What will make you fatter...?

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  • tameko2
    tameko2 Posts: 31,634 Member
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    I was originally going to say LOL CALORIES but I'm actually leaning towards the fat making you fatter because the extra carbs would probably give you some nice energy spikes and pop your metabolism up a bit more (via increased physical activity) -- at least it would work this way for me. Plus carbs are slightly harder to digest than fat. higher thermic effect. yep. going with fat.
  • Spanaval
    Spanaval Posts: 1,200 Member
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    Well if it's not a tricky question, I'd say fat ; since calories from carbohydrates needs to be converted to triglycerides before they can be stored as body fat. The conversion uses around 25% of the energy coming from the food. That means in your case, with 1000 calories of pure carbohydrates in excess, only 750 calories worth of fat would be used.
    Fat in one another hand requires around 3%, meaning in our case, around 970 calories stored as fat.
    Now if the question is about the absolute energetic value, well, 1000 calories in excess are 1000 calories :)

    This. Realistically though, it's not a huge difference over the span of a month, about 2 lbs.
  • gigieatss
    gigieatss Posts: 60 Member
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    It truly DEPENDS ON THE TYPE OF FAT OR CARB you're chowing down on! If your fat is trans fatty acids... and the carbs you'd be eating are whole grains, then the trans fat could give you a nice sexy TIRE around your waist... But if you were told to eat white bagels and bread or eat fish oils and other omega-3s... then, the BAGELS would give you a nice BAGEL *kitten*! ha ha ha!

    http://youtu.be/5d4W4szaFwY
  • katysmelly
    katysmelly Posts: 380 Member
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    Let's assume you are currently maintaining on 2,000 calories a day 50/30/20 C/F/P and you were to overeat consistently by 1,000 calories of either pure carbs or pure fat for a month, which would make you fatter, or would there be no difference and why?

    Curious as to what people think. I've seen people state that anything over 15g of cho in a meal will be stored as fat or that fat makes you fat etc etc. So which is worse to overeat, carbs or fats or does it not matter?

    Assuming there's no knock-on effect on the metabolism from eating one form of food over the other (like you get really sleepy or jittery or something), I'd say that both the ton of feathers and the ton of bowling balls will weigh the same... no difference.
  • treetop57
    treetop57 Posts: 1,578 Member
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    I don't know the answer but I've already learned two new TLAs!

    TEF = Thermic Effect of Food
    DNL = De Novo Lipogenesis
    TLA = Three Letter Abbreviation

    I'll guess 1000 calories of fat will make one fatter, all other things being equal, due to lower TEF and human difficulty with DNL. QED.
  • songbyrdsweet
    songbyrdsweet Posts: 5,691 Member
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    Let's assume you are currently maintaining on 2,000 calories a day 50/30/20 C/F/P and you were to overeat consistently by 1,000 calories of either pure carbs or pure fat for a month, which would make you fatter, or would there be no difference and why?

    Curious as to what people think. I've seen people state that anything over 15g of cho in a meal will be stored as fat or that fat makes you fat etc etc. So which is worse to overeat, carbs or fats or does it not matter?

    Besides dying from lack of amino acids? :laugh:
  • LishaCole
    LishaCole Posts: 245
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    Triglycerides (storage fat molecules) are synthesized from both fatty acids and glucose. True story.

    Insulin increases the uptake of glucose, fatty acids, and amino acids leading to the storage of glycogen, triglycerides and proteins.
  • cce9276
    cce9276 Posts: 1
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    I really like that so many people are curious about this. One of the first things I will say is that there are a LOT of valid points out there (I was going to repost them as I was going through, but then realized that would take too long lol). Second, 1000 calories IS 1000 calories, no matter what the source. However, calories are only a measurement of energy, not amount of food consumed, so to say that you have consumed the same amount of food in either case is INCORRECT. In actuality, you have consumed roughly 3.91 oz of fat, but 8.82 oz of CHO! That is over twice as much CHO than fat. Does that mean the CHO will make you fatter? I agree that is not so clear cut. They are the body's fuel-of-choice, and they can be converted to glycogen if stores are less than full (in either the liver or muscle tissue), but it can still be converted to fat if those stores are full or your intake of another macronutrient exceeds that of CHO. Age, fitness level, and type of exercise can all affect how these nutrients are utilized (along with many other factors :)
  • Acg67
    Acg67 Posts: 12,142 Member
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    Luckily such a study on this has been done, although there have been some good points made in this thread that likely could lead to different results then this study found.

