American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, Vol 24, 1410-1417, Copyright © 1971 by The American Society for Clinical Nutrition, Inc.

Long-term energy intake and expenditure of obese housewives

¹ From the Department of Nutritional Sciences, University of California at Berkeley

The energy expenditure of six obese housewives was measured at home for 28 days. Energy intakes and balances were carried out for 14 days. The women were classified as obese because they were between 126 to 180% of standard weight-for-height and 39 to 50% of their body weight was fat. During this static phase of obesity, mean daily caloric intake ranged from 1,800 to 2,200 kcal. The contribution of protein, fat, and carbohydrate to total calories was normal. Nearly one-quarter of the total calories came from between-meal snacks.

Energy expenditures were lower than expected for body weight, and in four of five cases were between 2,000 and 2,500 kcal. Very little time was devoted to moderate or strenuous activity. The variation in energy intake was considerably more from day to day than was the case for energy expenditure.