2 replies to this topic

[dracux]

I am new to all this information, so I have a question (well, I have hundreads of questions, but I will write the first one). How many calories are "Calorie restriction" when I do some intense exercise 4 times x week as a base (some times more). I run marathons and mountain races. Right now I am eating like 1500 calories x day because I need to lose weight, but in 5 more kilos the diet is over. So, how many calories will be "CR" for me?

[Michael]

Despite what you'll hear, there is no valid way of determining "%CR" in even sedentary free-living humans, let alone sedentary ones, unfortunately. In mice, %CR is determined by taking a highly genetically homogeneous cohort of mice, monitoring their literally ad libitum food intake of a completely consistent diet, and cutting this back by 10-20% to avoid the confounding effects of obesity -- this restricted food intake is stipulated as "AL." CR is then determined by a cutback from that level.

You can't do the same thing in humans, because we don't have a genetically homogeneous stock from which to work, the individuals reach their adult body weights and the compartmentalization of same quite differently, and the diets consumed by different people vary significantly much (we know that different diets with the same ostensible Caloric content contain differing amounts of actual available energy).  See more on why it's meaningless to calculate "%CR" in humans here.

 

Of course, this becomes even more complicated when one is also exercising. Largely, one should regard Calories burned and Calories (not) consumed as independent of one another in terms of their effects on CR-associated longevity mechanisms — but that doesn't get you any closer to knowing your "%CR." More on the interface between CR and exercise here.

[dracux]

Interesting, but doing exercise gives a limit on how much time you can do CR. I red what you posted, and even if it is hard to calculate calories burned in training, there are some parameters, and if in a day I waste 2500 calories, eating 1500 at some point should be unhealty I think (maybe I am wrong, but I am learning from this site).

 

Thanks for the information!