    Horton TJ, et al. Fat and carbohydrate overfeeding in humans: different effects on energy storage. American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, 1995; 62: 19-29.

    www.ajcn.org/content/62/1/19.full.pdf 
    Results of this study demonstrate that diet composition can have important effects on energy expenditure and body energy storage when subjects are in positive energy balance. Greater than 75% of the excess energy consumed by our subjects was stored in the body, not expended, regardless of the composition of the excess. Other recent overfeeding studies have reached the same conclusion (9-11). However, our results demonstrate that excess carbohydrate affects energy and nutrient balances differently than does excess fat. We found that for equivalent amounts of excess energy, fat leads to more body fat accumulation than does carbohydrate.
    In summary, this study provides important information about the potential impact of diet composition on body-weight regulation and obesity development. First, all overeating will eventually lead to obesity. Regardless of diet composition,
    most excess energy is stored in the body and not expended as heat. Although we demonstrated differences between carbohydrate and fat overfeeding, which we believe are important, the fact remains that obesity can develop from overeating carbohydrate. Advising people that they can eat an unlimited amount of a high-carbohydrate diet is not appropriate. Second, excess dietary fat is stored with a very high efficiency and the body does not acutely adjust to increased fat intake. If overeating
    occurs, more of the excess will end up as body fat if the excess is fat compared with carbohydrate.
  • coltrax
    coltrax Posts: 36 Member
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    Id say carbs. Just watched this about carbs and insulin

    http://m.youtube.com/#/watch?desktop_uri=/watch?v=mNYlIcXynwE&feature=youtu.be&feature=youtu.be&v=mNYlIcXynwE&gl=US
  • delilah47
    delilah47 Posts: 1,658
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    I guess if you eat 1000 calories, you eat 1000 calories. I don't think it matters.
    But, if you were eating less than 20g of carbs a day, you would lose weight if you ate the 1000 additional calories of just fat.
  • Anomalia
    Anomalia Posts: 506 Member
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    I have no ****ing idea, nor do I care. Under calorie goal = happy.
  • Escarda
    Escarda Posts: 131 Member
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    1 day of eating 200 calories over my goal and i get fatter..
    Sad but true =(
  • amberturner888
    amberturner888 Posts: 3
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    I've been told by doctors that you really shouldn't pay attention to the fat labels on the nutrition label. Carbs is a HUGE factor in weight gain. Hence the reason a lot of people try to go on a no carb diet. However that usually fails...your body still needs carbs. But my mother had to go by carbs due to diabetes issues...she lost over 100lbs. in less than a year from it...and healthily.
  • hesn92
    hesn92 Posts: 5,967 Member
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    I have no idea. I don't know anything about that type of thing. To me, a calorie is a calorie lol.
  • delilah47
    delilah47 Posts: 1,658
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    I guess if you eat 1000 calories, you eat 1000 calories. I don't think it matters.

    Changed my mind:

    But, if you were eating less than 20g of carbs a day, you would lose weight if you ate the 1000 additional calories of just fat. Been there, done that. Dr Adkins
  • Acg67
    Acg67 Posts: 12,142 Member
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    I guess if you eat 1000 calories, you eat 1000 calories. I don't think it matters.

    Changed my mind:

    But, if you were eating less than 20g of carbs a day, you would lose weight if you ate the 1000 additional calories of just fat. Been there, done that. Dr Adkins

    I'm not sure you understood the original question, you'd be eating in a surplus. So even if you were consuming 20g of carbs a day, do you still think you'd lose weight consuming 1,000 cals over your maintenance requirement
  • Robin_Bin
    Robin_Bin Posts: 1,046 Member
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    Which weighs more ... a pound of feathers or a pound of lead?
    They both weigh a pound, but if they fall on you, the more compact pound of lead would probably do more damage.

    There are mixed opinions on whether calories' source makes a difference. Based on what I've seen, my guess is that they'd both increase your weight by the same amount, but as they are likely to provide different nutritional content, over the long-term, they might have different health consequences.

    ??
  • chevy88grl
    chevy88grl Posts: 3,937 Member
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    I haven't read the rest of the thread, but if I consistently eat 1000 calories over my maintenance, I will eventually gain weight. Not from the carbs or the fat, but from simply eating more than I am burning. At least, this is how it would work for me. Fat doesn't make me fat and neither do carbs - overeating makes me fat.
  • Robin_Bin
    Robin_Bin Posts: 1,046 Member
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    Luckily such a study on this has been done, although there have been some good points made in this thread that likely could lead to different results then this study found.

    Horton TJ, et al. Fat and carbohydrate overfeeding in humans: different effects on energy storage. American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, 1995; 62: 19-29.

    www.ajcn.org/content/62/1/19.full.pdf

    Excerpts from research omitted. Thanks for bringing actual research results into the conversation!

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