So, I have always felt I have a slow metabolism. I eat about 1500 cals per day and i gain weight on that. When I exercise I rarely see any results. When I was a kid I stayed thin because I was a skater and went to the rink every day after school for 4 hours. I wasn't skating all that time but I probably did about 1 hour per day. To lose weight or maintain it I have to do a LOT of exercise.

In addition I have objective factors that point at a slow metabolism. I have low blood pressure though I am over weight and my entire family has high. I have low heart rate though the rest of the family has higher. I have low body temp. And I have high cholesterol. (classic hypothyroid symptoms)

But my thyroid tests tell me I am fine. I have a low TSH. .7 to 1.2. The only potential thing is that my free T3 is on the lower side and reverse t3 is on the higher. Still not enough for anyone to go ... AH HA!

So a few years ago I did a very low calorie diet plan. This involved 100% the plan's food. That was all I could have each day. So there was no way to "cheat". The calories were from 500 cals to 700 cals per day and it was medically supervised. For three months I lost on average -- 3 lbs per week. Then about 13 weeks in I started adding a bit more food, and dropped to 1 to 2 lbs per week. By 6 months on the diet I could not lose any longer. I believe my metabolism really reduced due to the restrictive plan.

The key point here is this is a really good way to determine what I was burning. Which would appear to be about 2000 cals per day.

So I went and got my RMR tested. I didn't have great faith in the test. It was done in a diet office and I didn't think the people knew what they were doing. But it came out saying I had a BMR of 1500 and a total calorie burned of 1700 isn. At the time I was lighter than I am now so that was reasonable.

After gaining weight, I went and got another one done. This one seemed better since It was a full face mask and I was tested for 40 minutes. But the person taking it seemed less than competent. This one came back at BMR of 1200 with a total calorie burn of 1500. That seemed reasonable. They put me on a 1000 calorie diet and I lost about 1lb per week. Thus, that seemed accurate.

In fact several of the diets I have been on I have lost 1lb per week and eaten 1000 cals. But recently I have been struggling on that.

So I went and got another one yesterday. This one seemed to be the most accurate yet. It was a full face mask and the guy took great care to make sure it was tight and fit well. It was on for 20 minutes. My results .. BMR of 1590 with total calories about 2000 per day. The only thing that bothered me is that right from the start the machine said this no matter what happened during the test.

So it would seem that the BMR of 1500 with total cal burn of 1700 to 1900 is the winner. And it would further seem that I should be eating about 1200 calories per day to lose. But here is the thing....

THAT DOESN"T WORK.

I do not see results unless I eat 1000 cals or less per day. 1200 cals does NOT do it. And exercise doesn't seem to make any real difference where, it should!!

I am just so confused and frustrated.

Any thoughts?