It takes 3500 excess calories a day to gain a pound...?

Question

How is it possible to eat that much?

Someone would have to eat 5500 calories (if this person normally eats a 2000 calorie diet) in one day to gain a pound the next day, right?

Answer 1

Think of it as a prgressive process not an all or nothing assault. All of your calories eaten are stored somewhere. Muscle is the first place they go. Once the muscle and all other vital systems are full of sugar, the body will store what remains in fat cells. Think of your fat cells as a reserve gas tank. When your available fat cells (determined by genetics) get filled, your body makes new ones and you get fat. The longer extra calories sit in fat clls the more your body will wnat to hold onto them. We are all genetically programmed to store fat from our caveman days.

Its never a good idea to eat excess calories at any sitting.  

Answer 2

The metabolism would probably elliminate the extra calories. but you'd gain weight quickly. You'd eat that much by eating peanut butter and chips.  

Answer 3

That's a pound of fat... What you're essentially saying is that one pound of fat stores nearly 3500 calories. Unfortunately, your body doesn't follow this rule in an absolute way. Let's say you skip breakfast and lunch every day and then eat 2000 calories for dinner. Your body will not respond in the normal way by using all 2000 calories. It will go into a sort of safe mode and restrict your calorie use, storing anything it can to make sure that you could survive in the event of starvation. This is a bit of a relic from less convenient times in man's history (animals in the wild make good use of this feature today)

Other things, including certain hormones and excess stress can make your body respond in similar ways. So, it's not really about the number of calories you eat but how you treat yourself. Someone who runs a considerable amount every day and avoids chronic stress could maybe even eat 4000 calories a day and not be overweight.

Just try to eat healthy and try to stick near 2000 calories per day. You are correct to assume that you can splurge occasionally without significantly affecting your weight... so long as you aren't doing anything to encourage your body to hold onto it.

Answer 4

Technically yes, but body weight normally fluctuates by as much as 5 or 6 pounds from morning to night, so you have to look at weight and calories over time, not just for one day.