when does food become fat?

Euphoria1z

Hi

im trying to loose weight/fat, and i have some questions about when the foods that we eat become fat so i can understand things a bit better.

1-so, for example, say i eat a cheese burger (400 calories) today and nothing else, will this turn in to fat or will the fact that my body needs minimum 1500 odd calories (or wotever the average is for me) to function therefore the energy will be consumed and not stored as fat?

2- say i eat 2000 calories worth of food today and do no excercise, but i need 1500 to maintain my weight so will the excess 500 calories become fat overnight or does it take longer?

thanks

notanewuser

It takes longer than overnight for food to turn into fat.

The biggest cause of weight gain is sugar - found in processed foods, starchy foods like bread and potatoes, and packed into diet food. If you eat sugar and don't burn it off it gets converted into fat and stored.

I'd suggest you get some proper advice/do more research before embarking upon a diet. Eating cheeseburgers and nothing else is not the way to do it. For one thing dropping so many calories will make your body go into starvation mode, stopping you losing weight and potentially making you quite ill.

Euphoria1z

thanks...the cheeseburger thing was just an example. i havent had one in over 2 months...just trying to understand if i did have something that i shouldnt, how long before it becomes fat?

Fire_Fox

There is no straightforward answer to that, firstly not all calories turn directly to fat: protein is converted to carbs and carbs are converted to fatty acids so the process is extended. Some foods take longer to break down/ be digested or absorbed than others.

In addition it's not quite as simple as eat too much and gain fat or not enough and lose fat, or thinking that the calories in that specific meal will be used as energy. Oftentimes you will be burning energy from your stored glycogen or stored fat or even the muscles, then replace that with a subsequent meal. But potentially you might burn calories from muscle and store back calories to fat.

nehfred

No one truly knows. Calories are what our bodies store as fat. Calories and calories alone. Calories are a measurement of energy in something such as food. Actual fat in foods doesn't turn into fat. The calories the fat consists of turns into fat on the human body. The body breakdowns all of this through our GI tract. When you intake more than you expend is when you store fat on your body. A pound of fat on a human body is equal to 3500 calories. So if you expend only 3000 and take in 4000, than your body will store the difference as fat (1000 calories).

heartbreak_star

There's no such thing as a calorie to your body. We do not burn fuel in the same way as a calorimeter.

300kcals of steak will not put weight on you...but 300kcals of sugar will!

HBS x

Euphoria1z

heartbreak_star wrote: »

300kcals of steak will not put weight on you...but 300kcals of sugar will!

HBS x

so, does that mean i can eat takeaway foods up to my daily calorie needs and not gain weight? as long as its not sugar?

obviously not a good idea as no nutrients BUT in terms of weight gain only, i shoudnt gain any?

i actually read somewhere that you can eat junk food up to the limit of our calorie needs and not gain weight but im not sure i believe that.

notanewuser

Euphoria1z wrote: »

so, does that mean i can eat takeaway foods up to my daily calorie needs and not gain weight? as long as its not sugar?

obviously not a good idea as no nutrients BUT in terms of weight gain only, i shoudnt gain any?

i actually read somewhere that you can eat junk food up to the limit of our calorie needs and not gain weight but im not sure i believe that.

There is so much "sugar" in takeaway foods I don't know how you'd do it. Pizza is about 90% sugar to the body, chips 100%, burger buns, fried chicken coating, fillers in sausages, bread, rice, pasta - all sugars.

heartbreak_star

I don't mean actual sugar...I mean what your body treats as sugar.

Processed carbs.

So, for example...bread, pasta, potato flesh, flour, sugar, white rice, polenta, most cereals. Disclaimer - this list is not comprehensive.

I don't count calories. I eat clean approx. 85-90% of the time. Natural, unprocessed foods - I follow semi-Paleo.

And exercise - walk, run, jump, pick up heavy things, dance, anything really

HBS x

kushy

I always compare our body to a machine only.Input is more than output.Rest is the fat I think.:)

Mojisola

kushy wrote: »

I always compare our body to a machine only.Input is more than output.Rest is the fat I think.:)

Our bodies aren't machines - they're dynamic systems. The calories in/calories out theory works on a macro level but the body will alter itself depending on what you're eating - as well as how much - and one change will impact on other systems.