Even the effort that some people expend.
More often than not the energy they expend on seeming impressive makes their actual performance worse.
"It's basic physiology," Loria says. "Eat fewer calories than you expend."
Why would individuals expend time and energy in activities that fail to increase reproductive success?
It has been said that most people expend more effort researching their next vacation than they do planning their future.
Defensive pessimists expect the worst and expend lots of energy mentally rehearsing how things might go wrong.
The military should not be permitted to expend considerable national resources in this effort, without congressional and public oversight.
It's easy to rag on people trying to make the world a better place, even if they expend no more energy than it takes to point and click.
As obscure as the middle class definition is, it is most fascinating to me how we Americans expend so much energy trying to maintain the appearance of wealth.
Mr Obama's aides have concluded that a more ambitious overhaul of America's sprawling regulatory system would expend too much political capital with too little benefit.
When they have spare time from this exhausting labor, they expend it on trying to work the refs, laying as much of the blame as possible on the other side.
Most humans and other animals gain weight because they accumulate fat. That occurs when they take in more energy than they expend. The unused energy is stored as fat.
The number one mistake runners make on race day is to go out too fast, expend way too much energy in the first few miles and crash and burn towards the end.
