Cheat "Day", and how the body handles tons of calories all at once.

drewlfitness

I've always wondered about the following question -

If you decide to take in a very high amount of calories all at once, will your body literally "use" every calorie whether it stores it as fat or uses it for evergy? Or will your body allow a certain quantity to run straight through you and out the other end, due to it not being able to "handle" so many calories at once?

This question has been lingering in my head for a while, after reading about how your body can only handle so many nutrition supplements at once, i.e. taking multiple multivitamins or individual vitamins could be a complete waste, because your body can only handle so many at once, therefore any excess will not even be absorbed by your body.

One extreme, hypothetical scenario. If someone chose to sit in bed and eat pizza nonstop, for days (let's say 8000 calories a day), would that person actually be able to gain 1-2 pounds of fat each day (since one pound theoretically equals 3500 calories)?

Anyone who knows about this who can comment would be appreciated.

bluworld

I tried to find hard science, but could not. In conversational science, theoretically you will store all extra calories, and it will lead to weight gain. In real life, there seems to be a bit of adaption, so actual weight gain is unlikely for one meal, or possibly on day.
With the bed bound pizza scenario, since that is their everyday, any adaption has already happened, and those calories would be stored.

nosebag1212

all calories get processed, however if you've been in a deficit then suddenly eat loads then some will get stored as glycogen and some will get released as heat energy, also you're likely to unintentionally burn off more as NEAT (non exercise associated thermogenesis) as you'll naturally have more energy for the next day

aisha786

If a person eats right all week then has a special day of not counting, not controlling (goes over allotted daily calories) etc then what does that do if it's just that day and the next it's back to counting, controlling and makes this cycle the weekly habit?

lemonlionheart

Well, if you eat a ridiculous amount of food you might throw up, which would be your body literally being unable to handle what you've put in. Otherwise though, anything that goes through your digestive system would have been stored as calories.

aisha786 wrote: »

If a person eats right all week then has a special day of not counting, not controlling (goes over allotted daily calories) etc then what does that do if it's just that day and the next it's back to counting, controlling and makes this cycle the weekly habit?

Regardless of whether you count them or not, the amount of calories you eat on your "day off" will be used by your body just like any day. I could very easily eat 3000 calories (or more) if I go crazy and don't count, which, since my weekly deficit is set to lose half a pound a week, would mean that I probably wouldn't lose any weight at all. If you're planning to incorporate a cheat day I'd really recommend counting the calories still, at least at first. That way you can perhaps make adjustments the rest of the week (lower your daily limit a bit, or add more exercise) to accommodate your day off.

crazyjerseygirl

My guess is that it's stored as fat. The way your body handles things like glucose is fundamentally different than how it handles Vitamin C.

If you want a good solid website to read up on, I suggest the NIH Health site.
http://health.nih.gov

Good, scientifically sound data written in layman's terms. It's pretty useful even if you aren't in the US though things like dietary suggestions might vary.

crazyjerseygirl

BTW, here's the link for digestion.
http://www.niddk.nih.gov/health-information/health-topics/Anatomy/your-digestive-system/Pages/anatomy.aspx

Liftng4Lis

drewlamonte wrote: »

I've always wondered about the following question -

If you decide to take in a very high amount of calories all at once, will your body literally "use" every calorie whether it stores it as fat or uses it for evergy? Or will your body allow a certain quantity to run straight through you and out the other end, due to it not being able to "handle" so many calories at once?

This question has been lingering in my head for a while, after reading about how your body can only handle so many nutrition supplements at once, i.e. taking multiple multivitamins or individual vitamins could be a complete waste, because your body can only handle so many at once, therefore any excess will not even be absorbed by your body.

One extreme, hypothetical scenario. If someone chose to sit in bed and eat pizza nonstop, for days (let's say 8000 calories a day), would that person actually be able to gain 1-2 pounds of fat each day (since one pound theoretically equals 3500 calories)?

Anyone who knows about this who can comment would be appreciated.

Depending on the person and their TDEE, for example, say someone has a TDEE of 2500 and eat 8000 a day, they would have an excess of 5500 a day. Yes, they would gain fat. I doubt if they're laying in bed that any of that would be muscle.

Leyshinka

Not an expert but from personal experience, I poop more on the days I eat way above my alloted calories. I wonder if that means that some of it does really go down the other way?

I definately have more energy to run the following day!

crazyjerseygirl

Leyshinka wrote: »

Not an expert but from personal experience, I poop more on the days I eat way above my alloted calories. I wonder if that means that some of it does really go down the other way?

