Test your Metabolism?

[Rustytimberjack]

Hi! I have a question (well, I guess I have a few!!!) for all you ladies who know a lot more about this than me! My daughter who is 20 was at a gym and they were offering "metabolism tests". She had to blow into a machine for about 20/30 minutes. I think it was suppose to measure oxygen in vs. carbon monoxide out???? Anyway, after the test they did some figuring and told her that she has a slow metabolism and after taking into account what she eats and the amount of exercise she gets she should eat about 1,350 calories a day to lose approx. 1 lb/week. They also told her she has 37% bodyfat. How accurate are these tests?

She was devastated about her bodyfat. She goes to the gym 4-6 x's a week and was doing mostly cardio. After looking at your site last week and going through the forums and reading some articles, she has added more weight training and cut back on the cardio.

She is 5' 5" and weighs 153. She has tried very hard (I believe) to lose weight, but it's not happening.

We've kept track of her diet since last Monday. Here's last Thursday's:

meal 1: 1 hard boiled egg, 1 small banana, 1 glass skim milk
meal 2: 1 fiber one bar
meal 3: 1 can tuna fish, 8 whole wheat crackers
meal 4: 1 cup blueberries, 1 whey protein drink
meal 5: 3 slices london broil, 1 small red potato, 1 large salad, 2 tbs. ranch dressing light.

Can someone tell me what they think of her diet?

Any words of advise would surely be welcome!

[DumbMick317]

Hi! I have a question (well, I guess I have a few!!!) for all you ladies who know a lot more about this than me! My daughter who is 20 was at a gym and they were offering "metabolism tests". She had to blow into a machine for about 20/30 minutes. I think it was suppose to measure oxygen in vs. carbon monoxide out???? Anyway, after the test they did some figuring and told her that she has a slow metabolism and after taking into account what she eats and the amount of exercise she gets she should eat about 1,350 calories a day to lose approx. 1 lb/week. They also told her she has 37% bodyfat. How accurate are these tests?

She was devastated about her bodyfat. She goes to the gym 4-6 x's a week and was doing mostly cardio. After looking at your site last week and going through the forums and reading some articles, she has added more weight training and cut back on the cardio.

She is 5' 5" and weighs 153. She has tried very hard (I believe) to lose weight, but it's not happening.

We've kept track of her diet since last Monday. Here's last Thursday's:

meal 1: 1 hard boiled egg, 1 small banana, 1 glass skim milk
meal 2: 1 fiber one bar
meal 3: 1 can tuna fish, 8 whole wheat crackers
meal 4: 1 cup blueberries, 1 whey protein drink
meal 5: 3 slices london broil, 1 small red potato, 1 large salad, 2 tbs. ranch dressing light.

Can someone tell me what they think of her diet?

Any words of advise would surely be welcome!

I don't think any mechanie or device that tests your metabolism or bodyfat is at all accurate and usually, they are pretty off. Tell your daughter not to take it seriously.

From what you posted about your daughter's diet, in my opinion, she isn't eating enough. How old is she? She needs to feed her muscle if she is weight training, which means, eat more. I probably eat 2.5-3 times as much. But the bottom line is, she needs to find what is right for her and what works for her body. If she is not losing any weight, it is likely it is because she is not eating enough. Kinda gotta play with her calories to find out what works with her. I'd try increasing them slowly.

[freebirdmac]

They fed her a bunch of garbage, and should know better. Eating below 1500 calories for about anyone not in contest prep is asking for trouble. She needs to get her cals up until she starts seeing weight loss again. With a lot of cardio and her age that could be over 2000 calories.

Terracotta's website has a lot of good background info http://www.hotnfit.com/index.htm

[freebirdmac]

Also take a look at this post and show it to your daughter. It reinforces the problem with bath room scales and the benefits of lifting weights http://forum.bodybuilding.com/showth...hp?t=108730631

[Classicjamz]

They fed her a bunch of garbage, and should know better. Eating below 1500 calories for about anyone not in contest prep is asking for trouble. She needs to get her cals up until she starts seeing weight loss again. With a lot of cardio and her age that could be over 2000 calories.

x2 on this

I'm 5'5" and weight 20 lbs less with about 18 -20% bodyfat and I can lose weight at a steady rate eating 2000 cals a day. She's not eating enough to sustain her activity. It's a matter of trail and error, she just needs to find out what works for her

[Angela R]

First off, what a wonderful dad you are! =)

I would take what any gym personal trainer's say with a grain of salt. They are there for one purpose and that is to make money. Personal Trainers at most gyms get paid if they have clients. I looked at working at Gold's Gym about a year ago. The head trainer was showing me their equipment and all the calibrations were off. You had to subtract here and there to get an "accurate" reading he told me. Plus they had a whole little speech you were supposed to give the client who came in for their initial assessment and the bottom line was you were there to sell your services and their self esteem was to be damned.

There are good trainer's out there who despite the fact that they only get paid if they have clients will offer good information and advice. But most of the time it is cookie cutter program and the "shelf" advice.

Again kudos to you for being supportive and helping her find the correct information. I am really impressed =)

[JVo]

I have used some of those metabolism measurement machines, and I have seen some variety in the numbers (within a range of about 200 calories), so you do have to take it with a grain of salt.

However, I'm not as alarmed as some of the other people here seem to be about eating 1350 calories. I lost about 10 lbs. at an even, steady pace over the course of about 4 months while eating about 1300 most days (while doing cardio and weights), and every 3 or 4 days eating 1500 (the calorie cycling is supposed to prevent your body from resetting its metabolism to the lower number). What I've read is that you don't want to go below 1200.

Sorry, I don't mean to contradict everyone here. But that worked for me!

[Nelli]

meal 1: 1 hard boiled egg, 1 small banana, 1 glass skim milk
meal 2: 1 fiber one bar
meal 3: 1 can tuna fish, 8 whole wheat crackers
meal 4: 1 cup blueberries, 1 whey protein drink
meal 5: 3 slices london broil, 1 small red potato, 1 large salad, 2 tbs. ranch dressing light.

Can someone tell me what they think of her diet?

Any words of advise would surely be welcome!

Hi
More protein, more fat!
She should be eating at least
12xbw (LBS) in total calories - about 1800 cal (at the lowest she can drop it to 1500
150 g of protein -> 600cal (can up to 900cal)
about 75g of fat -> 300cal
and about 225g of carbs - 900cal (if you up protein you cut the carbs to 600)
If she works better on a low carb diet you can up the protein a bit.
Add fibrous veggies to her meals and lean proteins...
If shes hungry on the current meal skip the shakes and the liquid cals!