My RMR test and results

I took my RMR this morning with the dietitian and she said my maintenance calories would be 1,616 calories. It gave me a lot of peace of mind knowing where I stood in how many calories I could increase to reclaim some energy. Not ready for maintenance yet, but I'm close and needed to know where I stood. My question is about the equation used after the initial breath test. It's the base number multiplied by a "lifestyle" number. Is this how all of you who had the RMR were given your maintenance calorie goals?

Yea... I hate to disappoint you. But the calories number is just "a number". Pick any between 1000-2000, and it may be your number. Seriously.

I can eat much more calories when I limit my carbs and dairy. I can eat meat, fish and fat and I would be losing weight.

But on 1200 Cal diet that has lots of carbs - I would gain, and gain fast.

Calories are still important IMO, because if I eat keto 4000 calories, I probably start gaining.

Be careful with that "estimate". Most of us learn by trial and error. When you get to your goal weight, try adding more calories until you determine what your true maintenance number is. Most people here seem to maintain around 1200.

The test I had didn't collect any information based on my activity. It added 300-500 calories to my baseline as a range for 'normal daily activity'. So, my baseline was 1,540 and my range they gave me was roughly 1,800-2,100. I have found that to pretty darn accurate. I have my MFP calories set to 1,690 and then there are about 100-200 calories worth of 'white noise' foods that I eat every day that I measure but don't track (whipped cream on my yogurt at night and middle of the day half & half in coffee).

So anyway, I don't think that 1,600 is an unreasonable number given you're young and what your current weight is. I would say that titrating up your calories slowly is important and giving it time to see how it's affecting you before adding more, but you could be lucky and get quite a few calories for maintenance!

im about 1200 -1600 in maintenance approx

Mine gave me my RMR (1670), then came up with 501 calories for "Lifestyle and Activity" (no idea what the math is to generate this number) and another 173 calories a day for Exercise (which is estimated based on 30 min a day at a "moderate level") which all adds up to 2344 calories a day.

Interestingly, the report then gave me a "Maintenance Zone" of 1670 - 2171. Only interesting as they did not include the "exercise" calories when calculating the top of the range, and set the baseline at my RMR, which would imply that I am lying perfectly still in bed all day?

All in all, I didn't find it overly helpful. A maintenance range of 1670-2171 (or 1670-2344 if you want to include exercise) is a pretty massive range which renders it fairly meaningless.

What I did find useful, and my motivation for having the test, was just to check to see if I had a "normal metabolism". With everything you read about damaging your metabolism via weight loss and years of yo-yo dieting, etc, I was curious.

I thought it was interesting that after the significant weight loss and many years of yo-yo dieting prior to WLS, my RMR was actually slightly above the expected RMR of someone with my stats (expected RMR of 1590, actual RMR of 1670)

I was interested to know where mine was, but wasn't surprised when it was lower than a normal one. It didn't really upset me to know it was lower, I'm just glad to know. I also know it can be fixed, so if I wanted to work towards that it's definitely something to think about.

I was scheduled for an RMR, and even got to the office to take it. They screwed things up so badly I ended up waving my arms, saying a lot of bad words, and walking out before they administered the actual test. I will never go back. These people make the government look efficient.

My plan is to adjust my caloric intake as I go, weighing every day, until I find what works for me. I've been at a stable weight (within 10 lbs) for four months, and within 20 lbs for over six months. All of it has been downward, with no regain. I hope this helps you some.

It does, thank you! I'll take the range she gave me roughly and when I'm ready for maintenance just adjust my calories slowly until I find where my good spot is.

I agree with others that trial and error is probably the best way. I discovered pretty quickly that if I eat in the 1500-1700 range, I can maintain my weight. To lose, I have to drop below 1500. And on the flip side, if I have too many 1700+ calorie days in a given week, my weight starts to head north...