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http://www.nhs.uk/Livewell/men4060/Pages/beatthebulge.aspx
"You need to burn 3,500 caleries to loose 500g of body fat."
Um... really? I would have thought that the amount of energy you need to
burn would be related to the amount of energy you consume in the first
place... no?
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> "You need to burn 3,500 caleries to loose 500g of body fat."
>
> Um... really? I would have thought that the amount of energy you need to
> burn would be related to the amount of energy you consume in the first
> place... no?
I don't think so, burning 3500 calories is burning 3500 calories, which
apparently will make you lose 500g of fat. Whether you then immediately
consume 3500 calories and put it back on is another matter :-)
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scott wrote:
>> "You need to burn 3,500 caleries to loose 500g of body fat."
>>
>> Um... really? I would have thought that the amount of energy you need
>> to burn would be related to the amount of energy you consume in the
>> first place... no?
>
> I don't think so, burning 3500 calories is burning 3500 calories, which
> apparently will make you lose 500g of fat. Whether you then immediately
> consume 3500 calories and put it back on is another matter :-)
LOL! WTF?
That's pretty special, right there. And you're telling me you engineer
stuff for a living? ;-)
That's almost as broken as the logic in Braniac's weight experiment.
They got a girl, weighed her, and then made her eat a quarter pounder.
Afterwards, she was less than a quarter of a pound heavier. This is
because of "the energy used by eating the burger". And not because, say,
1/4 lb is THE UNCOOKED WEIGHT OF THE BURGER or anything like that... :-P
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> That's pretty special, right there. And you're telling me you engineer
> stuff for a living? ;-)
>
> That's almost as broken as the logic in Braniac's weight experiment. They
> got a girl, weighed her, and then made her eat a quarter pounder.
> Afterwards, she was less than a quarter of a pound heavier. This is
> because of "the energy used by eating the burger". And not because, say,
> 1/4 lb is THE UNCOOKED WEIGHT OF THE BURGER or anything like that... :-P
You're talking about the instant weight change due to the mass of food.
Compare consuming 3kg of water with 3kg of cheese. Both will cause you to
instantly "put on" 3kg, but guess which one will cause your weight to be
higher (by 500g per 3500 calories apparently) a few days later?
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>> That's almost as broken as the logic in Braniac's weight experiment.
>> They got a girl, weighed her, and then made her eat a quarter pounder.
>> Afterwards, she was less than a quarter of a pound heavier. This is
>> because of "the energy used by eating the burger". And not because,
>> say, 1/4 lb is THE UNCOOKED WEIGHT OF THE BURGER or anything like
>> that... :-P
>
> You're talking about the instant weight change due to the mass of food.
Indeed yes. You'd think eating a 1/4 lb burger would make you 1/4 lb
heavier. But it didn't in their experiment.
> Compare consuming 3kg of water with 3kg of cheese. Both will cause you
> to instantly "put on" 3kg, but guess which one will cause your weight to
> be higher (by 500g per 3500 calories apparently) a few days later?
Indeed.
Although... 3kg is a hell of a lot of water... or cheese, for that
matter... wow. I wonder if you can actually eat that much at once?
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> Indeed yes. You'd think eating a 1/4 lb burger would make you 1/4 lb
> heavier. But it didn't in their experiment.
I expect that your weight would go up approximately by 1/4 lb, give or take
a tiny amount for sweat evaporation etc. Any larger differences are
probably just measurement error, what equipment or method can accurately
measure changes of a few grams when weighing 80 kg (that's 0.001% accuracy)
?
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scott wrote:
>> Indeed yes. You'd think eating a 1/4 lb burger would make you 1/4 lb
>> heavier. But it didn't in their experiment.
>
> I expect that your weight would go up approximately by 1/4 lb, give or
> take a tiny amount for sweat evaporation etc. Any larger differences
> are probably just measurement error, what equipment or method can
> accurately measure changes of a few grams when weighing 80 kg (that's
> 0.001% accuracy) ?
As I say, a "1/4 burger" only weighs 1/4 lb BEFORE you cook it. Also,
she didn't just eat the burger; it was in a bun.
But sure, knowing Braniac, I doubt the highest standards of scientific
measurement were employed. ;-)
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> As I say, a "1/4 burger" only weighs 1/4 lb BEFORE you cook it. Also, she
> didn't just eat the burger; it was in a bun.
I assumed they would actually weigh the food just before it was eaten rather
than rely on the name...
> But sure, knowing Braniac, I doubt the highest standards of scientific
> measurement were employed. ;-)
I doubt you can actually buy a weighing machine with enough accuracy for
that. The most expensive medical one I could find that went up to 100 kg
only offered an accuracy of 150 g, which is pretty useless when the burger
weighs less than that. I just don't think a machine that can weigh up to
100 kg is practically possible with an accuracy of 1 g, the tolerances
involved in manufacturing and calibration would be insane!
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scott wrote:
>> As I say, a "1/4 burger" only weighs 1/4 lb BEFORE you cook it. Also,
>> she didn't just eat the burger; it was in a bun.
>
> I assumed they would actually weigh the food just before it was eaten
> rather than rely on the name...
Why would they do that? This is Braniac! If it says 1/4 lb on the box,
it must be 1/4 lb, right? :-D
>> But sure, knowing Braniac, I doubt the highest standards of scientific
>> measurement were employed. ;-)
>
> I doubt you can actually buy a weighing machine with enough accuracy for
> that. The most expensive medical one I could find that went up to 100
> kg only offered an accuracy of 150 g, which is pretty useless when the
> burger weighs less than that. I just don't think a machine that can
> weigh up to 100 kg is practically possible with an accuracy of 1 g, the
> tolerances involved in manufacturing and calibration would be insane!
You're probably right about that...
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Invisible <voi### [at] dev null> wrote:
> scott wrote:
> >> "You need to burn 3,500 caleries to loose 500g of body fat."
> >>
> >> Um... really? I would have thought that the amount of energy you need
> >> to burn would be related to the amount of energy you consume in the
> >> first place... no?
> >
> > I don't think so, burning 3500 calories is burning 3500 calories, which
> > apparently will make you lose 500g of fat. Whether you then immediately
> > consume 3500 calories and put it back on is another matter :-)
>
> LOL! WTF?
>
> That's pretty special, right there. And you're telling me you engineer
> stuff for a living? ;-)
>
> That's almost as broken as the logic in Braniac's weight experiment.
> They got a girl, weighed her, and then made her eat a quarter pounder.
> Afterwards, she was less than a quarter of a pound heavier. This is
> because of "the energy used by eating the burger". And not because, say,
> 1/4 lb is THE UNCOOKED WEIGHT OF THE BURGER or anything like that... :-P
What's wrong?
A calorie is a unit of chemical energy. Whether the assertion makes sense
depends on the energy density of body fat. The value is pretty close to what
I've heard before. He's even got the psychology right-- when I've all of a
sudden started up a major exercise program, I'm sure the first week I've
consumed many more calories than I was the week prior.
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