Had 'BAD' Food Last Night? How much BODYFAT will you GAIN?
We have all woken up the next morning and felt guilty about the amount of bad food we ate the night before.
We had a pizza night with friends, or went out for burgers, or sat on the couch eating a tub of ice cream watching titanic. We jump on the scales and it doesn’t look good, we have gained weight! We lift up our top and stare at our stomachs and think we have blown it! Well have you?
Let’s look at what it takes to get fat
Remember I’ve spoken about having a calorie or portion budget for the day. Well let’s say on this night of bad eating you have blown your budget and have gone into debit. The easiest way to fix this is give yourself a smaller budget over the get couple of days to clear that debit.
To gain fat you have to blow your budget consistently over many days, not one day. You may have heard the fat gain equation, which is it takes a surplus of 3,500 calorie to gain 1 pound (450grams) of fat. So that means you would have to eat 3500calories over your budget. If your daily budget is 2000 calories, then you would have to eat and extra 3500 calories making it 5,500 calories in total for one day. That’s like a tub of ice cream, a pizza, and choc chip cookies. It not impossible but it’s highly unlikely.
So why did the scales show weight gain?
The scale reflects not only the weight of fat on your body but it also shows the food that is not yet digested, water -- as well as bone, muscle and organs, etc.
Chances are that the types of food you ate would be high carb and high sodium (salt). The carbs will be stored in your muscle as glycogen, therefore retaining that weight until it is used for exercise or general activity.
Foods higher in sodium compared to your normal diet cause water retention which your body may hold onto for several days until it is flushed when your hormones stabilise. So don’t stress about scale weight too much, give it acouple of days and it will reduce and normalise.
In Summary
It will be very difficult for you to eat enough calories in one night to gain fat. It takes consistent over eating to gain fat.
The scale is not reflecting fat gain. More likely it’s showing carbs stored in your muscle and water retention from high sodium foods.
One night of overeating can be fixed by reducing your calorie or portion budget over the next couple of days. So eat less to compensate, without starving yourself!
So don’t feel bad! You haven’t blown your diet. Be social and enjoy these indulgences in moderation.
Coach Michael