Lumen the Metabolism Tracker

As we age, metabolism is a big thing. It decides how much weight you put on versus what you eat. In our mid-forties, we're all very conscious of that now, and we ease up on both carbs and fats. Metabolism is measured by the respiratory exchange ratio (RER), which is the ratio between the amount of carbon dioxide produced in metabolism and the oxygen used. This measurement estimates if your body is using carbs or fat for energy. 

The man got into this Lumen metabolism tracker thing. You inhale and exhale through the tracker, which is linked to an app on your phone. It's supposed to measure the carbon dioxide in the breath and uses the RER to determine if you're burning carbs or fats. The app is optimized for all sorts of personalization for foods, allergies, whether you're vegetarian or vegan and such. It decides when you can do a high-carb meal, or when you should go big on the proteins. (Reviews of the Lumen's effectiveness here, here, here and here.)

In theory this should work. It's certainly not harmful. It does help to streamline your diet if you're clueless about it. But I have no idea how accurate this is. I'm not into it. I'm not into it the same way I don't track steps, heart rate, and all the fancy stuff of which fitness trackers do. To be honest, the moment I drastically cut down on alcohol, sugar and carbs, and up the exercise levels, I lost all excess weight and I can easily keep the weight off. I love my carbs and won't avoid them. After all these years, coupled with aerobic and anaerobic exercise, I'd like to think that my body efficiently swops between carbs and fats as a fuel source. 

The man has to do this inhale-exhale thing into the Lumen before meals, after meals, when he wakes up and before bedtime. Okaaaayy. That's too much commitment for me. Two weeks into using this and meticulously logging every meal, weight and all macros, he announced that he's finally 'burning fats'. He isn't starving, and he isn't feeling like he's missing out on any food flavors or cravings. I had thought that he was eating too much even as of June 2022, and he felt it keenly in the recent weeks. He's by no means obese. Neither is he pudgy. In fact, he still looks fairly well-built. But the scales tell a different story. After the annual health checkup, he decided to do something about getting his weight to the ideal range. Okaaaay, I'll cheer him on then, and provide suggestions on food types and restaurants!

Lunch for the man. This was a permitted high-carb meal — that piece of sourdough.
Plus some fries taken from my plate.