Burn cover art

Burn

New Research Blows the Lid Off How We Really Burn Calories, Lose Weight, and Stay Healthy

 Preview

Audible Standard 1-month free trial

Auto-renews at $8.99/mo + applicable tax after 30-day trial. Cancel Anytime
Try for $0.00
More purchase options

Burn

Written by: Herman Pontzer PhD
Narrated by: P.J. Ochlan
Try for $0.00

$8.99 a month after 30 days. Cancel anytime.

Buy Now for $25.80

Buy Now for $25.80

One of the foremost researchers in human metabolism reveals surprising new science behind food and exercise.

We burn 2,000 calories a day. And if we exercise and cut carbs, we'll lose more weight. Right? Wrong. In this paradigm-shifting book, Herman Pontzer reveals for the first time how human metabolism really works so that we can finally manage our weight and improve our health.

Pontzer's groundbreaking studies with hunter-gatherer tribes show how exercise doesn't increase our metabolism. Instead, we burn calories within a very narrow range: nearly 3,000 calories per day, no matter our activity level. This was a brilliant evolutionary strategy to survive in times of famine. Now it seems to doom us to obesity. The good news is we can lose weight, but we need to cut calories. Refuting such weight-loss hype as paleo, keto, anti-gluten, anti-grain, and even vegan, Pontzer discusses how all diets succeed or fail: For shedding pounds, a calorie is a calorie.

At the same time, we must exercise to keep our body systems and signals functioning optimally, even if it won't make us thinner. Hunter-gatherers like the Hadza move about five hours a day and remain remarkably healthy into old age. But elite athletes can push the body too far, burning calories faster than their bodies can take them in. It may be that the most spectacular athletic feats are the result not just of great training, but of an astonishingly efficient digestive system.

Revealing, irreverent, and always entertaining, Pontzer has written a book that will change how you eat, move, and live.


* This audiobook edition contains a downloadable PDF of charts included in the print edition. Diets, Nutrition & Healthy Eating Exercise & Fitness Fitness, Diet & Nutrition Healthy Diet Witty Physical Exercise Nutrition Health

You may also enjoy...
Be Exceptional cover art
Be Exceptional Written by: Joe Navarro, and others
Drop Acid cover art
Drop Acid Written by: David Perlmutter MD
Metabolical cover art
Metabolical Written by: Robert H. Lustig
Dark Calories cover art
Dark Calories Written by: Catherine Shanahan MD
AI Superpowers cover art
AI Superpowers Written by: Kai-Fu Lee
Gut Feelings cover art
Gut Feelings Written by: Will Cole, and others
The Inflammation Spectrum cover art
The Inflammation Spectrum Written by: Dr. Will Cole, and others
adbl_web_anon_alc_button_suppression_t1

What the critics say

"A wide-ranging romp through evolutionary biology, physiology, and anthropology, Burn will make you question what you think you know about metabolism and your waistline."
–Stephan Guyenet, PhD, author of The Hungry Brain

"Burn is science writing at its best: big ideas, wild and often hilarious stories from the field, and deft explanations. The result will reshape what you thought you knew about how our metabolisms work."
—Alex Hutchinson, New York Times bestselling author of Endure

"Herman Pontzer is one of the most gifted science writers of our time."
–Kelly McGonigal, PhD, author of The Joy of Movement

"Herman Pontzer’s Burn is a fun, fast-paced, eye-opening, and innovative book that will revolutionize how you think about the energy that fuels your body and everything you do. Please read Burn if you are interested in diet, exercise and what makes us human. It’s also enormously entertaining."
–Daniel E. Lieberman, author of Exercised and The Story of the Human Body

"An absorbing, instructive lesson for anyone concerned about their health."
–Kirkus starred review
All stars
Most Relevant
very interesting read/listen. well narrated and an interesting take on key contributors to human evolution and of our future sustainability. one key item to note for listeners is that this book focuses on most people's general metabolic processes and only lightly touches on sustainable metabolic changes for fat burning in the endurance athletes studies (as it was outside it's scope of study) so Dr Maffetone and Attia's work with usuing MAF as a guide for building fat burning endurance may be an excellent supplementary read. all being said, this is very informative and a well laid out way to become educated in the complexities of our bodies and adaptive basal metabolic rates, as well as probably the best explanation of the cause of our obesity epidemic I've encountered yet.

very interesting read/listen. well narrated

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
this wasn't the book I thought it would be. it was better! I liked the science and context. I liked the connection between energy and climate. in some ways this book was reminiscent of "Guns, Germs and Steel" but about kilocalories.

on fire!

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
The energy expenditure is an objective way for understanding our past, making the right decisions in today's life and planning our future survival as species. The author has done an amazing job explaining how it all works.

This book must be a mandatory read in schools.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
Did not finish. Author clearly had a word count to meet, which meant excessive filler that detracted from effective conveyance of key topics. Book was narrated in know-it-all science-educator-voice (you know the one) which made it difficult to listen to.

verbose and poorly narrated

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
pay attention to calories. that's it. this book is incredibly longwinded. its like listening to grandpa Simpson trying telling a story.

i enjoy anthropology and thinking alternatively about nutrition, but this book only provides a curnal of new information and rehashes it six ways from Sunday.

just eat high quality whole food and monitor your calories baised on wether you want to lose weight or not. thats it. there you go. save your money.

what a freekin' rigamaroo

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
See more reviews