What is my resting metabolic rate?

Hello everyone, I am back in Toronto and We have a new toy in the lab. It’s called VO2 Master. It’s a portable system that allows us to measure O2 consumption in the field, and also to assess metabolic rate under various conditions. I assembled the gas analyzer and the mask and set it to measure my rate of O2 consumption under resting conditions. I did this after a restful night of sleep and before ingesting any food or doing any physical activity. I reclined on the couch and started the protocol, which consisted of 15 min of metabolic stabilization to allow my heart rate, breathing frequency, and oxygen consumption to reach a constant resting value. Once that was achieved, I collected 15 additional min of O2 consumption data while being quiet and restful on the same reclined position on the couch. It tells me that my resting energy expenditure equals 1892 Kcal, which is 25% higher than the average for people of same age, weight, height and sex. This is a good thing considering that at the age of 62 my metabolism does not appear to be slowing down. It also estimated my daily energy expenditure to be 2933 Kcal. It did so by combining the resting value with the estimated expenditure of all activities I perform during the day. I do not count calories when it comes to exercise or the food that I eat, but this measure shows that my lifestyle with respect to diet and exercise has been effective in maintaining a healthy body composition and metabolic rate that are significantly higher than people of my age. I am excited to use this equipment to test various activities and do follow ups to understand how the aging process affects my metabolic rate and to find out whether my diet and exercise regimen counteracts the effects of aging. Stay tuned and I’ll see you in the next.