7000 extra calories/day = 2 lbs weight gain/day?
 

You know how you start thinking all kinds of strange things in the shower?

Well, maybe not everyone, but I sure do. So here is where my brain went this morning:

First of all I was thinking about how (depending on hormones, salt, water intake, etc.) can gain 5 lbs overnight, but that it is water weight and will disappear almost as quickly. Then I started thinking about how to gain real weight we need to eat 3500 extra calories for each pound gained.

Then my brain started wondering - if someone were to eat, let's say, 7000 extra calories in one day (yeah, I know - that's almost impossible to do, but this is just brain wanderings) would they gain two pounds of fat in one day? Or is there a limited amount of excess calories that can be converted into fat in a certain time period? In other words, if someone ate 7000 extra calories every day would they gain 2 lbs a day or would they somehow excrete the calories their bodies can't convert?

Anyone know the answer?

(For those of you wondering if this is about something I ate.... nope, you're wrong...I ate like an angel yesterday. I really need to distract myself in the shower - maybe I ought to start listening to NPR or something. :P )


Joan
(Off to Home Depot now to help the Junior class start building their homecoming float.......oh the fun perks of being a teacher.....)

If you ate an excesive amount of calories, with no physical activity including healing, then probably yes. Although you would have to take the calories in a solution because if you tried to eat that much more you would probably lose alot when you got sick or exploded :P Alot would also be flushed.

It's not that exact of a number though of course. Every one has different basal metobolic rates, different ways of handling calories, and so on. Plus the carbs would attract more water weight, meaning 7,000 extra calories worth of carbs would add more weight then 7,000 extra calories of fat. A high carb count would also mean more insulin produced, hence more storage, while a higher fat count would probably reult in more being flushed when not needed.

There are situations where a person may need more calories though. Burn victims and other people with massive healing to do need a ton more calories to support the energy it takes to heal on top of what it takes to keep the body functioning normally.

Fat takes 4 kcal/g to Metabolise. According to one source I read, Complex Carbs take 1/9th as much as fat...which would be 0.44 kcal/g. For starters, let's assume your BMR was 1200 kcal/day, and you burned 200 kcal/day through activities [this is actually a very low estimate for most folks.] Since I don't have a reliable reference for how much Protein is used/not used, let's assume [for purposes of this] that only 58g [which is my RDA according to the USDA] is used for Muscle Building and everything else is stored as fat. In reality, a much larger percentage of the Protein will be used for other purposes.

So, let's say you ate 8400 Calories at 10/80/10 [carbs are half complex]...

Used for Fat Metabolism -- 373 kcal
Used for Complex Carb Metabolism -- 370 kcal
Used for Muscle Building -- 232 kcal
Pounds Gained -- < 1.72

So, let's say you ate 8400 Calories at 30/60/10 [carbs are half complex]...

Used for Fat Metabolism -- 1120 kcal
Used for Complex Carb Metabolism -- 277 kcal
Used for Muscle Building -- 232 kcal
Pounds Gained -- < 1.53

So, let's say you ate 8400 Calories at 75/15/10 [carbs are all complex]...

Used for Fat Metabolism -- 2800 kcal
Used for Complex Carb Metabolism -- 139 kcal
Used for Muscle Building -- 232 kcal
Pounds Gained -- < 1.09

Basically, on a vLF diet almost all of your excess Calories are stored as fat, while on a LC diet, a large portion are not stored as fat. On a Ketogenic vLC diet, almost none of your excess calories would be stored as fat.

Unfortunately I can testilfy that eating 7000 calories is absolutely possible, as I did 6 days of it last week! I am a binge eater and can eat a truckfull of food and not even throw up. When I binge I eat extremely high carb and high cal foods. These episode are getting less frequent, but in the past I would put on 6 pounds and then lose 2 or three in a week of eating well. I am hoping that it will be the same for my last binge.
So there's an answer based on real experieince!

Wow, those are some interesting answers.

Ladybelle, the "exploding" concept was great. What a visual image that conjured up! (I tried not to visualize the "flushing" or "sick" concepts....)

Jac, Been there, done that with the BED - I've found that the right mix of low-carbs and supplements prevents bingeing - I don't have binges if I take the L-glutamine, L-carnitine, and chromium supplements recommended in DANDR. My past binges would involve 2-4 days of eating large portions of foods (mostly junk or seasonal items like bing cherries) until I was in pain. I'd do that every few weeks. I never counted the calories though - maybe I ought to figure out how many extra I would consume. Might surprise me. But seriously, if you're suffering from BED, check into the supplements that are supposed to help curb hunger/carb cravings. They worked for me, and I have not binged while taking them.

CC - I like your logical approach. Assuming that the extra 7000 cal were typical "junk" food the first set of numbers would most likely apply. It almost seems that gaining 1.7 lbs of actual fat-deposit weight, plus the associated water weight, per day would be difficult to do, even if one could eat that much extra food without pain or illness. Fourteen (or more) pounds in a week - ouch, my skin hurts just thinking about all the stretching.

Thanks, guys, for the answers.

Joan