We are entering the holiday season. For the next month you'll be at the mercy of your mouth. How long before the calories from the bacon wrapped shortbread you just scarfed down turn into fat?
"I wonder how long it takes for what you eat to turn into fat. Like if I eat a really big meal, HUGE, 10,000 calories, when will that fat show up? "
That was one of the questions my sister posed a while ago when we were talking on the phone. I know. Talking on the phone. Like cave people.
With the holidays coming up, but not quite here it's quite easy to have all the resolve in the world and promise yourself you'll watch what you eat. Then you see a Terry's chocolate orange for sale at the cash register. And someone offers you homemade cookies. And on and on until you don't fit into your underwear.
I wasn't sure if my sister's question about how long it takes to gain weight was hypothetical or if she was currently sitting in front of 12 Big Macs with plans to wear a non-stretch bodysuit tomorrow hanging in the balance.
Just 2 weeks ago I realized myself that I've become the sort of person who thinks rice pudding isn't meant to be served in bowls because it's obviously meant to be served in pots.
I said, You mean once you eat, how long before you can't stretch denim over your thighs anymore? I dunno. It takes 24 hours to digest food or something like that and I guess that's when it would take out the calories it needs and vitamins and stuff but ... I don't know.
And what about calories? I mean, eating fat I can understand. It's already fat so it must just frantically grab onto something as it slides through your body and not let go. That way it just becomes a part of another blob of fat in your body. But calories from, say sugar, do they have to go through some sort of fat bootcamp to become fat? I can't believe I've never worried about this before.
We exhausted the discussion at that point and went on to talk about other pertinent topics of the day like whether or not stirrup pants should ever make a comeback.
But after we hung up I couldn't stop wondering about the whole fat thing. How long does it take for that donut to turn into a muffin top?
It's a lot sooner than you probably think.
If you'd like 2 surprising ways to get rid of fat I have the answer for you. It's not what you'll be expecting.
I did a lot of reading and a lot of researching and it made my head spin, which is good because spinning burns calories. I've tried to condense everything into an easy to understand timeline on the cycle of calories and fat. In case you're interested in this sort of thing.
If you are not - that's fine. Go live the dream and eat an entire pot of Danish rice pudding for me. And don't skimp on the whipped cream.
How Long Does it Take to Gain Weight.
From calorie to fat.
This is an incredibly basic explanation of it all.
7:00 a.m. You wake up, have a black coffee then end up working and running around the rest of the day without eating anything.
6:00 p.m. You haven't eaten a thing so you have zero calories in you. You scarf down a BIG meal. A Big Mac Meal with large fries, 6 chicken McNuggets and a chocolate shake. Mmmmm. That's 1850 calories.
10:00 p.m. Your body starts storing the first 1,000 calories from that meal to use as immediate reserves that your body can quickly access when it needs energy. Those first 1,000 calories are stored in your liver and muscle immediately. These are called glycogen calories. The other 850 are extras you don't need immediately so the body turns THOSE calories into fat cells known as triglycerides. This all starts happening after 4 hours.
Your meal was 1850 calories. A pound of fat is made up of 3,500 calories. That means technically you have just stored enough calories for ½ pound of fat.
10:01 p.m. You're now freaking out because you know you just gained half a pound in 4 hours. Calm down. It's only there temporarily and only part of it becomes fat.
10:02 p.m. The first 1,000 glycogen calories of that Big Mac meal start being used immediately as energy for your body even if you don't feel like you're doing anything. Your body burns those calories just to lift your arm, beat your heart, or roll over in your sleep. In fact, just being a human being means you're going to burn 1,000 - 1,500 calories in a day even if all you do is lay in bed.
10:15 p.m. You decide you will indeed lay in bed for the rest of your life because what's the point. So you're going to burn 1,500 calories doing nothing! Yay! But what about those 850 calories you ate over and above what your body will naturally burn? They have indeed already turned into fat. ¼ of a pound. Or 8 Tablespoons of fat. If you don't exercise, move more, do STUFF to get rid of those fat calories that immediately plastered themselves to your gut, they're staying with you. O.K. You decide you won't spend the rest of your days laying in bed.
8:00 a.m. You slept all night, you get up and start the laundry going, you go for a run and mid run your 1,000 calorie reserve is gone so your body needs to go into the 850 calories it turned into fat last night. At that moment, you start burning fat. If you didn't go for a run or do something that burns a lot of calories, you wouldn't get into the phase where you burn fat cells. Booooo.
9:30 a.m. You eat breakfast and it all starts over again, building up your reserve of 1,000 calories. If your breakfast is 1,000 calories that means your body will burn off those easy to get to 1,000 glycogen calories before anything else. They're easy access. But if you only eat a 300 calorie breakfast, your body will burn those 300 calories and then will be forced to get its energy from those fat cell triglyceride calories that are otherwise known as ass fat.
