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Anyone tracking actual metabolic rate on GLP-1s, not just the scale?

Posted by tiredmira in Weight Loss & Metabolic - 2 points, 7 comments.

My scale has basically been moving but my resting heart rate trend is up like 4 to 5 bpm and my HRV is kinda flat, which has me a little worried I am losing muscle along with fat on tirz.

I started paying attention because my whoop said I was burning fewer daily calories than before meds, even on days I walked 10k steps. That part honestly freaked me out a bit 😅

So I am curious, is anyone actually tracking their resting metabolic rate with something like a metabolic cart, or at least using a smartwatch estimate over time? I keep seeing people say weight loss slows down because of metabolic adaptation, but I am not sure how much of that is real vs just eating back the appetite.

For me the scale says I am winning but the body comp and recovery numbers tell a different story. If you have RMR data, what did it look like before and after starting a GLP-1? Would love to compare notes 🥗

Comments

  • protocol_frugal: Honestly the whoop calorie numbers are kind of garbage for actual energy expenditure, so i would not lose sleep over that part specifically. The rhr bump and flat hrv though, that is worth paying attention to. I never did a real metabolic cart but i did dexa before and a couple months in, and yeah some of the weight coming off was lean mass. I tried to keep protein high and lift heavy, still lost some. For what it is worth, that tracks with what the studies show too, not just my own run. The a
  • grinder_reese: So you were doing heavy lifting and bumped protein, still saw some lean mass go on DEXA. What was your protein intake sitting at? And were you tracking actual calories or just going off appetite suppression at that point?
  • retired_coldplunge: Totally agree on the whoop numbers being noisy. Mine bounces around day to day so I stopped staring at it and just looked at the weekly average instead, which is way less panic inducing. The lean mass thing is what worries me more tbh. Did you find the dexa showed it slowing down over time, or was it a steady drip the whole way?
  • tiredmira: Weekly average is the move, you're right, the daily noise was driving me nuts too 😅 Mine wasn't steady at all, basically it held pretty well for the first 3 to 4 weeks and then I noticed a bigger drop right when I bumped up to 7.5mg. So more like a step than a drip. Could just be timing though. Have you actually had a dexa yet or are you going off the whoop estimate for lean mass?
  • tiredmira: Honestly it was more of a steady drip for me, basically like 0.5 to 1 lb a month of lean mass going down on the dexa trend, but my trainer flagged it because I was not really doing anything different in the gym at that point. I bumped protein to around 130g and added two heavy leg days a week, and that kinda flattened it out over the next 2 months. The whoop weekly average trick is smart though, I am gonna stop peeking at the daily number because it just sends me into a spiral 😅
  • tiredmira: Honestly appetite was so suppressed early on I was probably under 1200 most days without realizing it. I only bumped protein hard once I saw the DEXA drop, around month 3. Getting around 130 to 140g now but probably was closer to 80g before that 😅
  • tiredmira: Yeah I figured the whoop numbers were rough, but I did not expect that much of a gap day to day. The RHR jump is what really got me, it has not come back to baseline even now. Protein is already at like 130g a day and I lift 4x a week, so hearing you still lost lean mass on dexa is kinda discouraging tbh. Did your RHR ever settle back down or is that just the new normal on the med?

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