Burning calorie calculation in First GA box

[PixelApocalypse]

Hi,

I have a problem with the calculations done in the first GA box of the Fundamentals chapter. (page 23)
This doesn't seem right to me at all. So little calorie burning? Where does he get the 106 calories of a 30 minute stairmaster?
I have done stair training at the gym. It had calorie meters built in where you had to input your age, sex, and weight. In personal experience after 20 minutes or so it would indicate well over 300 calories on a good exercise.
Also the first 23.9 calories - lets say 24 for easy calculation- for 100m seems more accurate.
Say you run 2km that would be 24*10*2=480kcal for 2km running.
Say you run 8km/hour (5 miles/hour) which is kinda slow. (A marathon runner would run 2 times the speed)
That means 8000m/3600s=2.2m/s
Then it takes 100m/2.2 =45s to run 100m. Running 2km would take 45*10*2=900s=15 minutes. So running 2km in 15 minutes would burn 480kcal. Running half an hour would burn 960kcal.
Checking various exercise calorie counters on the internet results vary between 260-460kcal. This is not nearly what I calculated to it's seems calorie burning is not linear.
Still, its 2-4 times as much as the book states.
What gives?!

[justhamade]

Hi,

I have a problem with the calculations done in the first GA box of the Fundamentals chapter. (page 23)
This doesn't seem right to me at all. So little calorie burning? Where does he get the 106 calories of a 30 minute stairmaster?
I have done stair training at the gym. It had calorie meters built in where you had to input your age, sex, and weight. In personal experience after 20 minutes or so it would indicate well over 300 calories on a good exercise.
Also the first 23.9 calories - lets say 24 for easy calculation- for 100m seems more accurate.
Say you run 2km that would be 24*10*2=480kcal for 2km running.
Say you run 8km/hour (5 miles/hour) which is kinda slow. (A marathon runner would run 2 times the speed)
That means 8000m/3600s=2.2m/s
Then it takes 100m/2.2 =45s to run 100m. Running 2km would take 45*10*2=900s=15 minutes. So running 2km in 15 minutes would burn 480kcal. Running half an hour would burn 960kcal.
Checking various exercise calorie counters on the internet results vary between 260-460kcal. This is not nearly what I calculated to it's seems calorie burning is not linear.
Still, its 2-4 times as much as the book states.
What gives?!

Hmm ... I think his calculation is including gravity and the 100m is vertical not horizontal.
So W = mass * acceleration(gravity) * distance(meters)
W = 100kg * 9.8m/s^2 * 100m
W = 98100 j or 98.1Kj which is 23.4 kilocals

I am not sure how you change that to running, because the amount of force is not linear and not consistent.
A rough estimate might be raising 100Kg 10cm each stride with a stride length of 1m (which would be 42195m or strides)
100Kg * 9.8m/s^2 * .1m = 98j
98j*42195=4135110j or 4135.11Kj or 988 kilocal

My physics is pretty rusty so if there is a mistake there let me know. This is a gross over estimation but it does show how inaccurate calculating calories is. Both intake and output of calories.

I highly recommend reading this article on calories http://primalmeded.com/2011/05/16/calorie-i/

The other issue with calories is you can not control what calories get used for fuel.
Fat loss is not a math problem it is all up to your endocrine system. Understanding and controlling insulin leptin and other hormones are the key.