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Probably silly question about overeating

tooru
tooru Posts: 72 Member
edited December 2024 in Food and Nutrition
This is probably a stupid question, but it's been in my mind and bugging me I can't work it out.

So say you have 5 doughnuts, would it be better (or worse) to a) eat 1 or 2 a day over a couple days or b) eat all 5 in the same day. Assuming that those doughnuts would take you over your calorie goal each of the days.

Obviously in the end in that week you still would have eaten 5 doughnuts and the calories would be the same. But, for the body and in relation to weight loss, what's worse?

Replies

  • TavistockToad
    TavistockToad Posts: 35,719 Member
    Eat as many per day as will fit in your calories and macros and still enable you to lose weight.
  • T0M_K
    T0M_K Posts: 7,526 Member
    ultimately we are striving for a weekly rate of weight loss...not daily. one could say eat them anytime you want and if you eat the same calories in a given week as a prior week when you ate no donuts....the two weeks results would be the same.
  • tooru
    tooru Posts: 72 Member
    edited October 2016
    I am not asking about how to lose weight by eating doughnuts. I am asking which of the two options is worse... and i said to assume both options would be on top of your daily goal.
  • TavistockToad
    TavistockToad Posts: 35,719 Member
    tooru wrote: »
    I am not asking about how to lose weight by eating doughnuts. I am asking which of the two options is worse.

    Are you hangry? Maybe have a doughnut!
  • lemurcat12
    lemurcat12 Posts: 30,886 Member
    edited October 2016
    tooru wrote: »
    I am not asking about how to lose weight by eating doughnuts. I am asking which of the two options is worse... and i said to assume both options would be on top of your daily goal.

    Depends on how much you are exceeding your weekly maintenance goal by, mostly. If we assume it's identical, than probably there's no meaningful difference. Are you thinking that if you binge at a certain point you can't gain more, so it's better to have one crazy day?

    If you are bulking and get plenty of protein, maybe neither would be bad.

    Why go over if you don't want to, though?
  • tooru
    tooru Posts: 72 Member
    TavistockToad wrote: »
    tooru wrote: »
    I am not asking about how to lose weight by eating doughnuts. I am asking which of the two options is worse.

    Are you hangry? Maybe have a doughnut!

    Nope, I just have a thing with people on forums who don't answer questions properly :smile:
  • WinoGelato
    WinoGelato Posts: 13,454 Member
    Is this a trick question? The answer is Neither. Total calories the same, assuming total weekly overage the same as you stated, then it doesn't matter if you eat 5 in one day or one each day for 5 days.

    Only difference may be increased water retention from eating 5 in one day but true impact on energy balance and fat gain would be equal in the scenario you described.
  • T0M_K
    T0M_K Posts: 7,526 Member
    tooru wrote: »
    I am not asking about how to lose weight by eating doughnuts. I am asking which of the two options is worse... and i said to assume both options would be on top of your daily goal.

    you asked what is better / worse for weight loss. doesn't matter. same calories for the week.

    i don't understand what your point is i guess. its not the food, its the calories you consume and in each scenario you consume the same over the week. the results is the same.
  • moesis
    moesis Posts: 874 Member
    Spread them out among the 5 days to prevent your blood sugar from spiking by eating them all in one day.
  • tooru
    tooru Posts: 72 Member
    lemurcat12 wrote: »
    tooru wrote: »
    I am not asking about how to lose weight by eating doughnuts. I am asking which of the two options is worse... and i said to assume both options would be on top of your daily goal.

    Depends on how much you are exceeding your weekly maintenance goal by, mostly. If we assume it's identical, than probably there's no meaningful difference. Are you thinking that if you binge at a certain point you can't gain more, so it's better to have one crazy day?

    If you are bulking and get plenty of protein, maybe neither would be bad.

    Why go over if you don't want to, though?

    Yeah, the all or nothing conundrum. And I'm not going to do it, it came up in a conversation and bugged me I couldn't work out which was worse.
  • tooru
    tooru Posts: 72 Member
    WinoGelato wrote: »
    Is this a trick question? The answer is Neither. Total calories the same, assuming total weekly overage the same as you stated, then it doesn't matter if you eat 5 in one day or one each day for 5 days.

    Only difference may be increased water retention from eating 5 in one day but true impact on energy balance and fat gain would be equal in the scenario you described.

    Thank you. That's the answer I was looking for!
  • SueSueDio
    SueSueDio Posts: 4,796 Member
    I guess which is "worse" depends on how they affect you - for me personally, I'd rather spread them out over the week because eating that many in one day would most likely make me feel stuffed and crappy!

    If it might spike your blood sugar or cause water retention to have them all in one day then that might be considered worse, but if it makes no difference to the way you feel then, like others have said, the overall result is the same. :)
  • kwtilbury
    kwtilbury Posts: 1,234 Member
    If you're "bulking" (trying to build muscle) I would say your body is more likely to manifest a caloric surplus of 5 doughnuts at one time as fat than spread out over five days, but I can't say for sure what the difference is.
This discussion has been closed.

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