Understand?
That's the long answer.
The short answer is your calories start the process of turning into fat as soon as 4 hours after eating them. But it would take a couple of weeks of eating too many calories for that fat to show up in a meaningful way. In a muffin top way. An extra 850 calories a day for two weeks without adding any exercise to your daily routine will mean at the end of 2 weeks you'll have gained ¼ pound of fat every day for 14 days. In two weeks you've gained 3.5 pounds. Think it'd be hard to eat an extra 850 calories every day? That's half of a large bag of potato chips.
And that is the story of why I can't buy potato chips anymore.
I'm going to be spending a lot more time paying attention to the activity monitor on my Apple Watch now that I actually really understand it.
The Apple Watch and the less expensive Fitbit both count your "active calories" burned. Those are the calories you've burned over and above what you're already burning just being a living human.
So if you pay attention to when you ... overindulge ... you can bump up your activity level the following days and easily track it on your watch. It really does work. I mean if you try.
Walking off cholesterol on the other hand? That's a whole other donut.
O.K. now that I have an answer to her question, I have a phone call to make.
Kathy
I've had my Striiv for 3 years. It clips on waistband or in pocket (a fitbit on wrist gives credit for sitting and moving arms) it tracks steps, calories, stairs, miles and time expended. It will issue a challenge, give points to build on fantasy land, and award animals like tigers that roar and turtles that go into their shells. The stats are weekly and monthly. I wear it every day. And I love the calorie info, that took alot of research and then translation into muffin tops. Yeah You.
Linda in Illinois
oh man, I just ate 4 rolo's now I have to figure how much stuff I have to do to get rid of that ass fat.. seems like no matter what I do (short of a work out nut, I'm 60 after all) doesn't get rid of that ass fat on me, (but I can attribute some of that to genetics). That's my excuse and I'm sticking with it. lol. Thanks Karen, glad you taught us the facts. I always wondered.
teri
I ate chips while I read the comments and had no guilt. really! Mind you, I likely gained a pound.... HA!
A.M. Horton
This is the best thing I've read all month! I'm actually studying this and cellular respiration right now in biology and have a test over it tomorrow. I'm sharing this with my class as a little pre-test humor! Thanks for the info and the laugh!
Shelagh
when you don't eat all day your body goes into survival mode and stores as much as it can as soon as you eat anything...
Solution eat 6 meals a day of smaller amounts with a little bit of protein in every meal. Never go hungry and lose weight.
Of course I'm one of those folks who actually prefers steak and veg to chips and cake. Now if only I could cut down on my wine....I might actually lose a few pounds.
Bruce cisco
I am with you 100%. I'd rather eat protein/veggies than bread or pasta. Throw in some weights and cycling and I'm good to go.
Save the whiskey and wine and I might have a flat stomach... :-)
Shelagh
Flat tummies are over rated!
Where else are my dogs to snuggle when I finally stop and pick up a book?
Besides...I do have a flat tummy...when I lie down and suck my gut in!
Since 2017 though I have gone back to bread and pasta on a more regular basis; fresh veg and protein have become very expensive. I am growing a garden... no where near as ambitious as Karen but enough to eat through the summmer and have some in the freezer.
Jenny
I am now suddenly regretting having ice cream for dinner last night.
Mary W
Pinned it. VERY interesting, indeed. Kinda threw that into my face, didn't you? I just hope it sticks into my brain. Speaking of donuts, I just found a quick and easy way to make sprinkles that I WAS going to try. Not that they are big fat producers but what I would put them on is. Oh well, back to my just learned fast, easy bread making. No knead is definitely not no need. Maybe you should investigate the science of how the smell of baked bread (or even popcorn) can make you shove a half loaf (covered with butter) into your mouth within 5 minutes of taking it from the oven.
margaret
Here you go:
'The hungrier you are, the more the cannabinoid receptors in the brain connect the nervous system to the olfactory section of the brain ... Not only does the smell of food make you hungry, but it makes you hungry for that specific type of food.'
(https://www.ceenta.com/news-blog/why-does-smelling-food-make-you-hungry)
Mary W
Thanks - now I have something to blame it all on - those cannabinoid receptors are devious little things! I've always believed that the wonderful smell of flowers, cut grass, other growing things had a valuable place in our make-up and one day we would know what it was. I drink lungfuls of those smells in as if vitamins were flowing into my gut. Can't hurt but obviously can help gain weight. Was there a time in our past when we needed to be reminded to eat? Was there a time in our past when we were able to smell and crave the more nutritious food better? I know there were HUGE GIANT spiders when there was less oxygen so anything is possible. I don't miss those 'good ole' days. LOL
Jenifer
Did you know that you can GAIN 20 pounds in one year?? Apparently there is something in the wine here...
jaine kunst
Ummm, OK I'm going to eat that leftover apple fritter for breakfast anyway. You can't stop me with all this technical stuff.
