I recently received a question from one of my readers that was a bit more personal. I don’t want to just toss it out without context but the main focus of the question is, “how accurate are RMR tests, specifically at gyms?”

First what is RMR?

RMR is an acronym for Resting Metabolic Rate. The beauty of the term is that it should be self-instructional in how it should be interpreted but alas it’s not. The hint is all right there for the telling; and there is one big clue on the most important aspect of those three words.

REST.

Your resting metabolic rate is the rate of energy usage your body expels at rest. This is what I like to call BRR (Bed Rest Rate) because it’s the rate that you burn basically on bed rest.

Anything beyond that and you have to add activity into the equation. This is how someone can go from burning 1400 calories a day to 2500 calories a day. The more you move the more you burn. But if we continue on calorie-burning then I digress.

The point to take home is that an RMR should be a test to show an estimate of your burn in a BRR state.

How do they work?

The idea behind this test is to calculate your rate of burn while breathing into a tube/air measuring device. The tests usually take anywhere from 5-20 mins in your standard gym setting. Once completed, a trainer gives an estimate on what your daily caloric burn is based on the results of those few minutes of work.

The more or less you breathe is the determining factor of what your RMR, simple as that.

In short, the RMR breathing test assumes by your rate of oxygen that your energy production in your body is using/requires X amount of calories.

Why get a RMR test?

A lot of people get RMR tests because their fat loss efforts aren’t working and they want to see if they have a slowed or broken metabolism.

They also try the test so that they aren’t playing the “guessing games” of what their caloric burn is.

Does it work? Should you spend more money on it? Will it solve your metabolism problem?

We’ll cover part two in the next post.

I know, I’m a stinker.

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