The Calorie Counter

Biological anthropologist Herman Pontzer’s research focuses on how humans burn calories.

In Pontzer’s lab, experiments on humans determine how much energy the body expends exercising, fighting off viruses and dealing with stress. The tests measure the amount of CO₂ released in a subject’s breath to determine how much energy has been burned.

A fit 44-year-old, Pontzer is not concerned about personal weight loss. Still, his 2021 book Burn: New Research Blows the Lid Off How We Really Burn Calories, Lose Weight, and Stay Healthy has made him a popular talk show guest.

Pontzer’s basic mission is to explore how humans, unlike other great apes, manage long lives, rear multiple children and maintain large brains. He gauges the necessary trade-offs between energy expended on various bodily activities such as reproduction, exercise, illness, vital body functions and stress.

Pontzer’s group found that, on average, exercise doesn’t help people burn more energy than sitting.

Following methods used by physiologists examining obesity, Pontzer’s team measured the total energy animals and people expend ...