[nh2]

No, that's wrong.

Somebody else burns the same number of calories being active as you do sitting.

The article does not compare the the same individuals performing sitting vs. being active.

It says that members of hunter-gatherer tribes such as the Hadza on average consume as much energy per day as US-Americans sitting on their butt at home. It says the Hadza's bodies have adapted to perform a more exhausting task with less energy expenditure than US-Americans need.

But the same person (being a Hazda or US-American) will still need more energy being active than being inactive.

(Source: Read from "here's what we know so far" in the article.)

This is similar to finding that from N calories, an obese person may only run 1km while a professional marathon runner will run 5km.

Edit:

The Kurzgesagt video refers to the same Hazda people, and states that if you start working out after being sedentary for a while, you burn a lot more calories, until your body eventually adapts: https://youtu.be/lPrjP4A_X4s?feature=shared&t=212

[gopher_space]

> It says the Hadza's bodies have adapted to perform a more exhausting task with less energy expenditure than US-Americans need.

You're not wrong, but I'd see it as the Americans who've adapted to more recent situations. Not walking ten miles a day is a relatively new phenomenon.

[I_am_uncreative]

You can call us just "Americans". The US is unnecessary, thank you.

[jessekv]

The tone of this comment makes me question if it was made in good-faith. But I will add my perspective. I see this debate all the time, I've seen it since I was young, and not just on the internet.

It stems from a language difference, in Latin American Spanish, words like america and its relatives like americano, latinoamericano, panamericano, etc is inclusive of North and South America.

In English, globally, America refers to the USA. It is context dependent, but to describe the continents you would normally say "the Americas."

This distinction naturally annoys native Latin American Spanish speakers, especially because it is compounded by historical, geopolitical, and economic dynamics.

If someone chooses to be over-explicit in English, it's better to let it pass. Correcting the language can come off as dickish, especially when you consider the historical context. Additionally, the person on the other end is sometimes making this mistake on purpose, trolling for a pointless argument.

If it were up to me, I would add this topic to the list of things HN mods should ban.

[miles]

Cannot hear "US-Americans" without remembering: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lj3iNxZ8Dww