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> A normal man burns about 2,500 calories in a day. We burn between 7,000 to 9,000. This kind of thing is fascinating to me. It reminds me of the guy [1] who t

> A normal man burns about 2,500 calories in a day. We burn between 7,000 to 9,000. This kind of thing is fascinating to me. It reminds me of the guy [1] who took 64,000 extra calories of olive oil along on his tiny-yacht trip across the Atlantic, because it's so dense in calories. Or the fact that on the day a climber summits Everest, they'll burn around 20,000 calories. That's almost 40 McDonald's Big Macs worth of energy. 1. http://www.yachtingworld.com/extraordinary-boats/undaunted-the-42-inch-yacht-still-hoping-to-become-the-smallest-boat-ever-to-cross-the-atlantic-107559 http://www.yachtingworld.com/extraordinary-boats/undaunted-t...

hinkley 9y ago
Another thing They don’t tell you is that there are limits to how fast your stomach can absorb calories while you’re exercising. All those weird foods that runners and cyclists eat are (or rather, were, before the ad men got involved) optimized based on research into absorption. I don’t know where things are now since I’m a recovering couch potato, but there was a time where our best research said anything denser than Gatorade would not hit your bloodstream any faster. What keeps you from digesting your own muscles immediately is that your liver stores a few thousand calories of reserve sugars. So one day of heavy exertion you can mostly shrug off. Days or weeks take planning or moderation or you’ll digest the muscles you aren’t using (see also bicyclist physique)
- drdrey 9y ago
  The liver doesn't store that much (1000 calories = 250g glycogen, well over what the liver itself stores). You do have a couple thousand calories of glycogen available but mostly stored in muscles
  - hinkley 9y ago
    Well I guess you can only trust popular sports medicine so far. Looks like actual is more like 400 calories. While useful, that leaves the muscles, as you say, as the primary reserve.
qaq 9y ago
So you could loose about 1kg per day in weight ?
- johnchristopher 9y ago
  Basically. But you'd burn muscles fast at some points. Then no more nutrients/protein even though you are still skin, bones, ligaments, etc. So you finally die of a heart failure or a disease your body can't no longer fight. https://www.disabled-world.com/fitness/starving.php https://www.disabled-world.com/fitness/starving.php
hinkley 9y ago
The other reason to eat an oil product is that it takes more calories to digest. So it keeps you warmer when you aren’t moving.
will_brown 9y ago
Last year I tracked 294 runs and my app calculated I burned 260,900 calories (over 2,040 miles). Funny enough I calculated my average calorie burn per day of snowboarding at 8,000 calories right between the estimate provided from the article. A lot of people will talk about calories in/out, but the body is far more complex. For starters diet will dictate the primary fuel source (glucose or fat), a body that burns fat as the primary source of energy will have nearly infinite energy supply while glucose store will empty relatively quickly, and once that’s used up the body will start breaking down the amino acids in muscle tissue and converting it to glucose. Like you I find nutrition very fascinating, but I’d take that olive oil (healthy fat) over 40 Big Macs any day.
- git_rancher 9y ago
  Fat vs glucose being the energy source depending on diet? Where can I find more info about this?
  - jon_richards 9y ago
    I think that's the premise behind keto.
    - TeMPOraL 9y ago
      Yes, but that works on the idea that providing no glucose to the body will make it switch to fat instead. So it's not really diet "controlling" which fuel source to use, just body using the best fuel source available, and switching to the next one when the previous one runs out.
      - therein 9y ago
        I've followed a ketogenic diet for over over six months and lost 60lbs during that time while eating a disgusting amount of protein and fat. I never felt more clear-minded than I did during the diet. Colors were enhanced and I felt like I had unlimited energy. No ups and downs in mood during the day, no "unknown crash" at the end of the day. Of course this is after the initial crash that you experience until your body figures out it needs to switch fuel. It made me realize, often when we say we are hungry and we are craving something, it's not that we are hungry, it's that we are craving carbs.
blhack 9y ago
Imagine how much energy it would take to keep about 200lbs of water at about 98F degrees all the time when it is -40F outside. That's what your body is doing 24 hours a day. It takes a LOT of energy to do that. Quite frankly I think it's incredible that stuff like this is even possible.
- dsjoerg 9y ago
  Of course it matters how the water is wrapped/insulated. With good enough insulation it doesn't take much energy at all.
  - st26 9y ago
    Until the water starts insisting on breathing.
    - srean 9y ago
      Indeed, there couldn't be a better heat exchanger !
      - aquamo 9y ago
        Yes indeed! One of the advantages of diving underwater with a re-breather is that you lose less heat through respiration compared to open circuit SCUBA diving. Also the type of gases you have in your mix matter but that's another topic altogether. For the record, I've eaten butter camping in the winter - long lasting dense energy source for sure :-) My favorite is Kerry Gold Irish unsalted :-)
- jackconnor 9y ago
  Wow such a great way of letting me wrap my head around this, thanks.
Pxtl 9y ago
Now the oil makes me wonder if this was a tool in how the Romans conquered - better marching on their own supplies since their culture had a fatty food staple?
chx 9y ago
Strongman competitors consume insane amount of calories: Hafþór is reportedly on a diet with more than 10000, Brian Shaw posted a video a year ago about his 12000+ diet.
- MagnumOpus 9y ago
  These strongmen also have five times the body mass of the average person - unlike the antarctic explorers....
  - chx 9y ago
    These two are like 190-195kg. A lot certainly but not five times. Even Andre The Giant is billed "only" at 236kg.
stefan_ 9y ago
20000 calories? That must be american calories. If we subtract 2000 kcal for general upkeep that's still the equivalent of pedaling on an ergo at 220 watts for a continuous 24 hours. Half the population can't sustain that for a mere 20 minutes. Why can't they? Because it exceeds their maximum rate of oxygen consumption. That also tells us they can't in any scenario burn that many calories in a day.
- deepsun 9y ago
  Most of the calories spent not on muscle movement that consumes oxygen, but on warming up the body. That probably also consumes oxygen, but I'm not sure how much.
  - nradov 9y ago
    Generating energy takes roughly the same amount of oxygen either way regardless of whether you're pedaling a bike or just staying warm in a freezing environment.
  - robotresearcher 9y ago
    When working, keeping warm doesn't use additional calories to the work (skiing and sled-pulling), since heat is a biproduct of the work. In fact they are careful not to work too hard so they don't sweat. (Getting wet makes their insulation ineffective, so is very dangerous.)
clementmas 9y ago
I would also burn 7,000 calories every day to row across the Atlantic [1] but if the freeze dried food is varied enough, there's no need to eat raw butter. 1. https://clem.travelmap.net https://clem.travelmap.net
- qume 9y ago
  So good to have dudes like you posting on HN. Thanks & great work with TravelMap
justinator 9y ago
On some of my multiday, light and fast peak bagging missions last year, I would supplement my diet with coconut oil. Reasons: * Doesn't spoil, like butter could (clarified butter may work, but it's liquid at room temp) * Less of a chance to get all over the place, like olive oil. * Found in the strangest of places, like tiny grocery stores in even little mountain towns. * Smell less than butter (or bacon), so less of a chance to find a friendly bear in my food. I mostly ate peanut butter (caloric rich itself) and jelly tortillas. Put some coconut oil in that sucker, and it tastes like the finest french pastries. I never liked the stuff before. I was considering just eating Crisco (doesn't spoil at room temp, no mess), but coconut butter seemed a bit more appealing. I talk a bit about what I ate in a presentation I did recently. Fast forward to that part: https://youtu.be/kJ_U6cmGBHY?t=42m28s https://youtu.be/kJ_U6cmGBHY?t=42m28s The next slide shows that, despite the added calories, I was at a caloric deficit, in which I lost 15 pounds over 2 months.
laythea 9y ago
That doesn't sound very healthy to me. Is it not like running your car at 9000rpm instead of the normal rpm. This will cause engine wear and premature end of life. I assume it would be the same for humans, but stand to be corrected.