Catherine Vosper
Interesting and easily understood info....not to mention entertaining, well done!
TucsonPatty
So those 4 large helpings of pasta salad last night are the reason my pants do not fit today! Oh, that might also be bloat from the never empty stomach! Party last night with lots of starches and I ate multiple helpings! Mashed potatoes, baked beans, macaroni salad, and cornbread! (Other peeps also had BBQ shredded pork) it was a million calories, and I won't be doing that again. Soon. Maybe my Pringles aren't quite that many calories. Oh my. Thanks Karen. Really truely. I might slow down, now.
Chris White
This is so awesome! Thanks Karen. Well, except for ruining potato chips for me for ever. Because, let's be honest, I am not going running to make up for being naughty. I'm more likely to try to make myself feel better by chasing the chips with a chocolate bar.....
Jenny W
Thank you - really :) Timely for me, and very well explained.
Leticia
That's the simple answer, actually, because the body processes different foods at different rates and in different ways.
So 2000 calories of lettuce (good luck chomping that mountain down - a head of lettuce is about 7 calories) will be processed much slower, take a lot longer to go through and take a lot more effort from your body to process. 2000 calories of lard are a much smaller volume and are processed much faster. Even worse are 2000 calories of sugar, that start to be digested on the mouth, not in the stomach or the intestines.
This is the part of the equation that impacts the satiety quotient. When you eat something that takes longer to be digested - whole foods, leafs, the combination of protein and carbohydrates, you feel fuller longer. That reduces the chances of overeating.
I've been cooking for myself at home these days - it's both fun and boring - and I have been making big batches of stew. Last batch was meat, wheat berries and pumpkin. This week is going to be meat, the last of the wheat berries and yams. Next week probably chicken, whole grain rice and some other vegetable I feel like. Then I reheat it twice a day until it's gone. I avoid eating too much chicken here, since they are factory raised (hormones and antibiotics) and the cattle is still raised on open fields, different market forces in Brazil.
Teri
Your comments, along with those of 'Shelagh' are all part of the equation. Thank you. Taken all-in makes understanding why those mixed nuts I'm in love with are just as well taped directly to my thighs.
Teri
Jan in Waterdown
Yeah Teri, but you can't taste them taped to your thighs like that. And it's all about the taste right?!
Heidi Ruckriegel
I just ate 80g of dark chocolate while reading that. Did you know that dark chocolate is really good for you? Make that 100g. Some deep thinking happening right now, burning lots of energy.
Katelyn
Karen you are amazing. Your content is amazing. I've been reading your blog for years and never given you a cent and you deserve many cents. Even dollars. My dollars. But all the bouncy ads on your site drive me bonkers. Could you put on a button or tip jar so I could pay you dollars directly and not see the ads anymore? No begrudging here, just trying to avoid bouncy-ad induced seizures.
Iris
Hi, I totally agree with Katelyn above, I've long been a fan but the bouncy ads really spoil it for me such that I only occasionally look in. Also, I feel it's made it a little bit less trustworthy for me. Sorry Karen, I don't mean to offend you. Iris
Karen
Hi Iris, I'm not sure how ads make a blog feel untrustworthy to you, but it's the way it is I'm afraid. A blog with no ads means it's a hobby blog. A blog with ads means its how someone makes a living. I can't get rid of them any more than a magazine can get rid of running ads, or a television show or a radio program. :) You can trust me and my site but other than telling you that there's not much I can do. :/ ~ karen!
Iris
How nice of you to reply - this is why we all love you. I get the ads, it's just they seem more intrusive of late? And whilst you always advise if you are commercially invested in products you recommend it does just raise a question. But I shouldn't have said untrustworthy because you aren't. Now I've got myself into quite a mess, clearly I shouldn't be posting anything in the mania and despair of insomnia xxx
Karen
Ha! Don't worry about it. :) ~ karen!
Kelly
Crap. Had to read this AFTER I had a piece of cake. Thanks, Karen!
Gayle M
Dang it, Karen! No excuse not to walk (vs drive) that half mile down into the village for a soft serve anymore! I'll always be thinking of you when food temptation strikes. And...that's not such a bad thing at all! Thanks for the inspiration.
Marie Anne
Cool! I've pondered that exact question! Thanks 😊
Kate
You know on top of everything else you must be psychic. This is a question I've been pondering hard for the last few days but had no idea where to find the answer to. Obviously I shouldn't have worried. It was going to arrive in my inbox courtesy of your awesomeness. Sadly it means I've developed an instant aversion to chips.