"If you measured these people's calories, they may not eat as much as you think," said Dr. Frank Greenway, the Chief Medical Officer at Pennington Biomedical Research Center. "They're just eating calorically dense foods when they do eat; things other people might have a difficult time not overeating.
Physical activity can also make a difference, but it doesn't have to be a gym workout. "Some people just move more, even if they're not necessarily athletes," Melanson said. For instance, they might fidget or pace, have an active job, or spend all day chasing their kids around. There’s even evidence that some people are genetically predisposed to want to move their body, Melanson said. That extra movement can also rev up the body's metabolism, or how much energy your body spends throughout the day, not including exercise. The more you move, the more "the mitochondria within the cells of the muscle will increase in number and in their activity. And those are the power plants that are creating energy, using energy for movement," Melanson said. More mitochondria, means more calories burned.
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