Long weekends, holidays, and vacations are both a blessing and a curse. While it's great to have extra time off from work to spend with family and friends, more often than not that means there's lots of food involved. For me, that means throwing my normally healthy eating habit under the bus in favor of all kinds of "treats" that become readily available during these get-togethers. Such was the case this past weekend. And I know that I've put on a little extra weight. This made me wonder just how much weight a human or a frog might put on in just one day. Was there a limit? I did some research and found the answer.
Did you know that you have to eat more than 3,500 calories to put on one pound of fat? True. Keep in mind, a pound of fat translates into more bodyweight because you gain water weight in addition to gaining fat. But, given that your stomach can only hold so much food at a time, there is a practical limit to how many calories you can consume in a day.
Let's take Thanksgiving as an example. This family holiday is pretty much based around sitting at a table loaded down with everyone's favorite foods and then moving to the sofa to eat more food while watching other humans play sports on TV. Sounds like a recipe for a weight disaster, doesn't it? The truth is, though, that most of the foods consumed on Thanksgiving aren't as high in calories as you might think. (Except for the desserts and football snacks, of course.) You're eating a combination of food, not just pure fat, which would be your quickest route to high calories. This means it's unlikely you'll intake more than 10,000 calories, no matter how determined you are to feast until you can't eat anymore. As horrible as 10,000 calories sounds, it only translates into a couple of extra pounds because as your eating all that food you are burning off some calories at the same time. If the meal is high in sodium, you may retain additional water weight, but you'll shed that over the next couple of days, assuming you return to your normal eating habits.
It is worth considering, as well, the number of enzymes your body can produce to digest that huge meal. Don't delude yourself by thinking that you'll meet that limit with a normally large meal. Your body does have a limit on how many nutrients it can process and absorb. And let's not forget about that pesky thing called metabolism. If you severely restrict calories, your metabolism adapts so you can burn them more efficiently. Eating too many calories can have the opposite effect, revving up your metabolism as part of a physiological process to maintain a "set point." This means that the occasional big meal will help you burn off those extra calories quicker. Just be sure you don't big meals a habit! Ever wonder how competitive eaters don't gain weight? You who I'm talking about. Those folks who periodically gorge themselves on hotdogs (or other foods) simply to win a title and perhaps make it into the Guinness Book of World Records. They seldom gain weight because they don't engage in sport eating every day, thank goodness. So when they do, their bodies most likely will speed up their metabolism rate. And of course, there is also exercise. Increasing your activity level will also help to rev up your metabolism and burn those extra calories.
So the answer is yes. There is probably a limit to how much weight a human can gain in a single day. But I don't suggest that you try to test this limit!
Yippee! Tomorrow is Friday and if you're interested in art, then I know you'll want to stop back by and read my blog on a very special but often forgotten artist. Until then,
PEACE.
Did you know that you have to eat more than 3,500 calories to put on one pound of fat? True. Keep in mind, a pound of fat translates into more bodyweight because you gain water weight in addition to gaining fat. But, given that your stomach can only hold so much food at a time, there is a practical limit to how many calories you can consume in a day.
Let's take Thanksgiving as an example. This family holiday is pretty much based around sitting at a table loaded down with everyone's favorite foods and then moving to the sofa to eat more food while watching other humans play sports on TV. Sounds like a recipe for a weight disaster, doesn't it? The truth is, though, that most of the foods consumed on Thanksgiving aren't as high in calories as you might think. (Except for the desserts and football snacks, of course.) You're eating a combination of food, not just pure fat, which would be your quickest route to high calories. This means it's unlikely you'll intake more than 10,000 calories, no matter how determined you are to feast until you can't eat anymore. As horrible as 10,000 calories sounds, it only translates into a couple of extra pounds because as your eating all that food you are burning off some calories at the same time. If the meal is high in sodium, you may retain additional water weight, but you'll shed that over the next couple of days, assuming you return to your normal eating habits.
It is worth considering, as well, the number of enzymes your body can produce to digest that huge meal. Don't delude yourself by thinking that you'll meet that limit with a normally large meal. Your body does have a limit on how many nutrients it can process and absorb. And let's not forget about that pesky thing called metabolism. If you severely restrict calories, your metabolism adapts so you can burn them more efficiently. Eating too many calories can have the opposite effect, revving up your metabolism as part of a physiological process to maintain a "set point." This means that the occasional big meal will help you burn off those extra calories quicker. Just be sure you don't big meals a habit! Ever wonder how competitive eaters don't gain weight? You who I'm talking about. Those folks who periodically gorge themselves on hotdogs (or other foods) simply to win a title and perhaps make it into the Guinness Book of World Records. They seldom gain weight because they don't engage in sport eating every day, thank goodness. So when they do, their bodies most likely will speed up their metabolism rate. And of course, there is also exercise. Increasing your activity level will also help to rev up your metabolism and burn those extra calories.
So the answer is yes. There is probably a limit to how much weight a human can gain in a single day. But I don't suggest that you try to test this limit!
Yippee! Tomorrow is Friday and if you're interested in art, then I know you'll want to stop back by and read my blog on a very special but often forgotten artist. Until then,
PEACE.
Helmenstine, Anne Marie, Ph.D. "How Much Weight Can You Gain in a Day?" ThoughtCo, Jun. 27, 2019, thoughtco.com/how-much-weight-can-you-gain-in-a-day-603873.
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