Do calories just add up?
Discussion
Just pondering on how the body deals with excess calories...
Assuming a specific maintenance calorie intake and equal levels of daily calorie expenditure, would the body react any differently - over the long-term, say 6-12 months - to dealing with these two examples of taking on excess calories:
a) Every day, the maintenance intake level is exceeded by a 150 calorie bag of crisps
b) The person sticks to their maintenance intake every day except one each week, where they scoff a 1,050 calorie pizza in excess of maintenance intake
Net calories per week, these are the same. But does the body react/deal with these in different ways? Or is calories in vs. calories out simply 'sums'.
Assuming a specific maintenance calorie intake and equal levels of daily calorie expenditure, would the body react any differently - over the long-term, say 6-12 months - to dealing with these two examples of taking on excess calories:
a) Every day, the maintenance intake level is exceeded by a 150 calorie bag of crisps
b) The person sticks to their maintenance intake every day except one each week, where they scoff a 1,050 calorie pizza in excess of maintenance intake
Net calories per week, these are the same. But does the body react/deal with these in different ways? Or is calories in vs. calories out simply 'sums'.
V8mate said:
Just pondering on how the body deals with excess calories...
Assuming a specific maintenance calorie intake and equal levels of daily calorie expenditure, would the body react any differently - over the long-term, say 6-12 months - to dealing with these two examples of taking on excess calories:
a) Every day, the maintenance intake level is exceeded by a 150 calorie bag of crisps
b) The person sticks to their maintenance intake every day except one each week, where they scoff a 1,050 calorie pizza in excess of maintenance intake
Net calories per week, these are the same. But does the body react/deal with these in different ways? Or is calories in vs. calories out simply 'sums'.
Where those calories comes from matter also. The amount of 'good' nutrients compared to the 'bad' have a big effect on how your body stores or uses them.Assuming a specific maintenance calorie intake and equal levels of daily calorie expenditure, would the body react any differently - over the long-term, say 6-12 months - to dealing with these two examples of taking on excess calories:
a) Every day, the maintenance intake level is exceeded by a 150 calorie bag of crisps
b) The person sticks to their maintenance intake every day except one each week, where they scoff a 1,050 calorie pizza in excess of maintenance intake
Net calories per week, these are the same. But does the body react/deal with these in different ways? Or is calories in vs. calories out simply 'sums'.
If there is a constant excess of any food though, it will get stored in fat, of if training enough, some into muscle. Water retention is higher with high carb foods too.
Long term effects of per day/once a week though are less clear, unless you could always guarantee those same intakes and expenditures.
If you could for definite be in calorie surplus over that time, expect to gain some weight.
I get that completely... I picked crisps and pizza as a reasonably similar pile of carbs and fat, but was wondering whether there was something physiological which the body might do when it experiences a binge of calories, rather than steady excess?
Or whether it's just maths, however they're delivered.
Or whether it's just maths, however they're delivered.
V8mate said:
I get that completely... I picked crisps and pizza as a reasonably similar pile of carbs and fat, but was wondering whether there was something physiological which the body might do when it experiences a binge of calories, rather than steady excess?
Or whether it's just maths, however they're delivered.
There would be short and longer term effects of binge or prolonged excess. How your body reacts compared to mine or someone elses will be quite different though. Some may handle it better than others, in terms of ability to absorb, digest, expel, not feel like a fat bloater etc.Or whether it's just maths, however they're delivered.
Impossible to say with any certainty that you will experience some particular process. Though when our bodies are overloaded, a good portion of it gets moved to fat and glycogen stores.
I ate a stonebaked pizza last night, a can of rice pudding, other stuff, and generally exceeded my daily basal rate by a couple of thousand calories. I feel a bit bleurgh today, but the rest of the week and into next I train hard and eat properly. Over the course of a month I'm generally in a slight deficit of calories.
Wowzer such a complicated question that I don't think I can answer as I don't know and its extremely complicated.
