#21: Can You Get Fat From One Cheat Day?

I’ve binged, you’ve probably binged. Let’s not beat around the bush. But seriously… can one naughty episode bite you in the ass (in terms of fat gain)?

It first depends on how bad the binge was. Say you consume 1,600 calories per day. Then suddenly, you binge on 10,000 calories of goodness on grandma’s birthday. In that case, such a massive binge probably would cause some fat gain.

It takes around 3,500 calories to gain 1 pound (0.45kg) of fat, meaning that if (instead of bingeing) you just up your calories by 500 every day, you should gain fat, in theory. But that is not 100% guaranteed, because the amount of energy you burn also varies with each day.

But What If You Ate All Those Calories In A Single Meal?

Although we worry those extra calories make us fat, it may not be the case. Because a portion of the calories consumed are used-up for digestion and absorption of food (a.k.a. the Thermic Effect of Food; TEF).

More calories means more TEF. But even after downing those calories, your body still makes use of compensatory mechanisms to try and keep it at its baseline weight. This is a fundamental principle of biological homeostasis, that is, a self-regulating process by which biological systems tend to maintain stability while adjusting to conditions that are optimal for survival.

To tackle the massive influx of calories, the body compensates physiologically (for example, by raising your body temperature) and behaviorally (for example, by making you more fidgety). The energy expended for anything that is not sleeping, eating, or sports-like exercise (Non-exercise Activity Thermogenesis; NEAT) also increases when we overeat in an attempt to burn off the calories.

One’s metabolic status and overall health of the gut microbiome also plays a role in how quickly one gets fat.

Is There A Way To Mitigate The Damage?

The body stores carbohydrate as glycogen in liver & muscles. A human body can store anywhere between 400g - 600g of the stuff. Each 1g of glycogen is bound to roughly 3-4g of water in the body. So if glycogen stores are low, a lot of those extra calories would be used to replenish them.

If you know a royal binge is on the cards, you can mitigate the damage (and also potentially contribute towards some gains), by smashing a glycogen-depleting workout beforehand.

And if you don’t hit a workout beforehand, meaning that glycogen stores are relatively full, the body would still not favour creating its own fat from carbs (a process known as De-Novo Lipogenesis; DNL).

DNL is only really known to occur when you eat more calories than you burn on a regular basis.

But Why Do I Weigh More After A Cheat Day?

Bad news from the weighing scale is expected after an almighty binge. Why? Because in most circumstances, binges often occur with the less healthful foods. That means lots of carbs (refined, probably) taken together with salt.

Consuming the two - together - can promote some degree of water retention. So overeating on carb and salt-rich foods will definitely affect your weight in the immediate sense.

The good news? Getting back on track (as far as diet is concerned) will help you lose that weight just as quick as you got it, once you start weeing it out like a boss.

Would a gigantic binge cause weight gain? Probably not, but it’s probably best not to make a regular habit out of it.

Speaking from the perspective of a binger (or ex-binger, rather) myself, not doing so can be difficult. And with all the events and foodie goodness we got around us, we’re bound to meet this problem at some point.

The answer? Just forget about it. Get back on the wagon and remember the cheat day as one where you had shit-tones of fun. Cos YOLO.