Hi Jordan,
Could you please advise the implications of this recent study on calorie compensation for increased cardio in “normal” populations? My simplistic understanding would be that cardio would still be an effective tool in creating a calorie deficit, just 28% less effective on average than we may have thought.
Would this make a case for a modified additive model for calories, rather than a purely constrained model?
Thank you.
This isn’t a study, but rather a report (a non systematic collection of studies designed to support a particular view point) . And no, this report does not suggest that an additive model best describes what happens to TDEE when adding exercise chronically. That said, yes people vary in how they respond to exercise.
Thank you for clarifying. Dr. Ponzer is cited as a contributor on this report.
I recall in your podcast with Dr. Helms that he mentioned that the fed individual would respond differently to added cardio activity than one lacking sufficient nutrition. I believe his thoughts are that fed individuals would likely see an uptick in TDEE from added exercise. Those lacking sufficient nutrition (including bodybuilders that are very lean and eating very little) would be constrained. It seemed that this review corroborated that idea, with the caveat that you mentioned- people respond differently to exercise (some seem to have more constraint than others with respects to their TDEE).
I don’t bring this up to be contrarian. I am wondering if the constrained concept is truly “proven”. Or is it more of an interesting theory that requires further testing to confirm it’s veracity.
Yep, we discussed a study showing only partially “constrained” results for folks eating at a “surplus” (though not really) at the end of the podcast we did together. Pontzer was also an author on that paper.
I don’t think that we can draw conclusions about what happens long term to TDEE secondary to exercise from short-term studies and those without accurate ways of measuring TDEE or intake. That said, I think most of the data shows that the constrained energy model is at least somewhat true (e.g. ~ 30-80%+ of AEE is compensated for) chronically and thus, appears to provide the best explanation to date for what happens with chronic exercise. The degree that TDEE changes is likely to vary by individual, exercise mode, volume, etc. and further studies will help make this more clear.
Thank you for the excellent context and reasoning.