Do you need to go over by 3,500 to GAIN weight too?

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thedarkwombat
thedarkwombat Posts: 123 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
Always confused about this. I understand you need to create a deficit of 3,500 from your TDEE over the course of several days to lose one pound.

In order to gain weight, does the same apply in reverse? You need 2,500 ABOVE your TDEE to gain eight? It certainly does not seem that way. It seems like even 1,000 above your TDEE makes you gain weight.

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  • Alyssa_Is_LosingIt
    Alyssa_Is_LosingIt Posts: 4,696 Member
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    Anything above your TDEE over a period of time will cause weight gain.

    Yes, you have to take in 3,500 calories above your TDEE to gain a lb of fat. However, if you're taking in foods over your TDEE each day, you'll likely see an immediate uptick in weight gain due to water and the weight of the food you ate. If you eat at a 500 calories surplus for two days, and then go back to maintenance or a deficit immediately after, you will likely see a gain on the scale for those two days that wasn't actually fat, and the fluctuations will stabilize soon after going back to a normal routine.
  • IsaackGMOON
    IsaackGMOON Posts: 3,358 Member
    edited July 2015
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    Yes.

    If you were losing weight and wanted to lose 1lb per week, you'd create a deficit of 500 per day. 500 x 7 = 3500 / 3500 calories = 1 lb

    If you were gaining weight and wanted to gain 1lb per week, you'd create a surplus of 500 per day. 500 x 7 = 3500 / 3500 calories = 1lb

  • joepratt503
    joepratt503 Posts: 191 Member
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    A pound of fat is represented by 3500 calories, up or down. All the weight you "gain" or "lose" when you change your diet is not fat...its waste, water, etc.
  • Zedeff
    Zedeff Posts: 651 Member
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    Sort of.

    To gain a pound of fat, yes, you need on average 3500 calories of surplus.

    To gain a pound of WEIGHT - ie. a mix of fat, water, muscle, etc, you could eat a lot less. For example if you ate a cup full of table salt and then hydrated yourself, you'd probably gain a few pounds of water weight from an enormous (probably life threatening in this example) sodium dose, even having consumed zero calories of food.

    If you eat 1000 calories above your TDEE as in your example, that's 1000 calories of food which has associated salt and starch that both retain water, plus the extra food has mass by itself. You would probably gain weight, on average, by eating above your maintenance in a given day at a rate FASTER than you would predict.

    It's important to realize however that this is WATER weight and is TRANSIENT. It's not fat.
  • thedarkwombat
    thedarkwombat Posts: 123 Member
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    yeah forget water weight and food weight etc. i know is temporary. i just wanted to know the science and see if it was equal both ways, which it is.
  • Bshmerlie
    Bshmerlie Posts: 1,026 Member
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    Yes 3,500 calories either way is one pound. Sometimes when you go over those 1000 calories its on a cheat day where you went out to fast food. Fast food is loaded with sodium. Sodium makes you retain water and the scale will go up a pound. But that doesn't mean you gained a pound of fat. Thats why we say weight loss is not linear. You do have day to day fluctuations of water weight based on what you eat, time of month, temperature, rotation of the planets...etc. Don't panic when you see those fluctuations. They happen to everyone. Thats also what people are refering to when you have the whoosh effect. You go a week or two of not a single pound lost and then you drop 3 pounds in a two day span. Your body was just holding onto water because you ate that sodium filled burger last night. :)
  • pmm3437
    pmm3437 Posts: 529 Member
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    Depends on what it is really.

    1k of strictly carbs or high sodium foods will cause you to retain additional water, above what you might actually gain from the calories themselves. Its ~ 0.5 lb./100mg of sodium, 3g water per 1g glycogen.

    Generally speaking, 1 lb of fat = 3500 calories, construction/destruction metabolism not withstanding. How slow or fast is a function of your deficit or surplus over time.

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