The simplest explanation of Metabolic Testing is that it gauges how efficiently your body utilises oxygen and burns calories. The test will offer information both when you are naturally resting and when engaging in a range of activities. You undergo a number of tests, and the results show you how many calories you can burn.
Calorie burn and oxygen usage are directly connected. It just takes 12 to 14 minutes of breathing into a mouthpiece for the air you exhale to be analysed to find out exactly how much oxygen your body is taking in. Using Metabolic Testing, we can determine whether a person is burning more or less calories than is healthy. It gauges how much lean mass (muscles, brain, organ tissue, etc.) is being used as fuel when a person is underfed.
Technically speaking, metabolic testing assesses a person's metabolic rate by calculating their Actual Resting Energy Expenditure (AREE), or the number of calories they burn when at rest. Indirect calorimetry, a technique, is used to measure the exchange of oxygen and carbon dioxide in order to achieve this. During the test, the subject lies back and breathes through a thin canopy hood for 20 to 30 minutes.
Following the technique, nutritionists compare the AREE to the PREE (predicted resting energy expenditure) to determine if the body is burning as many calories as it should (a normal metabolism), too few calories (hypometabolism), or too many calories (hypermetabolism) (hypermetabolic).
