Counting the Problems with Counting Calories

Has anyone ever not been disappointed with the number of calories allegedly burned during a workout?  Has anyone ever been thrilled to learn that forty minutes on the StairMaster has earned the right to wash down two chocolate chip cookies with half a glass of milk? About that calorie counting thing, Jane Brody has some good news: it’s largely bogus. Reason number one for that, says Brody, is that two people of the same age, gender, height, weight and even the
same level of fitness can burn a different amount of calories at the
same level of exertion. The two reasons for reason number are genetics and efficiency. Brody reports that research conducted at Pennington Biomedical Research Center in Baton Rouge, La. found that people who rode a stationary bike six days a week for 12 weeks ended up burning ten percent fewer calories per session at the end of the 12 period than they did when they started. Another problem, says Brody, is that few people ever consider (and subtract) the calories they would burn during the time they exercise if they were not exercising. That number, says Brody, can wash out as much as 30 percent of the calories burned during exercise. For more reasons why counting calories is simply not worth the effort (which, sadly, doesn’t burn calories) read more in the New York Times.