Metabolic Age, Part 2

Metabolic age and biological age
The terms “metabolic age” and “biological age” are often confused, but they are not the same. Biological age tests have a tendency to be complex and look at a broad scope of physical and mental health, nutritional patterns, and level of physical activity.

Biological age tests are usually administered either by a biological age expert or someone in the health and fitness field who can interpret the data and then make recommendations for healthy lifestyle changes based on this information. A metabolic age rating, however, is information that can be easily accessed and used by most lay people

What's it all mean?
If you have a goal of improved health and fitness, BMR and the metabolic age number are good ways to track your progress. Some over-the-counter tools, such as select body fat and weight scales, now contain these features. One thing we now know is that weight loss and gain alone don’t tell the full story about being at or achieving a healthy body weight. You can be as skinny as a rail and still have too much body fat for your height and weight. Knowing your BMR and metabolic age can help you make educated decisions about calorie consumption, activity, fat loss, and how to keep and gain lean mass.

Scientists are still researching the concept of metabolic age and its usefulness. This being said, you would not want to take the age rating from a metabolic age test and use it to make medical decisions. But it is useful as a comparison for measuring changes in health and fitness.

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