I want to talk to you about the resting metabolic rate and why it matters. At Rebound Physical Therapy, we have a specialized testing system for testing any individual’s metabolism, either at rest or with cardiorespiratory testing.
What is your resting metabolic rate? Fundamentally, your resting metabolic rate would be what chemical reactions occur in your body and how much energy it takes for you to operate the body throughout the day. If you were to do no exercise at a resting rate, what does it take? How many calories do you burn daily in order to keep the body operating optimally?
How Resting Metabolic Rate Testing Works
With a resting metabolic test at Rebound Physical Therapy, here’s how it works.
- We bring you in early in the morning when you’re fully rested, haven’t eaten anything, haven’t drunk anything.
- We get you rested quickly, get a mask on you.
- We’re measuring the oxygen and the carbon dioxide that you’re putting off at rest without your body being all charged up and moving around.
- When we find out what that resting rate is for you, we find out how many calories you burn at rest so that we can calculate what your daily rate would be.
The more fit you are, the more calories you’ll be burning. The less fit that you are, the fewer calories you’ll be burning through the day while you’re at rest, relatively speaking.
Using the Results of the Resting Metabolic Rate Test
We’re going to take a calculation from the oxygen-carbon dioxide ratio that you kick off at rest. From that, we’re going to be able to predict how many calories you would need during the day. Actually, not only predict what you would need in your diet, but also what kinds of exercise you would do and at what rates or intensity levels you would need to do that in order to raise that resting rate. Because ideally, your body is pretty efficient. It can take in oxygen, burn fat, or burn your energy sources throughout the day.
Let’s say you have a resting metabolic rate of zero. Then after we adjust your food and meal plan and your exercise rate, we get it higher while you’re at rest. You’re going to be more efficiently burning the energy sources or the fuel in your body. You’ll be taking in oxygen and just naturally using it as you become more efficient by eating the right foods.
Get on the right diet—the right dosage, if you will—and ideally, you’d be able to burn more energy throughout the day. Not only that, but you’ll also more efficiently burn the fat sources in your body and be more efficient with your exercise.
Why Do a Resting Metabolic Rate Test?
The other test we do—cardiorespiratory testing—looks at how your body adapts to exercise. When we know your resting metabolic rate, we can predict how many calories you burn at rest, how efficiently you’re burning your fuel sources in your body, and what you need to do to boost that because there are some ideal ranges that you want to be in.
Our exercise specialist can sit down with you after you do that test. It’s a quick test, and you do it early in the morning. It’s a free test that we offer.
After this test, we put people on exercise routines and programs and get them the nutritional help that they need, whether it’s with a dietician or a specialist in nutrition. People have different needs based on their medical histories and/or the medications that they’re on, and their programs need to be adjusted.
The Real Reason for Our Metabolic Testing
The main thing is that you want to have an efficient metabolism. You want to burn the right fuels. You want to feel good throughout the day. So part of that is finding out what your baseline is and knowing what you need to do both on the food intake side and the exercise side to maximize that metabolism and get it humming along at its optimum rate and/or range.
Give us a call at Rebound: 785-271-5533. We can get you tested on your resting metabolic rate at no charge. Call us today.
Paul Silovsky is driven by the desire to help others reach their goals and live an active and healthy lifestyle. This passion is what drove him to open Rebound Physical Therapy in 1994. He received his Physical Therapy degree from The University of Kansas Medical Center in 1987. As a practicing physical therapist, Paul specialized in orthopedic and sports medicine rehabilitation with a heavy emphasis on athletic rehabilitation, sport speed development and sports performance enhancement for golfers. Paul and his wife enjoy traveling, cycling, watching team sports and spending time with their three daughters and six grandchildren.
