Science seems to be showing that your longevity is largely based on your metabolism. It's perhaps less accurate to think of a human's average lifespan in terms of years rather than in terms of calories burned.
Eating and then burning 10k calories a day probably ages you significantly faster than eating and burning 2k calories, possibly even 5x.
Also, most people, including elite athletes, are very poor at listening to their bodies and eating accordingly. There's a lot more to eating than simply being hungry. It's very much a habit. Google around for the psychology of eating, it's actually mind-boggling how complex and deeply rooted in our psyche it is. (Actually, most bodily functions go a lot deeper than we think.)
Ex-athletes are often very overweight specifically for that reason. They stop the exercise but not the eating.
The science I've read on metabolism is based on lab rats/mice, and it's still an open question about if that applies to humans.
I'm very aware that eating has a significant pyschological component, but, again, if you're going to say "ex-atheletes are often very overweight," I'd like to see studies.
Most animals have something like half a billion heartbeats of life. This can be extended to a billion through limiting diet and sex, or basically asceticism.
It's commonly cited that while athletes' hearts beat faster while exercising, they beat lower the rest of the day, thus giving them fewer beats per year. I'm assuming, though, that most athletes don't swim 6 hours a day + weight train.
Eating and then burning 10k calories a day probably ages you significantly faster than eating and burning 2k calories, possibly even 5x.
Also, most people, including elite athletes, are very poor at listening to their bodies and eating accordingly. There's a lot more to eating than simply being hungry. It's very much a habit. Google around for the psychology of eating, it's actually mind-boggling how complex and deeply rooted in our psyche it is. (Actually, most bodily functions go a lot deeper than we think.)
Ex-athletes are often very overweight specifically for that reason. They stop the exercise but not the eating.