Recent studies busting everyone’s favorite calorie-burning fallacies
Morgan Markley
Senior Reporter
If you’re on the elliptical for an hour at Spaulding Gymnasium and then head to the Zorn Dining Commons and muster up the courage to survey the dessert bar, what was the point of that workout?
But what if the workout was sex and the dessert bar was the first meal of the day? A healthy combination?
Recent studies have made headlines busting the preconceived notions that sex is a powerful calorie buster and that skipping breakfast may lead to obesity.
According to a report from David Allison, a biostatistician at the University of Alabama at Birmingham, for the New England Journal of Medicine, one of these myths is that sex burns a lot of calories. “Not that people do it [sex] to try to lose weight, but claims that it burns 100 to 300 calories are common,” Allison said. Yet the only study that scientifically measured the energy output found that sex lasted six minutes on average–“Disappointing, isn’t it?”–and burned a mere 21 calories, about as much as walking, he said.
According to Tiffany Mathews, Keene State College coordinator of wellness education, the calories burned during sex depend on many variables.
“It’s really more dependant upon what someone is doing while they’re having sex that would actually be able to help you realize how much energy you’re actually expending,” she explained. Mathews added, “I think as far as once someone is able to realize that there are many forms of sex to realize that people perform these things in different ways—the amount of calories or energy expended is going to vary depending on the person and depending on the activity.”
KSC senior Shammara Aldarraji agreed with Mathews when she said, “I think it depends on what exactly you’re doing, because sometimes it can be a little more, and you can’t go off of one study anyway; there isn’t enough validity to it.”
Freshman Matt Brown said he thinks sex burns a lot of calories, “because you’re working everything.” He also said that sex is a good alternative to working out because, “I enjoy it more than walking.”
Aldarraji said she doesn’t think people substitute sex with working out. “I think they could be like ‘Oh, well I exercised today,’ but I don’t think they’ll really change their exercise pattern because of that. If they workout already I feel like they’re still going to workout.”
Some people have the desire to skip right to dessert, and there is nothing wrong with that. However, skipping breakfast may not be as fun as the “workout.”
Marion Nestle, a professor of nutrition and health studies at New York University, told the Los Angeles Times, “I am well aware that everyone says breakfast is the most important meal of the day, but I am not convinced.”
Nestle wrote in her book, “What to Eat,“ that “What you eat — and how much — matters more to your health than when you eat.”
Mark Mattson, a neuroscientist at the National Institute on Aging, spoke similarly on the subject of skipping breakfast in a Los Angeles Times article. He said, “No clear evidence shows that the skipping of breakfast or lunch [or both] is unhealthy, and animal data suggest quite the opposite.” Mathews said she thinks eating breakfast is an important part of being healthy. “The American Dietetic Association as well as many other professional health organizations recommend that people consume breakfast because throughout the evening, if you’ve been sleeping or even if you’ve been working, you’re spending energy, so you’re fasting.” Mathews continued, “If a person doesn’t refuel at breakfast your body will just be relying upon itself to provide you with energy, so it’s actually going to break down the energy stores you have within you.” Mathews continued and said it’s recommended to snack, “because otherwise you might feel ravenous when you do find the time to eat and then you possibly over consume because it takes a little while for your brain to even realize that you’re full.”
Aldarraji said she thinks breakfast is important because of its effect on the metabolism.
“I think the point of eating breakfast is to start your metabolism is why they’re saying that you will gain weight.” The student continued, “I don’t think it’s because you will eat more or less. I think it’s just the fact of how your body works, like you should eat breakfast because it will start your metabolism and give you energy and things like that and I still think that’s the most important meal of the day.” Mathews said that eating habits will always be unique to the person. She stated, “With health information it’s not cut and dry, it’s not black and white. Everyone has different situations. Everyone has their own medical backgrounds own medical history and different situations in their daily life in the future.”
The wellness coordinator gave students advice to not fall victim to these myths.
She stated, “In the long run that person will have to make a decision,” she explained, “What students might be experiencing right now is something they’re going to experience once they graduate too, where you’ll have people that are giving you different points of view and then you need to research it on your own, get advice from people who you trust, and I don’t mean just trust like you know a family member or friend, but who you trust knows has the best medical information the best health information.” Mathews also said, “I think that it’s hard for people to know who to believe and what resources to believe. I think people search for information but often times they’re not actually using valid resources.”
She concluded and stated another recommendation for people trying to figure out health myths.
She said, “I would just recommend that people be skeptical at first and do research on their own before they make a decision.”
Whether you have a hunger for sex or a hunger for food, figuring out what suits your body best may have to be through trial and error. And in these instances trial and error may turn out to be more fun than expected.
Morgan Markley can be contacted at mmarkley@keene-equinox.com
