How much fuel does your body need? Does it like to burn fat more or sugar?
Find out with a DexaFit RMR Metabolic test. Pinpoint the number of Calories you burn at rest and discover more about how your metabolism impacts your health.
Knowing your metabolic health and RMR is crucial to your success on any nutrition or training plan.
See how efficient your body is at converting food to energy and using fat or sugar as fuel
Feed your body in a way that achieves your goals and conquer plateaus
Learn if you have a slowed metabolism to understand frustrated attempts to lose weight and plateaus
Track how your body composition changes with a DEXA scan to understand how the food you eat affects your body fat, lean mass, and bone
Your metabolism refers to all the chemical processes that your body undergoes every day in order to keep you alive.
Many factors affect your metabolic rate, including weight, age, body composition, environment, hormone levels, and gender.
This makes it a highly unique and important number to know, since
Your RMR accounts for about 70 percent of all energy you expend
It represents the amount of Calories you need to maintain essential functions at rest (things like heartbeat and breathing!)
Pinpointing the precise number of calories you burn at rest is crucial if you're trying to lose weight or build lean mass
This is why testing your RMR directly is so important vs using an equation.
Even the most “accurate” equation-based RMR estimations can vary as much as 30 to 40 percent!
The DexaFit RMR test is medical-grade and significantly more accurate than all formula-based RMR/BMR estimates.
Diligent preparation is important because your RMR is very sensitive. It is affected by many factors, including environment, genetics, hormones, stress, movement, and digestion.
Pre-Test Protocol:
You must FAST for a minimum of five hours (only drink water)
Limit your activity beforehand (no exercise)
Refrain from taking any caffeine or stimulants the day of your test and avoid alcohol within 12 hours of it
Wear comfortable clothing. If you're scheduled for a VO2max test, you will need workout shoes and clothes
Workout, casual, or even business clothes are all acceptable, as you will just be relaxing in a chair
We like to think of your RMR Metabolic test as a 15 to 20 minute meditation to break up the stress of your day...
All you need to do is relax comfortably in a chair while breathing into a mask
We calculate the amount of oxygen you consume during this time
We analyze your data, review it with you, and answer any questions
Want to learn more about RMR? Below are some frequently asked questions about various metabolic rates, testing topics, and more.
When it comes to measuring your RMR, you need direct and accurate results. There’s various equations people use to try to measure RMR and BMR, such as the Harris-Benedict equation (also known as the Harris-Benedict Formula or the Harris-Benedict principle). But the results of equations such as that one can vary between 30-40%. That’s hardly an “accurate” result!
That’s why people who are serious about measuring their personal RMR rely on Dexafit’s medical grade RMR tests rather than rough estimates from equations. You can get an accurate RMR measurement at a Dexafit location near you today.
By increasing your RMR, you'r body will be able to naturally burn more calories throughout the day. As with most aspects of your health, diet and exercise are important factors that contribute to your RMR.
Interval training is an excellent way to increase your resting metabolic rate over a 24 hour period. If you do one exercise for a long period of time, like biking or running, your body will get used to the motion and eventually burn less energy as the exercise goes on.
But if you switch between different types of workouts, your body won’t have the chance to get used to it. As a result, your body will continuously burn peak calories throughout the duration of that series of workouts.
So you might be wondering: does regular exercise speed up metabolism at rest?
Well, if you’re doing a consistent workout for long periods of time but your metabolic rate isn’t where you’d like it to be, try mixing up your routine with interval training to increase your RMR results!
In addition to building muscle mass and interval training, your diet patterns can also affect your RMR. Here’s a couple of tips dietitians recommend to help increase your RMR:
Eat a healthy breakfast
When you sleep, your RMR and metabolism slow down. Eating breakfast switches your metabolism back on, and therefore begins burning calories at a faster rate.
Eat more protein
Food that’s high in protein is usually low in calories and fat.
Plant-based proteins like tofu, quinoa, black beans, and tempeh are especially effective.
When you increase your protein intake, your body needs to work harder to break them down compared to fats and carbohydrates. As a result, your RMR will also increase.
A common question people have is what’s the difference between resting metabolic rate and basal metabolic rate, or RMR and BMR.
Often, these terms are used interchangeably. However, there is a difference.
BMR is the minimum number or calories required for basic functions at rest. Basic essential functions include: pumping blood throughout the body, breathing, digestion, keeping your body temperature stable, etc.
RMR is the number of calories that your body burns while it's at rest. In addition to the essential functions listed above for BMR, RMR accounts for additional low-effort activities. These activities include: eating, using the bathroom, walking for short periods, sweating or shivering, and consuming caffeine.
Your BMR is usually slightly lower (by about 10%) than your RMR since BMR is only accounting for basic essential functions. However, your BMR is almost impossible to measure accurately.
Therefore, measuring your RMR is a better number to reference than BMR because it more accurately represents the calories you burn per day.
