Is this the only reason why you gain weight?

honeyseymour123

So I've heard around that if you eat over your calorie limit & eat away the calories that you burned off during exercise, is that the only reason why people gain weight?

(In other words, you can eat junk food but as long as it's not going over your calorie limit you won't gain weight, is that true?)


Sorry if that doesn't make sense

elphie754

Yes. If you eat over your caloric needs (regardless of the type of food) you will gain weight.

ashliedelgado

Yes. There are the odd medical conditions that can impact metabolism, but for the vast majority of the population it is just being honest with yourself about how much you're eating vs how much you are using.

teetertatertango

There are plenty of additional ways to gain water weight though (as opposed to fat weight). If that junk food contains a lot more sodium than you typically eat, you will hold onto additional weight to deal with the extra sodium, so it may look like you gain weight even if you do not go over your calories (it's not fat though).

dragon_girl26

When you say your daily calorie limit, are you referring to the one MFP sets for you?
If you set MFP to lose xx lbs per week and you eat the calorie goal MFP gives you, plus your exercise calories, you can still lose weight no matter what you eat. You could even eat a little above that goal plus exercise, depending on how much you've set MFP to lose. 2 lbs a week is a 1000 calorie deficit per day, 1 lb is 500 calories, and .5 is a 250 calorie deficit.

If you're eating at maintenance right now, though, and you consistently eat above your maintenance calories plus exercise, then yes, you will gain weight, regardless of what you eat.

Hopefully that answers your question.

vingogly

Yes, but -- additional questions need to be considered: why is it that some people seem to eat whatever they want and stay thin without dieting or exercise? Why is it that others seem to struggle to put on any weight? Why is it that your skinny friend when offered a plate of cookies will spend an hour nibbling one of them while meanwhile you've polished off the rest of the plate?

Non-exercise activity thermogenesis (NEAT) might be part of the answer -- there may be an advantage to being fidgety:

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/12468415

The other part of the answer is likely psychological - a lot of people eat for emotional or other non-hunger related reasons: loneliness, anxiety, stress, depression, boredom, anger, etc.

So I would say: yes, there are other reasons why people gain weight: low level of NEAT perhaps, emotional eating, lack of activity, beliefs about food from childhood. A lot of threads here that focus on CICO miss these sort of factors.

MelaniaTrump

An overweight nutrition professor at Kansas State University put himself on a predominantly snack food diet, with Twinkies prominent, for two months. He lost 27 lbs, and lowered his body mass index (BMI) from nearly 29, to just under 25 — from almost obese to normal.
http://www.cnn.com/2010/HEALTH/11/08/twinkie.diet.professor/
If you want to give it a try....