Does Flying Fighter Planes Help Burn Calories?

If you are looking for a rather exclusive bit of energy metabolism trivia, this study may catch your attention.

The study by Mateus Rossato and colleagues from Brazil, published in the Journal of Exercise Physiology, looked at how many calories fighter pilots burn during combat flights.

The answer is about 3 kcals per minute – that’s about three times the number of calories most of us burn at rest.

Given that fighter pilots are strapped tightly into their seats, this increase in caloric expenditure is largely explained by increased stress levels (an indicator for this was the fact that their heart rates were at about 60% of maximum during flight).

This may be the most expensive way to burn an extra 135 kcals that I have ever heard of – wonder when we’ll see the first fighter pilot simulation app promising weight loss.

@DrSharma
Vancouver, BC