Live data from Hacker News

Daily energy expenditure through the human life course

research.brighton.ac.uk

121–130 of 256 posts

Re: Daily energy expenditure through the human life course

#121

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There's good evidence that metabolic rate does vary, but not significantly. https://examine.com/articles/does-metabolism-vary-between-tw...

The article states the difference is small, but also notes “ The majority of the population exists in a range of 200-300kcal from each other”. All things being even 200kcal difference per day is about 20lbs per year attributed purely to metabolic difference. Now you can say to just eat 200kcal less per day, but those little differences on a daily basis add up.

200-300kcal seems like an awful lot. Would the higher end of that scale, 300, apply primarily to larger men who burn alot more calories?

In the case of two small women who burnt That seems like a massive difference not "small".

Re: Daily energy expenditure through the human life course

#122

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There's good evidence that metabolic rate does vary, but not significantly. https://examine.com/articles/does-metabolism-vary-between-tw...

The article states the difference is small, but also notes “ The majority of the population exists in a range of 200-300kcal from each other”. All things being even 200kcal difference per day is about 20lbs per year attributed purely to metabolic difference. Now you can say to just eat 200kcal less per day, but those little differences on a daily basis add up.

If they eat the same amount.

Re: Daily energy expenditure through the human life course

#123
I've always been curious about my own metabolism. When I was a teenaeger / in university I ate pretty badly. Chocolate bars every day after lunch, loads of carbs, not to mention alcohol, etc etc. I was rail thin. I once got a body fat assesment when I joined a gym (I did no exercise at all and this was a brief attempt to get buff) and the person doing the test was shocked and couldn't pinch anything to measure. I had no fat. This lasted till I was 25 where seemingly overnight I then had to watch what I eat or I started to gain fat. So what explains this seeming inability to gain weight no matter what I ate, and in my mid twenties having a more normal response to junk food?

Re: Daily energy expenditure through the human life course

#124

I've always been curious about my own metabolism. When I was a teenaeger / in university I ate pretty badly. Chocolate bars every day after lunch, loads of carbs, not to mention alcohol, etc etc. I was rail thin. I once got a body fat assesment when I joined a gym (I did no exercise at all and this was a brief attempt to get buff) and the person doing the test was shocked and couldn't pinch anything to measure. I had…

activity levels almost certainly. uni it's not impossible you were walking over 12k steps a day. that's 3-400 calories over the average american's daily steps of 4000.

Re: Daily energy expenditure through the human life course

#125
post #52

Earlier quoted context omitted.

A lot of skinny people have high metabolism, how do you explain that?

Show me their Cronometer.com food/calorie diary and we'll see if the proposition even holds. Until then I'm not even willing to grant it's a thing. In every case I guarantee they eat a normal amount of calories but feel like they eat a lot because they eat slightly more calories than normal in a single meal. Like me eating two entrees at dinner at 16 and wowing everyone even though I skipped breakfast before school t…

One time I tried to gain weight just to check if I was able to, as I have been unable to gain any significant weight in a variety of situation (sport, not sport; young, not that young, better/worse diet). I ate a calorie surplus diet (I don't remember the exact numbers, it was a few years ago), which meant eating more than usual but not too much either. This was measuring calories, weighting everything, all the drill; meanwhile I wasn't doing exercise other than walking/biking to places. Again, I don't recall the numbers but I gained maybe 10% of what I was supposed to gain. I've also seen how eating the exact same as other people (sometimes more) results in the other person gaining weight and me losing it, despite the differences in exercise being fairly irrelevant.

Re: Daily energy expenditure through the human life course

#126
post #124

I've always been curious about my own metabolism. When I was a teenaeger / in university I ate pretty badly. Chocolate bars every day after lunch, loads of carbs, not to mention alcohol, etc etc. I was rail thin. I once got a body fat assesment when I joined a gym (I did no exercise at all and this was a brief attempt to get buff) and the person doing the test was shocked and couldn't pinch anything to measure. I had…

activity levels almost certainly. uni it's not impossible you were walking over 12k steps a day. that's 3-400 calories over the average american's daily steps of 4000.

That's also completely canceled out by enjoying a single 32oz soda. Walking a lot and having a bad diet rarely even each other out. And it's so easy to cancel it out I don't think most people realize. A brisk 2km walk burns less calories than are consumed when eating two regular Oreos.

Re: Daily energy expenditure through the human life course

#127

No mention of how a persons lifestyle changes over that period though. Surely there is a correlation to the causation? The head-bone is connected to the neck-bone etc... You cannot study figures in isolation and expect them to yield some meaningful results while ignoring the influence of other figures upon those results. - Kids move around a lot, and they're still growing/developing - Teenagers move more constructive…

If inactivity was the explanation, it logically follows it would be possible to undo obesity by simply having people move more, but the evidence suggests exercise does not help compared to diet. https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/U1RxtW9oglcck-2g2X_SrKzIA44=...

[deleted]

Re: Daily energy expenditure through the human life course

#128
post #120

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Did you read the study? Or even the first line of the abstract? “Hypogonadal men with hepatic steatosis” is literally in the first sentence. It’s a study on men with low testosterone and fatty liver disease. They already have damaged livers.

If the presence of testosterone can improve the function of damaged liver, there's no reason to think that a healthy liver would get damaged by it. I can't even think of any mechanism that would be involved.

dosis sola facit venenum? Sorry I can not say anything smarter because I can not compare the doses, but maybe someone else will compare.

Re: Daily energy expenditure through the human life course

#129

I've always been curious about my own metabolism. When I was a teenaeger / in university I ate pretty badly. Chocolate bars every day after lunch, loads of carbs, not to mention alcohol, etc etc. I was rail thin. I once got a body fat assesment when I joined a gym (I did no exercise at all and this was a brief attempt to get buff) and the person doing the test was shocked and couldn't pinch anything to measure. I had…

I understand that as a healthy body sustains lifestyle damage, the effects begin to stack up, and then the effects become more noticeable, but it's not age based because it's reversible.

So look to your unhealthy lifestyle's accumulated effects in your body, atherosclerosis, obesity, pre-diabetes, hypertension, specific nutritional deficiencies, physiological mental health... And make a robust effort to improve your lifestyle, and you'll start to feel like you did, 10, 20 years ago.

Speaking from personal experience, I'm 50ish and after getting a health scare which triggered me into aggressive corrective action a few years back, I've overcorrected. My allergies have ameliorated back to old levels, I can drink beer again, and I can recover from a night out like I used to be able to in my 20's, I'm able to maintain a serious athletic schedule. Obviously most of the time I now eat really well, but my body's youthful tolerance to harm has been recovered.

Re: Daily energy expenditure through the human life course

#130

I've always been curious about my own metabolism. When I was a teenaeger / in university I ate pretty badly. Chocolate bars every day after lunch, loads of carbs, not to mention alcohol, etc etc. I was rail thin. I once got a body fat assesment when I joined a gym (I did no exercise at all and this was a brief attempt to get buff) and the person doing the test was shocked and couldn't pinch anything to measure. I had…

In addition to activity levels, you probably just weren't eating that much food. It was similar for me when I was a teenager: some days I would binge on a ton of junk food, but other days I would forget to eat breakfast, and the latter happened often enough that I stayed skinny.
Post reply on HN