Many people complain that they gain weight around the holidays, but you'll be happy to know that you can't really gain weight from a single meal or day of overeating.
A 2012 study at Oxford University found that the fat in your food ends up on your waistline in less than four hours. Carbohydrate and protein take a little longer, because they need to be converted into fat in the liver first and it takes nine calories of protein or carbohydrate to make 1g of fat.
Even if you really overeat from your normal intake, it would likely be in the range of 1,000-2,000 excess calories per day. So for a 3-day weekend, that would be a total body fat gain for the weekend of only 1-2 pounds.
You probably can't eat enough to gain weight with just a couple of days of overeating, but according to the website SFGate, any extra calories you consume end up stored as fat, which means if you continue to regularly overeat, it'll make it easier for you to gain weight in the long run.
NOT a full-blown, all-you-can-eat three day feast. Studies have found that the repeated cycle of eating healthily in the week and bingeing on junk food every weekend can be very damaging to your gut health – specifically your gut microbiota.
Do not fast. Fasting after binging raises the risk of triggering a binging-fasting cycle. Fasting can make you more hungry so that you subsequently overeat.
Eating 1,000 extra calories a day for five days did not lead to any significant changes in weight, fat mass, or fasting blood sugar levels. But chronic overeating—eating 1,000 extra calories a day over the course of a month—was linked to a fat-mass increase of about 3 pounds, as well as increases in blood sugar.
First things first: It's totally normal for your weight to fluctuate 1-2kg in a day.
Binge eating is when a person eats a much larger amount of food in a shorter period of time than he or she normally would. During binge eating, the person also feels a loss of control. A binge eater often: Eats 5,000–15,000 calories in one sitting.
It takes around three days to recover from a binge and return to your regular weight. Furthermore, the amount of days it takes to lose binge weight is determined by how different the binge food is from your usual diet, your fitness and activity level, and how you react to the binge.
Poor sleep, sedentary activities, and eating too many processed or sugary foods are just some of the habits that may increase your risk of weight gain. Yet, a few simple steps — such as mindful eating, exercise, and focusing on whole foods — can help you reach your weight loss goals and improve your overall health.
Weight gain is a result of an excess of calorie intake, so if you have been eating more than usual over the past week and have gained 2kg, it is likely that this weight gain is due to an excess of calorie intake.
The bottom line is this: a cheat meal or a huge binge is going to result in some weight gain, but it is not always fat, and it isn't going to ruin your physique. Of course, how much fat you gain from your bingeing depends entirely on how often you do it and how much extra calories you are consuming.
Overeating remains a prominent cause of weight gain. If you take in more calories than you burn per day, you'll likely gain weight ( 39 ). Mindless eating, frequent snacking, and making calorie-rich, nutrient-poor dietary choices all promote excessive calorie intake.
So here it is: If you live an entire week avoiding nutrition labels and making gym excuses, you can expect to gain about four pounds—one to two pounds of water weight (bloating) and one to two pounds of actual fat, Glassman says.
The good news is that you can't just gain 3kg of fat in 3 days. There are plenty of ways that your weight can fluctuate that aren't to do with your fat mass.
There are many reasons you can gain weight that have nothing to do with food. Sometimes weight gain is easy to figure out. If you've changed your eating habits, added more dessert or processed foods, or have been spending more time on the couch than usual, you can typically blame those reasons if you gain a few pounds.
Bloating, gut health issues and hormonal changes can make you hold onto more water weight. The water weight usually settles down after your period. If you are not regular, or your fiber intake has been inconsistent, this can be a reason why you gained weight overnight.
Why do so many of us get so fat? the answer appears obvious. “The fundamental cause of obesity and overweight,” the World Health Organization says, “is an energy imbalance between calories consumed and calories expended.” Put simply, we either eat too much or are too sedentary, or both.
Bloating may occasionally add a pound or two, but it doesn't actually signify weight gain. A simple way to tell the difference between bloating and weight gain or fat is how your stomach looks and feels. If your stomach is tight and hard, then bloating is the cause. If your stomach is soft and thick, then that's fat.
A binge eating episode can last over an hour, though it may be much shorter or longer. Sometimes binge eating is a planned activity and other times it is not. Most binges involve the consumption of more than 1,000 calories, with a quarter of binges exceeding 2,000 calories.