hinkley 9y ago

Another thing They don’t tell you is that there are limits to how fast your stomach can absorb calories while you’re exercising. All those weird foods that runners and cyclists eat are (or rather, were, before the ad men got involved) optimized based on research into absorption. I don’t know where things are now since I’m a recovering couch potato, but there was a time where our best research said anything denser than Gatorade would not hit your bloodstream any faster. What keeps you from digesting your own muscles immediately is that your liver stores a few thousand calories of reserve sugars. So one day of heavy exertion you can mostly shrug off. Days or weeks take planning or moderation or you’ll digest the muscles you aren’t using (see also bicyclist physique)

drdrey 9y ago
The liver doesn't store that much (1000 calories = 250g glycogen, well over what the liver itself stores). You do have a couple thousand calories of glycogen available but mostly stored in muscles
- hinkley 9y ago
  Well I guess you can only trust popular sports medicine so far. Looks like actual is more like 400 calories. While useful, that leaves the muscles, as you say, as the primary reserve.

qaq 9y ago

So you could loose about 1kg per day in weight ?

johnchristopher 9y ago
Basically. But you'd burn muscles fast at some points. Then no more nutrients/protein even though you are still skin, bones, ligaments, etc. So you finally die of a heart failure or a disease your body can't no longer fight. https://www.disabled-world.com/fitness/starving.php https://www.disabled-world.com/fitness/starving.php

hinkley 9y ago

The other reason to eat an oil product is that it takes more calories to digest. So it keeps you warmer when you aren’t moving.

will_brown 9y ago

Last year I tracked 294 runs and my app calculated I burned 260,900 calories (over 2,040 miles). Funny enough I calculated my average calorie burn per day of snowboarding at 8,000 calories right between the estimate provided from the article. A lot of people will talk about calories in/out, but the body is far more complex. For starters diet will dictate the primary fuel source (glucose or fat), a body that burns fat as the primary source of energy will have nearly infinite energy supply while glucose store will empty relatively quickly, and once that’s used up the body will start breaking down the amino acids in muscle tissue and converting it to glucose. Like you I find nutrition very fascinating, but I’d take that olive oil (healthy fat) over 40 Big Macs any day.

