FatMax Assessment: Physiolab experts will determine your highly individual exercise intensity to maximize fat burning during exercise
Nutrition Assessment and Counseling: Physiolab registered dieticians will determine your nutrition status and work with you on optimizing you diet to meet wellness goal
24-Hour Total Energy Expenditure (TEE) or Sport-Specific Exercise Assessment in the Metabolic Chamber: Physiolab experts monitor your metabolism across a typical day or during a bout of exercise of your choice
Physiolab Assessments
The Mount Sinai Physiolab offers personal, well-established tests and tailored packages to assess body composition, metabolic rate, nutrition status and dietary habits, cardiovascular fitness, and movement. Based on your goals and priorities, we can develop a custom program that includes the assessments and integration that best meet your needs.
Not sure which assessment is right for you? Contact us to schedule a free 10-minute consultation.
Body Composition Assessment
BodPod: Body Composition
Scales provide you with your weight, but that is not the entire picture. Body composition analysis with an air displacement plethysmography device (BodPod) precisely determines how much of your body is fat mass versus lean mass (muscle, bone, and organs). It is nearly as accurate as a dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry (DEXA) test without the exposure to radiation and increased cost, and more accurate than bioimpedance devices commonly found in gyms. Your unique body composition offers insight into your overall health, including disease risk, physical function, and athletic performance. This easy, noninvasive test tells you your body-fat percentage and amount of fat-free mass. We pair this data with additional measures to determine your body-fat distribution and risk of chronic disease.
Establishing a baseline body composition before you embark on a health and wellness journey will allow you to track your changes and progress. We recommend follow-up assessments every 6-10 weeks, depending on your goals, as a powerful tool to understand the impact of your lifestyle changes on your proportion of fat mass to fat-free mass.
Includes:
- A 30-minute body composition assessment and body shape measures, plus a report from your test
Metabolic Assessments
Resting Metabolic Rate and Resting Energy Expenditure
One of our signature tests, the Resting Metabolic Rate (RMR) assessment, measures your body’s resting rate of oxygen consumption. This highly accurate procedure allows us to determine the number of calories that your body burns over the course of the day to function normally, without accounting for any additional movement and activity. The data from this RMR allows us to generate three critical data points: your resting metabolic rate (amount of energy your body uses at rest), your resting energy expenditure (amount of energy used at rest to fuel vital functions, such as breathing), and your respiratory exchange ratio (ratio between the volume of carbon dioxide your body produces and the volume of oxygen you consume).
These three highly personal data points allow us to determine three powerful personal metrics:
- How your metabolic rate compares to the general population
- The exact number of calories that you are burning at rest in a day
- What type of fuel your body uses while resting (stored fat or stored carbohydrates)
Whether your goal is to lose, gain, or maintain your weight, this information is a critical part of designing and personalizing a weight management program.
Includes:
- One-hour RMR assessment, plus a post-test counseling session
FatMax Test: Personalized Exercise to Maximize Fat-Burning
Exercise recommendations are too general. What works well for one person may not for someone else. Our FatMax test allows us to create a personalized exercise plan, designed around your own metabolic measurements, to maximize the effectiveness of your exercise.
The FatMax test is a multistage bicycle exercise test that measures the ability of your body to burn fat at different exercise intensities. During this test, we capture a wide range of data, including heart rate, oxygen consumption, rate of fat and carbohydrate burning, and total calories burned at each intensity. Using this data, we will pinpoint the exercise intensity at which you are burning fat at the highest rate (your personal FatMax). We then develop a strategic exercise plan based on your personal data to:
- Offer specific insights on your personal exercise goals and determine the ideal exercise plan for you to achieve your goals
- Help you achieve your fitness and/or weight management goals
Includes:
- One-hour FatMax assessment, plus a post-test counseling session
- Biweekly check-ins with registered dietitian/exercise physiologist throughout the lifestyle program period
24-Hour Metabolic Chamber: Total Energy Expenditure
Our metabolic chamber is a research environment disguised as a comfortable windowed living room. The chamber allows us to capture your energy use in a “free-living” environment. Recording minute-by-minute energy expenditure and breathing rate over the course of a 24-hour period creates a comprehensive picture of your personal calorie use during rest, sleeping, exercise, eating, and performing any activities of daily life. We can then analyze how your personal data compares to that of the general population.
