Jim,
You wrote "One thing has surprised me has been my lack of hunger." Yep! That is your body proving that you are a thermodynamic machine.
Here is a little physics fact for you. There is variation, but on average, a 150 pound man will burn about
1000 calories per day if he sits quietly all day at room temperature dressed in clothing that keeps him comfortable. (extremities warm).
That is the heat loss to the environment and the energy expended heating up and exhaling room temperature air. You only need that many calories to keep your weight stable.
Any activity you do above that adds to the calorie demand. If you are splitting wood all day in the cold you might need 4400 calories. Ultra marathon runners who run 100 miles in a weekend need 14,000 calories per day!
(Frankly I don't understand why these numbers are not clearly printed in the service manual and warranty agreement that came with our bodies.)
Don't think you need to eat your normal quantity of food now. If you sitting in a chair all day and are taking occasional short walks very slowly, you might only need 1800 calories to start.
If your weight is healthy now, figure you will stay that way if you match intake with activity level. Eat normally when you move normally. You can go back to eating 4400 calories per day when you are healthy enough to climb radio towers for 5 hours in sub zero weather carrying 30 pound bag of tools.
Like this guy. Otherwise think: Input minus output = fat storage.
Hey iSpark,
I had not heard of Primochill tubing. I looked it up. That would have been so handy! If I had a coil of that I would have attached it to a heat exchanger so I could extract the 35 BTUs of energy contained in my pee before I let it go down the drain.
And it comes in Day-glo colors so my wife wouldn't trip over the hose! That material had to have been invented by a physicist in the energy field recovering from prostate cancer surgery. There couldn't possibly be a better application for it!
Jeff
Post Edited (Worried Guy) : 2/18/2013 6:18:29 AM (GMT-7)