Guest: Professor Lewis Halsey
As the complexity of the human body continues to unfold, a recent study indicates that exercise reduces calories burned at rest in individuals with obesity. The study, published in Current Biology on August 27, found that people who exercise burn fewer calories on body maintenance, therefore markedly reducing the calorie burning gains of exercise. This reduction in energy burned at rest was most pronounced in individuals with obesity and also, to a lesser extent, in older adults.
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Show Notes:
Cruel Twist: Exercise Reduces Calories Burned at Rest
[5:22] Does the body undergo energy compensation ie. Have a fairly regular energy balance?
[11:42] Study design
- Survey
- Increases in activity energy expenditure were associated with lowered rates of basal energy expenditure.
- Indirect calorimetry was used to measure energy expenditure.
- Respiratory exchange was also used.
[17:46] Weight loss follows dietary changes more than energy expenditures on average.
[21:00] Some of the “tricks” that the body plays to balance out energy expenditure/ intake.
[24:35] Intermittent fasting: good, bad, or irrelevant?
[34:26] No blood level measurements.
[39:00] Mitochondrial efficiency is addressed.
[51:50] If someone kept the same body composition as they age, would their metabolic rate still drop?
- It’s probably not the case that metabolism simply slows down as we age. It is more likely due to less physical activity, different eating patterns, and higher stress levels.
[58:30] The differences in energy expenditure of different body compositions throughout the day.
- Higher BMI individuals tended to show more energy compensation.
- Is the higher BMI from more energy compensation, or is the energy compensation leading to higher BMI?
- After all other variables were factored in, no age effect was observed.
[1:03:48] Data collection methods
[1:04:42] Takeaways.
- The WHO’s current method of determining energy expenditure is incorrect.
