[science] if... someone would eat in a deficit and store calories as fat

yirara
yirara Posts: 9,937 Member
edited February 2018 in Health and Weight Loss
Question says it all. Say a fairly tall, active woman would eat 1200 kcal in a day, work out a lot and gain weight (yes, I know.. it's not possible), what would theoretically happen? I'd think she'd be permanently hungry as you cannot double-dip energy, have all the signs of undernourishment. Anything else considering metabolism is so much more than just food digestion, energy utilization and storage?

Does such disease exist, and if so, for how long could someone survive?
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Replies

  • Need2Exerc1se
    Need2Exerc1se Posts: 13,575 Member
    The weight she gained was not fat?
  • yirara
    yirara Posts: 9,937 Member
    Azdak wrote: »
    It's not possible, so it's a pointless exercise.

    I know... I'm trying to argue with someone with a scientific background, but don't know where to start.
  • stevencloser
    stevencloser Posts: 8,911 Member
    yirara wrote: »
    Azdak wrote: »
    It's not possible, so it's a pointless exercise.

    I know... I'm trying to argue with someone with a scientific background, but don't know where to start.

    It is possible for someone to gain weight while eating at a caloric deficit.

    Water weight for like a few days, not on a sensible timescale.
  • Seffell
    Seffell Posts: 2,244 Member
    yirara wrote: »
    Azdak wrote: »
    It's not possible, so it's a pointless exercise.

    I know... I'm trying to argue with someone with a scientific background, but don't know where to start.

    It is possible for someone to gain weight while eating at a caloric deficit.

    it is but it won't be in the form of tissue. Would be water or contents of the gut. In any case it would be a temporary gain.
  • toxikon
    toxikon Posts: 2,383 Member
    edited February 2018
    If a human is consuming fewer calories than they need to maintain, their body will consume body fat (and a little bit of protein) until there is no body fat left. When there is no body fat left to consume, it will move onto muscles and organs. When your body starts eating your organs for sustenance, you'll eventually die.

    How could someone gain weight while definitely eating at a deficit? Water weight, extra poo/pee in the body, muscle gain, big tumors/growths.
  • stanmann571
    stanmann571 Posts: 5,727 Member
    In such a syndrome, the edema would be fairly obvious, and concentrated in the places where gravity normally puts edema.
  • Need2Exerc1se
    Need2Exerc1se Posts: 13,575 Member
    yirara wrote: »
    Azdak wrote: »
    It's not possible, so it's a pointless exercise.

    I know... I'm trying to argue with someone with a scientific background, but don't know where to start.

    It is possible for someone to gain weight while eating at a caloric deficit.

    Water weight for like a few days, not on a sensible timescale.

    Most likely, but the OP never said weight was not temporary.
  • collectingblues
    collectingblues Posts: 2,541 Member
    yirara wrote: »
    Azdak wrote: »
    It's not possible, so it's a pointless exercise.

    I know... I'm trying to argue with someone with a scientific background, but don't know where to start.

    It is possible for someone to gain weight while eating at a caloric deficit.

    Water weight, but not fat.
  • sardelsa
    sardelsa Posts: 9,812 Member
    yirara wrote: »
    Azdak wrote: »
    It's not possible, so it's a pointless exercise.

    I know... I'm trying to argue with someone with a scientific background, but don't know where to start.

    It is possible for someone to gain weight while eating at a caloric deficit.

    Water weight for like a few days, not on a sensible timescale.

    You'd be surprised at how long water weight can stick around.

    Yea I have about 2-3lbs of water weight that sticks around when I'm doing my lifting program regularly, so it is part of my normal. But as soon as I stop or reduce volume, it goes. It can mess with my numbers sometimes.
  • yirara
    yirara Posts: 9,937 Member
    yirara wrote: »
    Azdak wrote: »
    It's not possible, so it's a pointless exercise.

    I know... I'm trying to argue with someone with a scientific background, but don't know where to start.

    It is possible for someone to gain weight while eating at a caloric deficit.

    Water weight for like a few days, not on a sensible timescale.

    Most likely, but the OP never said weight was not temporary.

    Ok, I should have been more precise: presumably fat. Water weight would show as such, as an edema.
  • cmriverside
    cmriverside Posts: 34,415 Member
    edited February 2018
    *edit. NM
  • yirara
    yirara Posts: 9,937 Member
    jjpptt2 wrote: »
    You're arguing with someone with a scientific background that energy balance either doesn't exist or can be over-ridden?

    What the hell kind of science is their background in???

    Yeah, if it means to look at oneself then energy balance doesn't exist anymore *sigh*

    But it's an interesting question I think. If such a person existed then I doubt it would survive for long, or possibly already die before birth.
  • AnvilHead
    AnvilHead Posts: 18,343 Member
    crlynj01 wrote: »
    Your Basal Metabolic Rate (BMR) is the number of calories you’d burn if you stayed in bed all day. Please note that you must never eat below your BMR calories every day otherwise you can send your body into starvation mode.

    Once you are in starvation mode, you body holds on to everything it can and your BMR will slow down.

    "Starvation mode" is a myth. A certain degree of metabolic adaptation is possible, but not to the extent that it will completely stop weight loss.

    OP, here is some reading for you to start with:

    https://bodyrecomposition.com/fat-loss/another-look-at-metabolic-damage.html/

    https://www.aworkoutroutine.com/starvation-mode/
  • JeromeBarry1
    JeromeBarry1 Posts: 10,179 Member
    @yirara such people, who have extremely low BMR, have a genetic feature that makes them maintain their weight on 800 or so calories per day. They are very rare and none of the people posting nonsense on mfp are in that very rare subset of humans. I don't recall the name of the condition, but I do recall watching a BBC show linked to this site about a British child suffering such.
  • stevencloser
    stevencloser Posts: 8,911 Member
    yirara wrote: »
    Azdak wrote: »
    It's not possible, so it's a pointless exercise.

    I know... I'm trying to argue with someone with a scientific background, but don't know where to start.

    It is possible for someone to gain weight while eating at a caloric deficit.

    Water weight for like a few days, not on a sensible timescale.

    You'd be surprised at how long water weight can stick around.

    It can stick around, but it doesn't just keep piling on.
  • singingflutelady
    singingflutelady Posts: 8,736 Member
    spas2k wrote: »
    3bambi3 wrote: »
    spas2k wrote: »
    There is so much more to it than simply calories in and out. A lot of people like to preach and swear by that here, but that's because it worked for them and they might not have any homore imbalances like Leptin Resistence, Insulin Resistance, or a myriad of other issues that could be causing weight gain or keeping you from losing weight.

    If someone says it is nothing more than calories in vs calories out then mark them down as someone to ignore.

    Anyone who has ever lost weight has done so by consuming fewer calories than their body burns.

    It's not as simple as that. For hormone healthy people it's that simple but ask anyone who has thyroid issues or insulin/leptin resistance about how they are never able to lose weight regardless of even silly 1000 calorie diets coupled with intense HIT. Some people, to no fault of their own, are not able to process glucose and thyroid hormones properly, may have a free t3/reverse t3 issue and never know it.

    At that point it is absolutely not about Calories.

    IF that were the case, they would lose weight faster not slower

    Exactly. Malabsorption causes weight loss (unless you eat more calories of things your body does absorb to compensate). If you don't process or absorb something it just um exits