Hourly Calory Use -- [Was: Re: [at-l] Re: Weight Loss]

[greyowl at rcn.com (greyowl@rcn.com)]

What and violate the second law of thermodynamics??!!  The 
amount of work that is done is dependent only on the mass of 
the object and the distance that is to be moved.  (I really 
enjoyed college physics especially quantum physics)

Grey Owl

>You can't really reduce it to a formula except in a generalized 
sense. Take 
>Lance Armstrong for instance. He has an over sized heart and 
higher than 
>normal muscle efficiency (the capacity to turn fuel into 
energy). If an 
>individual's circulatory system is less efficient at getting fuel to 
the 
>muscles, if your muscles (in particular those muscles used for 
a given 
>activity) are of a less efficient type than the average then you 
will burn 
>more calories than the charts/calculators indicate. It also 
would vary with 
>how often you do it. As you become more accustomed to the 
activity your 
>efficiency may improve and you will burn fewer calories for 
the same amount 
>of exercise. I also suspect that running a given distance burns 
more 
>calories than walking it just as driving 'X' miles at 80 mph 
burns more gas 
>than driving the same distance at 50 mph.