Really, we can’t say it often enough: The New Leaf metabolic assessment is not a test. There is no pass or fail standard, no studying or preparation you can do beforehand. The assessment gives you a snapshot of where you and your body are today, in terms of how your body burns fuel when it is at rest and when it is exercising.

A metabolic assessment measures several things:

• The amount of calories your body needs to function, including everything from regulating your body’s hormones to thinking the thoughts that run through your mind
• The amount of calories you need to consume each day to achieve your fitness goal, whether that’s weight loss goal or greater athletic performance
• The point, known as your aerobic base heart rate, is the highest intensity at which your body still uses fat as it's dominant fuel
• The highest sustainable intensity of exercise, known as your threshold, that your body can sustain and still burn fat efficiently
• The rate at which your body absorbs oxygen, which your body requires to burn fat.

All that information comes from measuring your heart rate and from evaluating the mix of oxygen and carbon dioxide in your breath. Those measurements are taken at various levels of activity, from a point of complete rest to a point just shy of your highest normal physical activity level.

We repeat: This is not a test.

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