BUT if your trying to lose weight your deficit is cumulative so having one 'bad' day going over your calorie limit wont ruin everything your working towards, ie its ok to treat yourself. Its also worth noting (as someone mentioned above) that high carb food (and salty foods too) make you retain water so you may 'feel' fatter in the days following eating 'bad' I know I do, I feel fat today as I had a biscuit yesterday.
If you are trying to lose weight, don't get into a downward spiral after having an off day (ie I need a f
king beer or I need chocolate) it wont ruin things forever.
TL;DR If your trying to just lose weight it is as simple as calories in vs calories out but that isn't the be all and end all of having a healthy diet.
BUT if your trying to lose weight your deficit is cumulative so having one 'bad' day going over your calorie limit wont ruin everything your working towards, ie its ok to treat yourself. Its also worth noting (as someone mentioned above) that high carb food (and salty foods too) make you retain water so you may 'feel' fatter in the days following eating 'bad' I know I do, I feel fat today as I had a biscuit yesterday.
If you are trying to lose weight, don't get into a downward spiral after having an off day (ie I need a f
king beer or I need chocolate) it wont ruin things forever.TL;DR If your trying to just lose weight it is as simple as calories in vs calories out but that isn't the be all and end all of having a healthy diet.
V8mate said:
I'm just curious as to whether if you dump a fkload of food into yourself occasionally, does the body 'reject' some it rather than fully consume it all, in the way it would consume smaller, regular over eating?
Everyone is different with too many factors. If the OP has a lot of fiber in his diet, drinks a lot of coffee and binge ate a mountain of prunes I'd bet a lot of the calories would pass right through him. Some people have faster transit times than others, some chew their food better which helps the body absorb the calories and nutrients etc. 100g of lard or 200g or raw nuts might have the same calories in theory but you could never extract the full calorific content out of the nuts through your digestive system (unless you roasted them and ground them down into a fine paste).kload of food into yourself occasionally, does the body 'reject' some it rather than fully consume it all, in the way it would consume smaller, regular over eating?Crusoe said:
V8mate said:
I'm just curious as to whether if you dump a fkload of food into yourself occasionally, does the body 'reject' some it rather than fully consume it all, in the way it would consume smaller, regular over eating?
Everyone is different with too many factors. If the OP has a lot of fiber in his diet, drinks a lot of coffee and binge ate a mountain of prunes I'd bet a lot of the calories would pass right through him. Some people have faster transit times than others, some chew their food better which helps the body absorb the calories and nutrients etc. 100g of lard or 200g or raw nuts might have the same calories in theory but you could never extract the full calorific content out of the nuts through your digestive system (unless you roasted them and ground them down into a fine paste).kload of food into yourself occasionally, does the body 'reject' some it rather than fully consume it all, in the way it would consume smaller, regular over eating?
Hoofy said:
The Beast of Codfin said:
Foliage said:
I feel fat today as I had a biscuit yesterday.
That's the most ridiculous thing I've ever read on the internet and that's saying something. I know one of you guys would rip the piss...
The body has a limited time to absorb the energy depending on your transit time, in the scenario when they over ate one day with an extra large meal the chances are more of intake that day would be wasted compared to slightly over eating every day. There are some skinny competitive eaters that you could probably sight as an example.
V8mate said:
I think people are mis-reading/misunderstanding the OP.
I'm just curious as to whether if you dump a fkload of food into yourself occasionally, does the body 'reject' some it rather than fully consume it all, in the way it would consume smaller, regular over eating?
Interesting question, ive heard it can and I suspect mine has on occasion due to the nature of my 'business'.I'm just curious as to whether if you dump a f
kload of food into yourself occasionally, does the body 'reject' some it rather than fully consume it all, in the way it would consume smaller, regular over eating?So really your asking, if you diet and binge eat every so often does the body absorb all the calories from the binge food?
Foliage said:
Hoofy said:
The Beast of Codfin said:
Foliage said:
I feel fat today as I had a biscuit yesterday.
That's the most ridiculous thing I've ever read on the internet and that's saying something. I know one of you guys would rip the piss...
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