Exercise accounts for a small portion of daily calorie burn
Neuroscientist and obesity researcher Alexxai Kravitz of the National Institutes of Health says exercise results in 10 to 30 percent of total energy expenditure depending on the person. This excludes professional athletes whose job is to exercise at a high level for several hours per day. Alexxai Kravitz lists three components of energy expenditure for the average young adult male and female.
These are:
• Energy used for bodily functions when the body is at rest (60 to 80 percent of total energy expenditure)
• Energy used to digest food (10 percent of total energy expenditure)
• Energy used for physical activity (10 to 30 percent of total energy expenditure)
We cannot control our basal metabolic rate, which is the rate our bodies burn energy when we are resting. Yet, the basal metabolic rate uses the most energy. Physical activity can include everything from gardening to working out at a gym with a personal trainer. Kravitz says food intake accounts for 100 percent of our energy intake, yet physical activity accounts for a small percentage of energy expenditures compared to the basal metabolic rate and food digestion combined.
