Respiratory quotient (RQ) and resting metabolic rate (RMR) are approximately the same measure for our purposes. They are estimated by measuring carbon dioxide and oxygen in the breath to determine the rate of carbon dioxide production and rate of oxygen uptake. The ratio of these two rates (CO2 productions to O2 uptake) provides an indication the amount of metabolism is from carbohydrates as compared to fats.
This measure can answer the question: What is my ratio of carbohydrate to fat metabolism?
Breath acetone provides an indication of how much fat is being burned – irrespective of carbohydrates. Breath acetone can indicate an absolute value of fat metabolism (e.g., grams of fat per day). As you will see below, breath acetone is more sensitive to changes in fat metabolism as compared to RMR and the measurement of breath acetone with LEVL takes seconds vs. minutes. Read more…