Do you ever see a L/M gain from an XL day?

AnnPT77
AnnPT77 Posts: 32,030 Member
in Goal: Maintaining Weight
Okay, this is totally subjective, but I want to ask about others' experience:

While I'm dialing in maintenance (and weighing a bit on the light side), I've had some way over goal days (goal is 1800 net now; we're talking 4000+ day(s)).

While losing, I've been quite accurate at predicting the gain or delay from mildly over-goal day(s), such as 1000-1500 over, including accounting for timing of the water weight component.

Even then, it seemed like a truly huge day didn't always have the impact I expected. The gain is somewhat less than I'd expect, especially (it seems) for a one-day crazy thing. Obviously, I could just be wrong (happens often).

But does anyone else have this perception/experience?

I know that there's a biochemical/physiological limit on the body's ability to burn stored fat in a given time period. Does anyone know whether there's an analogous limit on the ability to store fat from excess consumption in a short time period?

(I like science, and look at weight loss/management as a science project. But perceptions make me curious.)

Replies

  • dolliesdaughter
    dolliesdaughter Posts: 544 Member
    edited April 2016
    With all due respect, you are making the 1000xs harder than it needs to be.
  • SarcasmIsMyLoveLanguage
    SarcasmIsMyLoveLanguage Posts: 2,671 Member
    ^agreed. This hurt my brain.
  • AnnPT77
    AnnPT77 Posts: 32,030 Member
    dolliesdaughter wrote: »
    With all due respect, you are making the 1000xs harder than it needs to be.

    In what way? I think weight loss & weight management is a fun science-fair experiment, and I'm an amateur science geek.

    I'm not agonizing about any of this, have found weight loss surprisingly easy, and assume maintenance can be similar. If you're talking about the recent "binges", then "no" to that, too - party weekend, overate with full knowledge that I could stand to gain a couple of pounds to be at my lower maintenance-range boundary. Not out of control, not a binge eater in general.

    I'm just curious . . . about lots of stuff, and currently this. The answer isn't going to affect my behavior.
  • kirstenb13
    kirstenb13 Posts: 181 Member
    I think weight gain just as weight loss just takes time. So one day of not eating has no effect, and one day of eating a lot has no effect either. I'm sure there is a physiological limit to how much can be resorbed by your intestines and how much of any given enzyme your body has available to turn over food. But if that is lower than a really high calorie day, no idea.
  • CrabNebula
    CrabNebula Posts: 1,119 Member
    If your TDEE is around 2000 and you eat 4000 one day while maintaining at or under 2000 the rest of the week, 2000 calories is not even a pound of fat. Given all the fluctuations that happen with weight, it probably would not be in anyway noticeable and if you went immediately back to eating at a deficit, the weight would probably be gone by the end of the week anyway.
  • cwolfman13
    cwolfman13 Posts: 41,876 Member
    The human body strives for homeostasis and is very adept and managing energy...you don't put on fat overnight just because you overate, even if you did so significantly, just as you don't lose fat overnight if you underfeed. In the short run, your body will speed up or slow down biological processes to compensate for excess or deficient energy.

    To override your body's ability to achieve homeostasis requires consistently under or overfeeding over time. Any scale weight changes you would see overnight in either case are attributable to fluids and levels of waste in your body.
  • AnnPT77
    AnnPT77 Posts: 32,030 Member
    @cwolfman13, that's the sort of reply I was looking for on the more science-oriented front. Having no education in physiology/biochemistry & friends, I wasn't sure whether sudden over-consumption was likely to make the digestive process slow down to maximize the benefits from the extra calories (which would seem to be a somewhat evolutionarily advantageous thing to do), or speed up because of the extra energy input, or neither.

    Still interested in whether anyone has relevant subjective experience, too. (Personally, I think it's fun to give myself the brain equivalent of DOMS ;) , but I understand that's not enjoyable to everyone.)

    I appreciate everyone's feedback. I do understand that it takes 3500 calories to make a pound (roughly), and that it will take time for the body to process the food & add that pound (and shed the waste and any water weight that occurred).

    Like I said, I've been pretty good at predicting timing of gains/losses while losing, including the water weight component. I think weight management math is kind of fun, and I've been logging my weight daily for >5 years even when not losing - I love data ;) - so I'm very familiar with how my body handles water weight and slow gain/loss. It just seems like my prediction accuracy breaks down a bit when a huuuge day is involved.

    Thanks, all!
  • bioklutz
    bioklutz Posts: 1,365 Member
    What cwolfman13 wrote rings true for me.

    I don't control myself during holidays & family events. I eat the desserts and sometimes have another. I eat the high calorie foods and often go back for another serving. I temporarily gain a tiny bit of weight (water weight, extra food in my system). It is usually gone within a 3-4 days (unless I had alcohol - it seems to take a week for my weight to recover).

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