Quote:
Originally Posted by redpoint5
Moving about requires energy. Moving a measured amount of mass a measured distance requires a specific amount of energy. Metabolism is the body expending energy. More energy is expended when more work is done, and there is no getting around this fact. More energy is also expended to sustain the living tissues of the body, including fat and muscle.
You can get a rough idea of how much energy is being expended by measuring respiration (how heavy someone is breathing). Energy is produced by burning "calories" with oxygen, and the faster energy is burned, the more oxygen will be required by heavier breathing.
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This is correct. Different bodies require different levels of energy to move based on their efficiency. A large, out of shape person is going to require more energy to move the same distance than a smaller more aerobically fit person. The larger out of shape person will use more energy to perform the same function, and will take longer to recover.
I don't think that something posted in NG or any magazine is neccassarily credible or not regarding something of this nature. It would take an incredibly invasive observation period to verify the numbers that they provided. The more likely scenario is, that they asked each person to give them a list of the food they thought they ate in a typical day and proceeded to ad up the calories. Typical calorie needs can fluctuate quite a bit, depending on lifestyle and resting metabolic rate. If I had to put money on it I'd guess the bike taxi eats close 2,000 calories on his off days and closer 3,000 on his work days. A person cannot, in any situation survive, if they're energy expediture consistently exceeds their energy intake.