git_rancher 9y ago
Fat vs glucose being the energy source depending on diet? Where can I find more info about this?
- jon_richards 9y ago
  I think that's the premise behind keto.
  - TeMPOraL 9y ago
    Yes, but that works on the idea that providing no glucose to the body will make it switch to fat instead. So it's not really diet "controlling" which fuel source to use, just body using the best fuel source available, and switching to the next one when the previous one runs out.
    - therein 9y ago
      I've followed a ketogenic diet for over over six months and lost 60lbs during that time while eating a disgusting amount of protein and fat. I never felt more clear-minded than I did during the diet. Colors were enhanced and I felt like I had unlimited energy. No ups and downs in mood during the day, no "unknown crash" at the end of the day. Of course this is after the initial crash that you experience until your body figures out it needs to switch fuel. It made me realize, often when we say we are hungry and we are craving something, it's not that we are hungry, it's that we are craving carbs.

blhack 9y ago

Imagine how much energy it would take to keep about 200lbs of water at about 98F degrees all the time when it is -40F outside. That's what your body is doing 24 hours a day. It takes a LOT of energy to do that. Quite frankly I think it's incredible that stuff like this is even possible.

dsjoerg 9y ago
Of course it matters how the water is wrapped/insulated. With good enough insulation it doesn't take much energy at all.
- st26 9y ago
  Until the water starts insisting on breathing.
  - srean 9y ago
    Indeed, there couldn't be a better heat exchanger !
    - aquamo 9y ago
      Yes indeed! One of the advantages of diving underwater with a re-breather is that you lose less heat through respiration compared to open circuit SCUBA diving. Also the type of gases you have in your mix matter but that's another topic altogether. For the record, I've eaten butter camping in the winter - long lasting dense energy source for sure :-) My favorite is Kerry Gold Irish unsalted :-)
jackconnor 9y ago
Wow such a great way of letting me wrap my head around this, thanks.

Pxtl 9y ago

Now the oil makes me wonder if this was a tool in how the Romans conquered - better marching on their own supplies since their culture had a fatty food staple?

chx 9y ago

Strongman competitors consume insane amount of calories: Hafþór is reportedly on a diet with more than 10000, Brian Shaw posted a video a year ago about his 12000+ diet.

MagnumOpus 9y ago
These strongmen also have five times the body mass of the average person - unlike the antarctic explorers....
- chx 9y ago
  These two are like 190-195kg. A lot certainly but not five times. Even Andre The Giant is billed "only" at 236kg.

stefan_ 9y ago

20000 calories? That must be american calories. If we subtract 2000 kcal for general upkeep that's still the equivalent of pedaling on an ergo at 220 watts for a continuous 24 hours. Half the population can't sustain that for a mere 20 minutes. Why can't they? Because it exceeds their maximum rate of oxygen consumption. That also tells us they can't in any scenario burn that many calories in a day.

deepsun 9y ago
Most of the calories spent not on muscle movement that consumes oxygen, but on warming up the body. That probably also consumes oxygen, but I'm not sure how much.
- nradov 9y ago
  Generating energy takes roughly the same amount of oxygen either way regardless of whether you're pedaling a bike or just staying warm in a freezing environment.
- robotresearcher 9y ago
  When working, keeping warm doesn't use additional calories to the work (skiing and sled-pulling), since heat is a biproduct of the work. In fact they are careful not to work too hard so they don't sweat. (Getting wet makes their insulation ineffective, so is very dangerous.)

clementmas 9y ago

I would also burn 7,000 calories every day to row across the Atlantic [1] but if the freeze dried food is varied enough, there's no need to eat raw butter. 1. https://clem.travelmap.net https://clem.travelmap.net

qume 9y ago
So good to have dudes like you posting on HN. Thanks & great work with TravelMap

justinator 9y ago

On some of my multiday, light and fast peak bagging missions last year, I would supplement my diet with coconut oil. Reasons: * Doesn't spoil, like butter could (clarified butter may work, but it's liquid at room temp) * Less of a chance to get all over the place, like olive oil. * Found in the strangest of places, like tiny grocery stores in even little mountain towns. * Smell less than butter (or bacon), so less of a chance to find a friendly bear in my food. I mostly ate peanut butter (caloric rich itself) and jelly tortillas. Put some coconut oil in that sucker, and it tastes like the finest french pastries. I never liked the stuff before. I was considering just eating Crisco (doesn't spoil at room temp, no mess), but coconut butter seemed a bit more appealing. I talk a bit about what I ate in a presentation I did recently. Fast forward to that part: https://youtu.be/kJ_U6cmGBHY?t=42m28s https://youtu.be/kJ_U6cmGBHY?t=42m28s The next slide shows that, despite the added calories, I was at a caloric deficit, in which I lost 15 pounds over 2 months.

laythea 9y ago

That doesn't sound very healthy to me. Is it not like running your car at 9000rpm instead of the normal rpm. This will cause engine wear and premature end of life. I assume it would be the same for humans, but stand to be corrected.