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New WMC device helps measure calorie needs by Dick Peterson Public Relations With the use of a new Weight Management Center device called MedGem, a person’s resting metabolic rate can be measured to determine the number of calories needed to maintain or to change existing weight. Resting metabolic rate equals the number of calories a person requires to maintain existing weight assuming he never got out of bed.  Weight Management Center dietitian Kate Williams introduces the MedGem device to Shannon Hancock of the WMC staff prior to measuring her resting metabolic rate. If this writer never did more than rest, it would take 1,800 calories to keep his weight at its present level, according to MedGem. For other people, the number would be different. For the majority of people who do get out of bed, resting metabolic rate is about 60 to 70 percent of the total calories a person burns, with most of the difference coming from all levels of physical activity. What the MedGem’s resting metabolic rate number does for people wanting to lose weight, gain weight, or maintain their weight is give them a benchmark from which to work. The hand-held device measures oxygen consumption to determine how many calories an individual burns. “From this measurement,” explained Weight Management dietitian Kate Williams, “the MedGem uses a formula to convert oxygen consumption to resting metabolic rate.” From the resting metabolic rate, total calorie needs are calculated by factoring in the patient’s normal level of physical activity. From that number, the WMC team can design a lifestyle program of calorie intake and exercise to lose, gain or maintain weight, based on a person’s normal activity—a secretary would differ from a professional athlete. “We hope to incorporate that number into our programs. We can take the number pre-program and again post-program. The post-program number is the calorie intake a person would need to maintain the healthier weight achieved while factoring in physical activity,” Williams said. Before using the MedGem, the weight manager could learn his or her resting metabolic rate through an expensive, inconvenient metabolic cart or by a calculation that estimates calorie needs across wide swaths of the population based on factors like age, sex, and weight.  Right now, the MedGem is used in the WMC’s most aggressive weight loss program, Health Fast, for more overweight people. “Many people come here after losing weight and gaining it back, because they found they could not keep the weight off after coming off the diet,” Williams said. “The secret to losing weight and keeping it off is a dietary lifestyle change.” MedGem is an effective tool to give the weight manager a target for calorie intake and to help him or her choose the best foods and balance of exercise to achieve that target, Williams said. MedGem analysis of resting metabolic rate is available at the MUSC Weight Management Center for $30. Call 792-2273 for an appointment.       Friday, May 14, 2004 Catalyst Online is published weekly, updated as needed and improved from time to time by the MUSC Office of Public Relations for the faculty, employees and students of the Medical University of South Carolina. Catalyst Online editor, Kim Draughn, can be reached at 792-4107 or by email, catalyst@musc.edu. Editorial copy can be submitted to Catalyst Online and to The Catalyst in print by fax, 792-6723, or by email to petersnd@musc.edu or catalyst@musc.edu. To place an ad in The Catalyst hardcopy, call Community Press at 849-1778.