Yeah, this is a scale problem.

You can hop on a plane and go from a driving-city to a walking city, look around and see the difference. I can't accept that this doesn't matter.

But if you take the common American diet where the bread of your sandwich is shelf-stable because it's packed with sugar and oil, and that's before we even talk about portion size, "more running than most people want to do" quickly becomes "recreate the scene from Forest Gump."

▲

robertlagrant 2 days ago | parent | next [-]

> I can't accept that this doesn't matter.

It's not that it doesn't matter, it's the asymmetry. You can eat a small chocolate bar that costs $1 (or whatever) in about 15 seconds, and it will take you 2 hours of walking to wear off the calories.

▲

const_cast 2 days ago | parent [-]

It's more complicated than this, because muscle raises your basal metabolic rate.

If you look at bodybuilders, they're buring 400 calories a day, regardless of exercise. Having an extra 100 pounds of muscle means your body just burns A LOT of calories doing absolutely nothing.

This is part of the reason why men burn more calories than woman just right out of the gate.

▲

rgoulter a day ago | parent | next [-]

> men burn more calories than woman just right out of the gate

Sure, but parent's point is that the energy input from sugary snacks like chocolate roughly equates to a significant amount of exercise. (Over an hour of walking). -- Maybe the caloric equivalent amount of walking is a little longer or shorter for different bodies.

How might you take action from this understanding, though.

Gaining an extra 100 pounds of muscle is hardly an easy/tangible feat.

"Reducing intake of sugary snacks" is going to be easier than "walk for over an hour".

	▲	const_cast a day ago \| parent [-]
		You don't need 100 pounds of muscle to reap the benefits. My point is, yes eating a sugary snack takes 1 hour of walking. But it doesn't take 1 hour of weightlifting. It can take 0 hours of weightlifting, if you've already been weightlifting. Even with walking and running, you do build muscle. When the treadmill says 100 calories, you didn't actually burn 100 calories - you burned 100 plus the increased rate from the muscle you gained. So, if you're an athletic person, you're burning more calories regardless of if you work out. Just by existing, sleeping, whatever, you have a big head start. For some athletes, this head start is in the 1000s of calories range.

▲

0cf8612b2e1e 2 days ago | parent | prev [-]

A pound of fat burns ~3 calories, while muscle is ~8 per day. Sure, it is different, but unless you are the Rock, most people do not have enough muscle mass to make a difference.

	▲	const_cast a day ago \| parent [-]
		This is just not true, if you look at women and men of similar height men still burn significantly more calories. Hormones, I'm sure, play a role too but testosterone is sticky. More weightlifitng raises your testosterone - so you should be seeing that benefit.

▲

tonyedgecombe 2 days ago | parent | prev | next [-]

Exercise definitely helps you improve your eating patterns. In particular it helps you deal with stress which is a source of bad food habits.

▲

Spivak 2 days ago | parent | prev | next [-]

Well yeah, the sugar is also there to produce the soft squishy texture people expect from sandwich bread as well as the aiding the Maillard reaction when it's grilled. Miss me with a grilled cheese made with any other kind of loaf.

But we are talking about bread here, even in the absence of sugar and oil it's still got plenty of calories for you. Grain St Methode's white bread, a no added sugar brand is 180 cals for two slices and Wonder Bread, famously packed with sugar, is 140 cals for two slices. It's the bread which is making you fat, the sugar isn't moving the needle in any direction as far as the obesity crisis is concerned.

▲

snozolli 2 days ago | parent | prev [-]

You can hop on a plane and go from a driving-city to a walking city, look around and see the difference. I can't accept that this doesn't matter.

It's a whole lot easier to hit up a drive through or grab a tub of ice cream at the grocery store when you're driving a car.

You're not wrong, though. Walking around doesn't burn a lot of calories (~100/mile), but most people become overweight by only slightly overeating on a daily basis, over a long period of time. One can of soda has 140 Calories. 140 excess daily Calories is an extra pound of fat per month.