I definately have more energy to run the following day!

Well, hypothetically you are eating more food volume?

bluetuesday5

The general idea is that after a while of low carbs and training, extra carbs will replenish glycogen. Simply having an "all you can eat" day is a great way to stagnate. If you have earned it, then a few hundred grams of carbs should be ok. The more muscle you carry, the more glycogen you can store and therefore the more carbs you can eat. Muscle has a glyocgen capacity of approximately 15g/kg.

BTW I'm not a huge fan of low carb diets. I think if you eat carbs after training, there is no requirement for a refeed. Of course if you are weight training, there is also the possibility any extra carbs would be used to build muscle.

Phoenix7078

Sadly there is no simple answer to this question. It depends on your level of activity, your metabolic rate, the makeup of the bacteria in your gut, individual genotypes, the list goes on. Practically speaking it makes very little difference if you go mad on one day as long as you go mad healthily. If you eat an entire tub of B&J's icecream all that sugar triggers an insulin burst and the only way the body can remove that blood glucose is to convert it to fat and pee the rest out. At least with complex carbs and protein your body has a chance to digest it!

Timorous_Beastie

I'll just leave this here: http://www.womenshealthmag.com/weight-loss/competitive-eating

How do some competitive eaters stay fit? Michelle does gain some weight during competition season, typically fluctuating between 108 and 118 pounds (it’s competition season now, which would explain why she’s currently at 115). For the most part, Michelle credits her fit physique to being super active. She says she plays volleyball three times a week, likes to run (sometimes while dribbling a basketball), and uses her competitive eating as motivation to exercise. “Eating 30 hot dogs makes me want to go out and go on a run,” she says.

Plus, if you crunch the numbers, a single competition doesn’t have that much of an impact on Michelle’s waistline. The 28 hot dogs she ate in last month’s competition came out to about 7,280 calories—but sometimes Michelle doesn’t eat anything else the day of the event. And since she eats healthfully outside of game days and works out regularly, it wouldn’t take her that long to burn off most of the extra calories.

TimothyFish

You body can process no more than 60 grams of carbs (240 calories) per hour. It takes about two days for food to move through your digestive system. So, it would seem that you would have to eat 11520 calories before your body reached the point at which it couldn't process the calories before they exited the system. That being said, eating that much at one time would probably make you ill and you wouldn't be able to keep it down, so it might be less than that.

drewlfitness

crazyjerseygirl wrote: »

My guess is that it's stored as fat. The way your body handles things like glucose is fundamentally different than how it handles Vitamin C.

If you want a good solid website to read up on, I suggest the NIH Health site.
http://health.nih.gov

Good, scientifically sound data written in layman's terms. It's pretty useful even if you aren't in the US though things like dietary suggestions might vary.

Thanks. I'll take a look at the science. I pretty much "thought" that the way the body handles things like vitamin C is different than how it handles food, just wanted to find out if anyone else already had pondered this as well. Thanks for the links.

Going back to our prehistoric ancestors, anytime the body acquired food, it wouldn't let it go to waste (body would keep it all), so it makes a little sense why humans become overweight when eating more than they need.

drewlfitness

TimothyFish wrote: »

You body can process no more than 60 grams of carbs (240 calories) per hour. It takes about two days for food to move through your digestive system. So, it would seem that you would have to eat 11520 calories before your body reached the point at which it couldn't process the calories before they exited the system. That being said, eating that much at one time would probably make you ill and you wouldn't be able to keep it down, so it might be less than that.

Interesting. Thanks. Yes, I wouldn't be able to reach that many calories in one day...

drewlfitness

Appreciate replies from people. The "hidden" question to my question here is basically, is it worth it to cheat?

If I count my calories and am operating on a deficit and also stay under my daily goal, also working out daily both heavy weights and HIT cardio, then I decide to go over about 3000 calories on my cheat day, would that basically cancel out my entire week's worth of calorie deficit achievements?

Sounds like the answer isn't so simple, if the person is also incorporating exercise as well as muscle building workouts. In other words, having a cheat day is much better and much more sustainable, IF you are working out daily.

If you are laying in bed counting calories (again with my hypothetical scenario), and say you are actually staying under your daily goal, and then you cheat, those excess calories taken in during the cheat day will have a much higher chance of basically cancelling out the previous 6 days of successful calorie counting. In other words, the "calorie in calorie out" rule is much more true for individuals who are sedentary all day, than for individuals who workout normally.

Another reason to work our hard and lift heavy. So that cheat day you have (if needed) isn't so devastating on all your hard work calorie counting.