How to Measure Your Metabolism

Knowing your resting metabolic rate can be helpful if you are looking to lose, gain, or maintain your weight. 

By Judy Jerome

Utilizing medical-grade equipment such as the FDA-approved Korr ReeVue allows us to provide evidence-based information to our clients. By measuring how much oxygen the body consumes, this machine is able to accurately calculate your unique Resting Metabolic Rate (RMR).

Why is it useful to know my RMR?

Metabolism is the process by which your body converts what you eat and drink into energy. During this complex process, calories in food and beverages are combined with oxygen to release the energy your body needs to function.

Resting Metabolic Rate indicates how many calories your metabolism burns at rest, representing the majority of calories you burn in a day. It’s the amount of calories your body uses for breathing, circulating blood, repairing cells, etc.

The ReeVue machine measures your RMR, and also uses your RMR results to provide an estimate of how many calories your lifestyle and exercise burn daily. This helps determine what your Total Daily Energy Expenditure (TDEE) is likely to be, which can then factor into how many calories you should aim to consume for your personal goals.

Perhaps you’ve come across a TDEE calculator or equation in the past. These can give you a general estimate of your RMR or Total Daily Energy Expenditure, but unlike ReeVue results, those numbers do not take into account things like your specific bone density, or amount of lean muscle tissue on your body. So those calculations often give results that are actually too high or too low, depending on the individual. Think of how much impact a 200 calorie per day difference could make– that’s 1400 calories per week!

So what should I expect at my appointment with Pongo Power to measure my RMR?

It’s simple!

• The total appointment takes about 45 minutes.

• The test itself takes about 20 minutes.

• Prior to your appointment:

  • No rigorous exercise the day before or morning of your appointment.

  • Fast for 4 hours prior to the test.

• While sitting comfortably, you breathe into a tube that goes into the ReeVue machine. 

• After the machine has calculated the numbers, Judy Jerome will share the findings with you, and discuss actionable items to hit your goals.