What does it actually take to gain 1 pound of fat?

julievillarreal3

I’ve been on google for quite some time trying to figure this out and so far I’ve seen three different perspectives on this particular topic: 1.) eating anything above your TDEE 2.) Eating 3500 calories and 3.) Eating 3500 calories on top of your BMR / TDEE.

Would anyone be willing to confirm or deny either of these?

Inspirationalwaterjug

To put this into perspective I eat 3500 a day to maintain my weight. So we can throw out option two. And options one and three are bascially the same just scaled differently. If you eat more than you burn in a day over a certain time period you should eventually gain one pound of fat.

AnnPT77

In theory, it would be 3500 cumulative calories over your TDEE. By cumulative, I mean 3500 above on one day, or 1750 above for two days, 500 above for 7 days, 100 above for 35 days, whatever.

But it really doesn't exactly work that way, precisely. (Maybe close enough.) Consider:

If a person eats a bunch one day, like 3500 over TDEE, some people will have more energy the next day, and burn more calories that day, so essentially cancel out some of the theoretical gain. Some will be less hungry the next day after a big over-maintenance indulgence, so eat less the next day. Maybe if a person eats all of the extra 3500 on one single day, they might be likely to have some calories/nutrients pass through their system not fully absorbed, and if they ate the same excess at 100 extra calories for 35 days it would all get absorbed. Possible, even, that some people who overeat one day in a big way feel sluggish/sleepy that day and the next, so do less than usual, so burn fewer calories, so gain more fat than expected. Maybe some of these effects would differ if it were nutrient-dense food, vs. mostly so called empty calories. Either way, it might make a difference what macronutrients were in the food that contributed the calories, relatively speaking (protein has a higher TEF; fat stores efficiently as body fat in a state of excess; carbs may make some people energetic, other crave-y). And so forth. Complicated.

I think the answer is "around 3500 calories above maintenance, cumulatively, all other conditions held steady, which they never are, because human bodies are dynamic".

This is just an opinion, from a teensy bit informed total amateur.

lorrpb

Just as when you lose, you lose at least a little muscle along with the fat, when you gain you’re gaining both muscle and fat. So you gain approx 1 lb of “weight” for every 3500 cal over TDEE but you can’t really say how much of that is “fat,” which is your question.