# Calorie Expenditure Resources



## MBuzzy (Jan 8, 2009)

Do we have any Exercise physiologists or other exercise nuts who can give me some good resources (preferably studies, books, medical resources, or reliable web-sites) on how calories are burned?

I know that actual calorie expenditure is very complex and based on many factors from your weight, fitness level, VO2 capacity, heart rate, metabolism, etc....and many of those are interrelated.  There are plenty of places that try to estimate calories burned.  Some even take weight into consideration, but I'm interested in the science behind it.  I have read a lot and learned a lot about it, but now I'm having a hard time finding documented resources to back it up.

For example, I use a heart rate monitor that calculates calories burned and I know that without a very high tech piece of equipment, I can only get close.  Also, if another person does the exact same activity for the same amount of time, their calorie expenditure can be completely different based on many of these factors.

Thanks!


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## teekin (Jan 20, 2009)

Buzzy, the problem with the question you have asked is there is no simple answer. It's way more complex than you guess.  
 The first thing you need to understand is the ATP cycle. The ATP cycle can be influenced an an almost infinite number of ways. 
 Next is muscle type, and how the Ca+2 ion gateways act to produce muscle contraction. How much O2 you can get into your system to make hydroxyl OH- ions that will allow the muscle to contract before your swamped in H+ ions is also a factor. The percentage of slow twitch to fast twitch muscle your body is made up of will also be a factor. And those are just the basics.
 If you want to understand some physiology start by looking at how muscles contract, the chemistry behind it. Calcium gateways, Na+ CL- OH- H+ ions, how nerves conduct impulses, why lactic acid inhibits muscle contraction, the physiological difference between slow twitch and fast twitch muscles and the chemistry of the ATP cycle.
 Hey, welcome to my world.:cheers:
Lori


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## MBuzzy (Jan 21, 2009)

Grendel308 said:


> Buzzy, the problem with the question you have asked is there is no simple answer. It's way more complex than you guess.
> The first thing you need to understand is the ATP cycle. The ATP cycle can be influenced an an almost infinite number of ways.
> Next is muscle type, and how the Ca+2 ion gateways act to produce muscle contraction. How much O2 you can get into your system to make hydroxyl OH- ions that will allow the muscle to contract before your swamped in H+ ions is also a factor. The percentage of slow twitch to fast twitch muscle your body is made up of will also be a factor. And those are just the basics.
> If you want to understand some physiology start by looking at how muscles contract, the chemistry behind it. Calcium gateways, Na+ CL- OH- H+ ions, how nerves conduct impulses, why lactic acid inhibits muscle contraction, the physiological difference between slow twitch and fast twitch muscles and the chemistry of the ATP cycle.
> ...


 
That is exactly the kind of stuff that I'm looking for.  I am happy to dig into academic resources, including studies, journals, conference procedings, etc.  I just want to understand how calories are actually burned and what mechanisms exist for measuring them.  I know that basically the Calorie is simply a unit of measure of energy for the body's basic processes; therefore, how we burn calories is on a very basic cellular level, into how each cell in the body is fueled.  

I suppose that I'm also specifically very interested in how it is measured.  We have many types of proxy measures, like the ones that I've mentioned, but which ones are more reliable than others and why were they chosen as proxies?  For example, a heart rate monitor is a proxy measure for calorie expenditure, but why does this work to measure calories?


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## teekin (Jan 24, 2009)

The heart rate tells us how fast the heart is trying to get O2 to the muscles. The muscles need the 02 because there is an abundance of H+ ions being built up, this is going to interfere with the Ca+2 gateways that will allow muscle contraction. 
 You need to understand the ATP cycle first. Get a handle on that
 Then start to look at muscle physiology.
lori


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## terryl965 (Jan 24, 2009)

MBuzzy said:


> Do we have any Exercise physiologists or other exercise nuts who can give me some good resources (preferably studies, books, medical resources, or reliable web-sites) on how calories are burned?
> 
> I know that actual calorie expenditure is very complex and based on many factors from your weight, fitness level, VO2 capacity, heart rate, metabolism, etc....and many of those are interrelated. There are plenty of places that try to estimate calories burned. Some even take weight into consideration, but I'm interested in the science behind it. I have read a lot and learned a lot about it, but now I'm having a hard time finding documented resources to back it up.
> 
> ...


 

Med school could really help you:asian:


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## teekin (Jan 24, 2009)

No, if you can do basic ion exchange and university Chem and physics you can understand the principals. The quantum math is tricky but you can see what the theory looks like at the atomic level.
lori


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## teekin (Jan 27, 2009)

Buzzy, I have a puzzle for you to solve that will go a long way to answering your question. 
 What is the difference between the being poisoned by an alkaloid and an acid? What is the action on the CNS? on the heart, muscles, breathing? What is an acid defined as, what is a base ( alkaloid) defined as at the molecular level, the atomic level? 
 Figure this out and you'll know more about muscle and nervous system function than you really ever wanted to.
Lori


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## MBuzzy (Jan 27, 2009)

So is this like, the riddle of the sphinx?  I find the answer and get access?  

Let me go do some reading....


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