Have We Got Metabolism All Wrong?
We burn the same number of calories regardless of lifestyle
We all know a healthy lifestyle is vital to our well-being. And yet, most of us, and much of the fitness industry, have got it wrong when it comes to losing weight by burning more calories.
Herman Pontzer, professor of Evolutionary Anthropology and Global Health at Duke University, North Carolina, has spent years studying and measuring how our modern, relatively sedentary lifestyle compares with that of our ancestors. And the results are somewhat startling.
Talking to the BBC, Pontzer said that the surprise is “we burn the same number of calories every day regardless of lifestyle.” A distant relative living as a hunter-gatherer has the same calorie cost as I do sitting at my desk for most of the day.
In his fascinating new book, Burn: The Misunderstood Science of Metabolism, he explains that gym bunnies spending endless hours working out are most likely to be burning through less energy on other stuff, such as immune functioning and other biological functions. The total calorific cost balances out.
Diet over exercise to lose weight
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