Natural selection during the history of our species favoured those who were able to store any excess food available in times of plenty as fat so they could survive lean times. The problem is that we live in a time of constant plenty, and unlike most of human history, calories are easily available and incredibly cheap. We're very efficient at converting excess calories into fat and our brains don't have a built-in mechanism that compels us to stop eating once we hit our ideal body weight, so many people just keep on piling on the pounds until they make a conscious effort to limit their consumption.
Although people's metabolism and fat-producing efficiency varies, the general rule is that if we eat 3,500 calories more that we use, we'll gain a pound of fat. It's very easy to get those calories.
Taking McDonald's as an example: a BigMac, large fries, large chocolate shake and an apple pie adds up to nearly 1,700 calories, so that's equivalent to nearly half a pound of body-fat right there. It's also 85% of the recommended daily calorie intake for adults. So if you've already consumed the 2,000-odd calories your body needed to get through the day at breakfast and lunch (which isn't difficult), and you then treat yourself to that McDonald's meal for dinner twice a week, you'll gain roughly a pound a week.
Another example: a two litre bottle of original Coke contains about 800 calories. Even if you're careful to eat no more than 2,000 calories of food every day, drinking one of those bottles every day will add up to 5,600 excess calories every week, so that's roughly a pound and a half of fat gained.
You've gained 86 pounds in just over a year. That suggests your body is pretty efficient at converting excess calories into fat, you're probably not paying much attention to what you eat or how much you eat and your diet probably contains a lot of fatty, sugary, highly-processed foods.
It's your body and you can do whatever you like with it, but if you're not happy with your current weight, you obviously need to make some changes. Weight loss diets are generally crap, some are positively harmful and following a diet can lead to an unhealthy obsession with food that can, in turn, lead to eating disorders. The only weight reduction plan I can recommend from personal experience is intermittent fasting. If you'd like to reduce your weight without counting calories and constantly feeling hungry, grumpy or low-energy, check it out. Intermittent fasting does work, and there's loads of information about it on the internet.
IIN that I gained this amount of weight?
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Natural selection during the history of our species favoured those who were able to store any excess food available in times of plenty as fat so they could survive lean times. The problem is that we live in a time of constant plenty, and unlike most of human history, calories are easily available and incredibly cheap. We're very efficient at converting excess calories into fat and our brains don't have a built-in mechanism that compels us to stop eating once we hit our ideal body weight, so many people just keep on piling on the pounds until they make a conscious effort to limit their consumption.
Although people's metabolism and fat-producing efficiency varies, the general rule is that if we eat 3,500 calories more that we use, we'll gain a pound of fat. It's very easy to get those calories.
Taking McDonald's as an example: a BigMac, large fries, large chocolate shake and an apple pie adds up to nearly 1,700 calories, so that's equivalent to nearly half a pound of body-fat right there. It's also 85% of the recommended daily calorie intake for adults. So if you've already consumed the 2,000-odd calories your body needed to get through the day at breakfast and lunch (which isn't difficult), and you then treat yourself to that McDonald's meal for dinner twice a week, you'll gain roughly a pound a week.
Another example: a two litre bottle of original Coke contains about 800 calories. Even if you're careful to eat no more than 2,000 calories of food every day, drinking one of those bottles every day will add up to 5,600 excess calories every week, so that's roughly a pound and a half of fat gained.
You've gained 86 pounds in just over a year. That suggests your body is pretty efficient at converting excess calories into fat, you're probably not paying much attention to what you eat or how much you eat and your diet probably contains a lot of fatty, sugary, highly-processed foods.
It's your body and you can do whatever you like with it, but if you're not happy with your current weight, you obviously need to make some changes. Weight loss diets are generally crap, some are positively harmful and following a diet can lead to an unhealthy obsession with food that can, in turn, lead to eating disorders. The only weight reduction plan I can recommend from personal experience is intermittent fasting. If you'd like to reduce your weight without counting calories and constantly feeling hungry, grumpy or low-energy, check it out. Intermittent fasting does work, and there's loads of information about it on the internet.
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3 years ago
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Thanks for the in-detail comment! I found this helpful.