solution in your mouth your brain will think that the body is going to receive the sugar and will allow the body to react as if those sugars are already circulating in the blood stream.
I did a second RMR test after having 2 eggs with some cheddar cheese and a dollop of guacamole. I had three bites of just the eggs first (and no I am not normally so good at doing what I tell my athletes to do!). The second RMR test was about a half hour after first and just a few minutes after eating. My REE was now 1301 calories. That means that yes there is an after burn effect - however it is small (80 calories) and only last a couple of hours for women. If I had gotten more time at a higher heart rate I would have seen a bit more, but when I did the test a few months ago the extra calorie boost was short lived. The studies on the awesome after burn have been done on men. Sorry ladies don’t count on churning through hundreds of extra calories post workout. The bigger news is that my fuel mix changed. I ate breakfast and then went to do the 2nd test. It was not enough time to get to my stomach and be digested, but during the first phase of digestion your saliva moistening food helps to create a food bolus, so it can be swallowed easily. Saliva contains enzymes that break down some starches and proteins. So you are already digesting before food reaches the stomach. Your brain will receive messages about the food you are eating and allows your body to react. Did you know that if you swish a glucose solution in your mouth your brain will think that the body is going to receive the sugar and will allow the body to react as if those sugars are already circulating in the blood stream.
For the benefit of my athletes I do test things on myself. I did the glucose swishing for a marathon and had great energy until I didn’t because I was dehydrated from not drinking enough! So, while you can trick the body you do need to be smart about it!
Back to the 2nd RMR test. My fuel mix did indeed change. Down to .85. That still is not optimal. I would prefer to be under .8 so I am burning more fats at rest. I know what I need to eat, but I'm still a carb loader/sugar lover. So I am going to work on a more metabolically efficient nutrition plan and in a month test again to see how much I can change my numbers.
If you are interested to see where you are then schedule a Resting Metabolic Rate test. For $50 you can learn a lot. Email [email protected] for more information or to get any questions answered.
Back to the 2nd RMR test. My fuel mix did indeed change. Down to .85. That still is not optimal. I would prefer to be under .8 so I am burning more fats at rest. I know what I need to eat, but I'm still a carb loader/sugar lover. So I am going to work on a more metabolically efficient nutrition plan and in a month test again to see how much I can change my numbers.
If you are interested to see where you are then schedule a Resting Metabolic Rate test. For $50 you can learn a lot. Email [email protected] for more information or to get any questions answered.
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