Research

Energy balance

While daily intake does not track daily expenditure, total energy intake over a multi-week period significantly correlates with total energy expenditure in structured training environments.

Over the course of a few weeks, your total food intake will roughly match your total energy burn if you are in a structured environment with fixed meals and activities. However, this balance is not automatic day-to-day; it emerges only when looking at the aggregate over time.

GoodQualifiesHIGH confidence
There was a significant relationship between intake and expenditure for the whole period of the survey when results for all subjects were included. In three centres the correlation was high, +0.788 (P < 0.001)...
O. G. Edholm et al. · British Journal Of Nutrition · 1970

Why this rating

Strong statistical correlation (r=0.788) in a subset of centers, but heterogeneity exists across centers.

Source

Food intake and energy expenditure of army recruits

O. G. Edholm et al. · British Journal Of Nutrition · 1970

DOI 10.1079/bjn19700112

cross_sectional · n=64Cited 188×
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DOI resolved against Crossref · corpus check 2026-06-10

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