We will plan this 24-hour schedule with you to replicate your day-to-day life as closely as possible and help you achieve your goals. We can incorporate different intensity workout sessions, allowing us to determine which exercise routine optimizes your calorie burn and fuel, to design the most effective workout for you. We can also measure how you respond to meals and snacks, which can inform optimized meal timing and planning.
Using this data, we can determine the best way to achieve your personal goals and give you the knowledge and tools you need to make the right lifestyle changes, or just better understand your body.
Includes:
- 24-hour assessment and counseling session
- Weekly check-ins with registered dietitian/exercise physiologist throughout the program period
Fitness Assessments
Movement Screen
The Movement Screen (FMS) assesses your mobility, stability, and fundamental movement patterns necessary for safe and effective exercise. Through a series of seven evidence‑based movement screenings, the FMS helps us spot asymmetries, weaknesses, and areas for potential injury. Based on this, we will create an exercise program that works for you, including strategies for preventing injuries and optimizing overall movement efficiency.
Includes:
- Detailed report on your movement screening, including areas of strength and weakness
- Personalized corrective exercises and custom resistance training test
- Review and results from your test
Heart and Lung Fitness: VO2 max
The gold standard measure of heart and lung fitness, VO2 max measures the ability of the heart, lungs, and blood to deliver oxygen to your muscles, and the ability of your muscles to use that oxygen during exercise. This test offers insight into overall health status and chronic disease risk, as well as your degree of heart and lung fitness compared to the general population.
This test can be conducted on a stationary bicycle or a treadmill and will generate data that allow us to evaluate your overall cardiovascular fitness level and exercise performance. We then use this personal data to:
- Characterize your cardiovascular health status and chronic disease risk
- Prescribe a personalized exercise program designed for your health goals
We also offer submaximal VO2 max testing for people who get little or no exercise. This validated test estimates VO2 max based on submaximal work rates (exercise done at a lighter intensity) and predicts cardiorespiratory response to exercise. Submaximal testing is appropriate for people who cannot perform high-intensity exercise due to health problems.
Includes:
- A one-hour assessment and counseling session after testing
Please note: You are required to receive clearance from your doctor to undergo VO2 maximal testing. Our staff will provide physician referral/medical clearance forms prior to your visit. Please print the form, complete it, and bring it with you to your appointment.
Sport-Specific Testing: Exercise Energy Expenditure and Sports Nutrition
This hands-on, customizable test is designed to answer your most pressing questions on fueling your body for your favorite sport. Prior to the session, we will have a discussion on your current routine and your upcoming goals. Based on this information, we will create a completely personalized sport-specific exercise test, designed to answer your questions on fueling for peak performance. With the data gathered from the test, we will provide you with a personalized plan, including:
- An exercise plan tailored to your metabolic results and performance goals
- Nutrition guidelines that are most appropriate for your personal performance goals
Includes:
- Custom exercise test and pre- and post-test counseling session
- Weekly check-ins with a registered dietitian/exercise physiologist throughout the program period
Please note: The Sport-Specific Exercise assessment requires you to send the Mount Sinai Physiolab your usual exercise regimen at least one week in advance.
Nutrition, Exercise, and Lifestyle Counseling
Nutrition Counseling and Exercise Counseling
Data gathered from your metabolic tests is just one aspect of personalizing an approach to achieve your health goals. Our team of registered dietitians and certified exercise physiologists is available to help you take the next step with personalized diet and exercise analyses and prescriptions. With a mixture of data-driven recommendations and one-on-one counseling sessions, we will work with you to implement a personalized wellness program that ensures long-lasting changes.
Includes:
- A one-on-one session with a registered dietitian to discuss nutrition goals and diet planning to meet personal health and fitness goals
OR
- A one-on-one session with an exercise physiologist to discuss exercise goals and planning to meet personal health and fitness goals
Nutrition Adequacy Assessment: Three-day food log analysis
Analysis of a self-reported three-day food log to determine how well your diet meets your nutrition needs in regard to the balance of major nutrients, vitamins, and minerals. Comparisons will be made to the U.S. Dietary Guidelines and Dietary Reference Intakes, federal science-based standards used to plan and assess healthy diets for Americans. Learn where your diet is adequate and where improvements can be made.
Includes:
- Analysis of three days of your dietary records
- Comprehensive report comparing your diet to established reference intakes (total calories, percent carbohydrates/fat/protein, micronutrients, fibers, vitamins, and more)
