On more exercise to burn calories

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SUMMARY

The recent study published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS) reveals that individuals, regardless of body size, burn a similar number of calories daily, as measured by the Doubly Labelled Water method across 4,213 subjects from diverse economic backgrounds. The findings indicate that both basal energy expenditure and physical activity energy expenditure remain consistent, suggesting that exercise alone is insufficient to combat obesity, particularly when coupled with the consumption of ultra-processed foods. The study emphasizes that while exercise can increase calorie burn, the effort required is often disproportionate to the caloric intake from typical junk foods.

PREREQUISITES
  • Understanding of the Doubly Labelled Water method
  • Knowledge of basal energy expenditure (BEE) and physical activity energy expenditure (PAEE)
  • Familiarity with the impact of ultra-processed foods on health
  • Awareness of obesity-related research and its implications
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  • Research the Doubly Labelled Water method for measuring total energy expenditure
  • Explore the relationship between diet and obesity, focusing on ultra-processed foods
  • Investigate strategies for effective weight management beyond exercise
  • Study the physiological effects of exercise on hunger and appetite regulation
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Health professionals, nutritionists, fitness trainers, and individuals interested in understanding the complex relationship between exercise, diet, and obesity management.

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TL;DR
A recent article in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences takes a close look at the role of Exercise on weight loss.
A recent article in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS) takes a close look at the role of Exercise on weight loss.
There is Washington Post coverage of this report.

The study uses the Doubly Labelled Water method to measure the daily "total energy expenditure" (TEE) of the 4213 subjects of the study.

Those subjects were selected from "a wide spectrum of economic development, including hunter-gatherers, pastoralists, farmers, and people in industrialized countries".

The surprising result: For a given body size, We all tend to burn the same number of calories each day.
The total of the basal energy expenditure and physical activity energy expenditure tended to remain steady.

There are many practical corollaries.
If you are interested in the article, I suggest reading either the PNAS or the Post reports. There is a lot of detail - too much to properly summarize.
 
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Essentially, we are what we eat, not how we exercise. Eating ultra-processed foods leads to obesity.

Exercise won't solve the obesity problem since we all burn roughly the same number of calories per day.
 
jedishrfu said:
Exercise won't solve the obesity problem since we all burn roughly the same number of calories per day.
Typical junk foods have so many calories that it's almost impossible to burn them off in any case. It is easy to consume 5,000 calories in a day, and you would have to ride a stage of the Tour de France to burn that off! These numbers have always been clear.

That said, it's possible to burn more calories by exercise - it's just that the amount of exercise is out of proportion to what you might expect.
 
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I have found that exercise can act as a reducer of hunger and thus has other effects on this whole relationship.
 
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