Understanding Metabolism and Energy Expenditure

You hear a lot about metabolism. You probably know it has something to do with weight loss. And even if you don't go in for those supposed hacks around speeding up your metabolism, you likely figure you can at least increase it by exercising more.

This isn't actually the case, and my guest will sort through this and other misconceptions around metabolism on today's show. His name is Dr. Herman Pontzer and he's a professor of evolutionary anthropology and the author of Burn: New Research Blows the Lid Off How We Really Burn Calories, Lose Weight, and Stay Healthy. We begin our conversation with an overview of how metabolism powers everything your body does from thinking to moving to simply existing, and how it uses the food you eat as the energy needed to fuel these processes. We then get into Herman's field research which shows that increasing your physical activity doesn't actually increase the number of calories you burn, but why it's still hugely important to exercise anyway. He also unpacks whether certain kinds of foods are better for your metabolism, offers his recommendations on how to use diet to lose weight, and answers the common question as to whether it's true that your metabolism goes down as you age.

Resources Related to the Podcast

• AoM Podcast #691: What You Can (Really) Learn About Exercise from Your Human Ancestors
• AoM Podcast #552: How to Optimize Your Metabolism
• AoM Podcast #475: How to Lose Weight, and Keep It Off Forever
• AoM Podcast #636: Why You Overeat and What to Do About It
• NYT article on what happened to the metabolisms of Biggest Loser contestants after the show
• AoM Article: An Argument for Making Exercise (Not Diet) the Foundation of Weight Management

Connect With Herman Pontzer

• Herman on Twitter
• Herman's faculty page and lab at Duke