[whatusername]

I'll bite.

We measure calories in food by burning it in a lab and calculating the exact energy given off. Very precise. What we don't measure is how many pieces of that cob of corn I ate for dinner will pass through to my stool.

And I'll accept the comment that activities burn calories at predictable rates (they don't across populations -- look at exercise adaptation) but they can per individual. But treating the consumption of calories and the expenditure of calories as independent variables seems foolish. For an absurd comparison -- do you think my Caloric consumption over the next 24 hours would be identical if I consumed 10 calories of chocolate or 10 calories of amphetamines?

Physics works. A calorie is a calorie. But pretending that the human body treats all calories the same as a calorometer seems foolish.

[JoeAltmaier]

All correct, agreed. What it means is, there is some level of exercise that will consume enough calories to exhaust ready supply. Then weight loss occurs.

The silliness begins when folks start to bargain. How little exercise can I get away with? How can I eat a lot and not gain weight? Its this lazy concern that occupies everybodys thoughts and behaviors. They write whole books about it.

When in fact, if they'd get off their lazy butts and exercise, really exercise, they could forget about all those details. Physics could work for them.

And by exercise I mean ride that bike 20 miles over the lunch hour. With some stiff hills involved. Really exert yourself. But few want to do that. They want to ride a recumbent 5 miles on the flat and then eat 3 hamburgers. And complain that exercise clearly doesn't work because they're not losing weight.

Its astonishing how little exercise most folks have ever done in their lives. I'd go this far: most folks have never exercised. They've warmed up, and then stopped when they hit the point their muscles feel it. I know this - I've taken folks hill-riding and had them stop. "Something's wrong. I feel funny. My heart rate is up and my muscles are complaining". They'd never gotten aerobic in their entire lives, and were afraid of the feeling.

[pharke]

From personal experience, and this was some years ago, I've found that on a high carb, high fat diet e.g. breakfast: beans, bacon, eggs, toast. lunch: sandwich with deli meat, cheese, mayo. supper: bread, veg, and meat, plus a few cups of coffee and a beer thrown in caused pretty rapid weight gain (30lbs.) with what I would call a normal amount of activity, walking a reasonable distance to and from work, intentional exercise 2 - 3 times per week, some activity on the weekends but the rest of the time spent at a desk or on a couch.

After taking a summer job doing manual labour that involved constant, intense activity (lots of shovelling, sweeping, lifting, walking, pushing and pulling) from 8 AM to 1 PM every day I saw a complete reversal in weight while maintaining the same diet.

So from my own experience, it is absolutely possible to eat a fairly heavy diet and lose weight. It all depends on balancing your intake with the amount of energy you consume during the day. The only problem is that it takes a lot of heavy physical work to use those calories and the exercise regimen that most people assume comes no where near to what it takes to use up the amount they take in.

As far as quitting before you actually really start exercising, there was a good quote by Muhammad Ali circulating the other day [1] "I don't count my sit-ups. I only start counting when it starts hurting. That is when I start counting, because then it really counts. That's what makes you a champion."

[1] https://i.imgur.com/ylOAYnR.jpg

[geon]

Exercise is great and all, but diet is faaaaaar more important for weight loss.

[mistermann]

Indeed, this chart shows caloric burn for various activities, the body is very efficient:

http://www.thehealthyeatingguide.com/calorie-burning-chart/

[JoeAltmaier]

It entirely depends on your effort level. To say 'biking' burns 530 calories per hour seems precise. But a racer can burn 5000 calories. And you can burn everywhere in between those numbers, depending on your exertion level and the course.

[mistermann]

Agreed - however, cutting caloric intake requires far less effort, and doing so via certain diets is far easier than others.

[JoeAltmaier]

Apparently not, considering the vast industry around gaming just that activity.