There was a study done in the UK across their armed forces, and one interesting finding was that HOW you consume your calories matters.I've been reading this book. Secrets From The Eating Lab. It's enlightening.
Secrets From the Eating Lab: The... Amazon.com
In all the research I've found, physical activity is the biggest factor in if you're healthy or not. Physical activity was one of the things they could control for. Diets don't work. Shame and discrimination doesn't work. Will power isn't a factor. Eat better, exercise more, and stress less. You'll live longer and be happier. My biggest problem is the exercise. I can't get myself to do it.
They had test subjects consume identical meals, but some were served in their traditional forms with distinct dishes & ingredients, and others were puréed (at least partially) into soups. The subjects who had the soups reported feeling fuller for longer- put differently, they simply got less hungry less often.
The simple difference in the meals’ physical form kept the food in their upper GI tracts longer. This suggested that meals like this might minimize snacking between meals.
As for exercise…yeah, that’s always a major factor. However, I’ll note that intense mental activity can supposedly burn as many calories as light exercise.
McNay agrees that our brains don’t expend a whole lot more energy during tough tasks than during simple ones. A person doing cognitively challenging work for eight hours would burn about 100 more calories than a person watching TV or daydreaming for the same amount of time, he estimates. “If you were doing something really demanding that uses multiple senses—something like learning to play an instrument—that might get as high as 200 [calories],” he says. “But we’re talking eight hours of learning a new instrument.”

Does Thinking Burn Calories? Here's What the Science Says
Your brain uses more energy than you think
So, maybe if you’re having trouble getting moving, try getting yourself thinking. Start learning an instrument or a language. Or programming. Or some form of artistic expression. (Just make sure you don’t eat crappy snacks while you’re doing so.

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