Mar 9, 2019 5 min read

Anyone who’s been following the progress of the Observer-Reporter’s team in the eighth annual Biggest Winner contest knows they’ve made healthy changes to their exercise routine and diet.

They also had a secret weapon when it came to figuring out how many calories they needed to cut out each day to lose weight.

Kali Aloia, the nutrition coordinator with Washington Health System’s Wilfred R. Cameron Wellness Center, recently demonstrated a handheld machine that holds the secret to calculating a person’s daily calories.

“Basically it’s measuring what your body calorically is burning at rest,” Aloia said. “We take that information, your height, weight, activity level, frame size, what your occupation is and your sleep patterns on workdays and non-work days and whether your goal is to lose weight or maintain weight.”

From there, Aloia creates a game plan to help clients manage their daily calorie intake. The test is called a Resting Metabolic Rate, or RMR, and it uses chemistry and biology to figure out how many calories your body requires each day.

Aloia demonstrated the RMR machine on co-worker and group exercise supervisor Marissa Watson, who put a clip on her nose to prevent breathing through it. Then, she put the RMR mouthpiece in her mouth and continued to breathe normally. The test takes 10 minutes to complete and clients should basically sit still so the machine can measure their body truly at rest.

It’s a fasting test, so plan to take the RMR test first thing in the morning before you eat or drink anything (including caffeine or sugar) that could affect the readings. The RMR machine measures the amount of oxygen your body uses (breathing in) and how much carbon dioxide is produces (breathing out). This helps the dietitian determine how much energy (calories) your body needs to function. If you cut that number, you will lose weight.

The science behind the test is simple and Aloia says it really does work.

“It does, it really does,” she said. “I make meal plans for people off of this information using the caloric range. As far as carbs, protein and fat go, I’ve made meal plans that have helped people lose weight based on that information.”

She’s had clients who are diabetic and have other health problems and also many who just want to lose weight. She recently consulted with a very active cyclist to make sure he’s getting proper nutrients and eating enough calories each day. “It really helps them understand,” says Aloia. “This gives us more of an exact amount for them specifically for those caloric needs. We have a wide range of clients that we work with that this would benefit.”

Everyone’s number will be a little different and Aloia says she sometimes sees clients who aren’t eating enough calories and still don’t lose weight. “We see them consuming probably lower than what they should be and what they need metabolically, essentially,” she said. “With that information, based on what their goal is, we can compute a rate of change. Based on that, it gives us a caloric intake for them.”

The calculations also include what activity or exercise you do each day, so the recommended calorie range you get comes in a range.

“Based on this activity level, this is what you’re budgeted,” Aloia said. “If you’re not going to be as active one week or might not get to the gym as often as you would like, this is the range that you can expect to stay within.”

The plan will also give you an estimated time frame as to when you can expect to see weight loss.

“It breaks down your fat, protein and carbs based on that caloric budget,” Aloia explained. “That gives you an idea of what makes up those calories and then we can adjust that to if people are wanting to see maybe a little more protein, a little less carbohydrates. We can adjust those percentages and tailor those to their needs as well.”

Need another reason to start exercising more often? Just look to the fact that it will gradually increase your RMR. As you lose weight and build muscle mass, your RMR changes over time.

“Because typically when we have weight loss, we’re also building muscle and increasing our exercise,” Aloia said. “So muscle burns more efficiently than fat does. With that lean muscle mass, our resting metabolic rate tends to increase.”

That will happen over a period of time as your body starts to burn calories more efficiently while at rest. Aloia said this also starts to happen as you become more active and your body not only burns calories while exercising but also burns more while resting.

“You’re going to see more of an increased need because your body needs those calories just to do its job,” she said. “It’s higher sometimes when we’re more active.”

Resting Metabolic Rate testing and consultations are available to Wellness Center members and non-members alike for a fee. People can save $10 off the test fee during the week of March 17 in honor of National Nutrition Month. For more information, call the Wellness Center at 724-225-WELL.