So I know that fat gain is just calories in and calories out, however today I learned that consuming too much sugar causes DNL which causes the sugar to be stored as fat. So if someone eats at a caloric deficit, but eats a ton of sugar to where DNL is taking place, are they losing fat or gaining fat? I am a complete noob at this so please let me know if I’m misunderstanding something.
Hi u/aqian1 — the answer is: if you’re truly in a caloric deficit, then you’ll be losing fat (not gaining fat) on a NET basis over the course of a 24hr period.
IF you eat a “ton of sugar” in a short period of time, your body’s need to control blood glucose levels will trigger three responses: (1) you’ll start to burn more calories per minute to help burn off the energy surplus (think: hyper kid on sugar rush); (2) your body will convert the sugars into glycogen (carbohydrate storage for later use); and (3) your body will convert the sugars into lipids (lipogenesis) to store for later use. Number (3) is more likely to happen if your glycogen stores are already full or if your lifestyle demands little glycogen storage.
So yes, eating a ton of sugar at a single sitting may well result in you gaining fat — but this same fat will be burnt off again later, plus more, as long as you are in a true caloric deficit.
Hope that helps!
De novo lipogenesis accounts for less than 2% of stored fat (31805015).
Also, at this point, we have consistent high-quality evidence showing that ALL diets, when protein and calories are equated, have the exact same outcome (Example: 33479499)
generally speaking high sugar junk foods are also high in fat like chips, cookies, chocolate, pizza, burger etc. pretty much everything junky. when you eat these foods the body decides to burn the sugar and store the fat.
if you ate a high carb diet at calorie surplus the body will only transform a small percent of the surplus carbs into fat. one quarter or less. but the longer you do it the more of a percent of carbs get converted to fat.
so even at a surplus in carbs not much is comverted. at a deficit youll be fine.
No. The amount of weight you lose will depend on the caloric deficit. But the macro ratio between protein/carbs(sugar) will determine the proportion of muscle/fat you will lose. So by eating more sugar it means you will lose more muscle and less fat.
The physiology is complicated…
Generally speaking, if you eat more carbs than will fit in your glycogen stores or can be immediately burned, your body will convert them to fat and store them - that is the only way to deal with the excess glucose.
The real question is what happens afterwards. For people who are insulin sensitive, their blood glucose and insulin will go back down and they will burn that added fat later for energy. These people - not surprisingly - generally do not have a problem maintaining a normal weight.
People who are insulin resistant are hyperinsulinemic - they have elevated insulin all the time, and this makes it hard for them to burn fat. Also not surprisingly, these people have a harder time maintaining weight.
The term “calorie deficit” is often used, but most people think it just means “eat less”.
The problem is that the body is an adaptive system; if you eat less it might:
The regulation of these is driven by hormones, and - as I noted - elevated insulin makes it harder to burn fat, so people with insulin resistance who reduce what they eat often end up with the other 4 things going on.
It makes sense that you would have a change in adipostiy. Hepatic DNL would cause the liver to gain fat while other fat stores in the body are consumed. You may lose more fat than you gain, but that fat gained is localized to the liver.
After research on this question in the passed, this is the most nuanced answer i could conclude.
Too many calories from sugar can absolutely be converted to body fat even in a caloric deficit.
People have a tough time understanding the concepts of compartments.
If you have a bigger caloric percentage coming from sugars, this means less total protein, fats or complex carbohydrates.
You could lose more muscle mass while losing weight.
if you ate a high carb diet at calorie surplus the body will only transform a small percent of the surplus carbs into fat. one quarter or less. but the longer you do it the more of a percent of carbs get converted to fat.
Lets take the holocost for example, people were severly malnourished and obv at a serious deficit. So this concept of eating a certain macronutrient but still being in a defecit And gaining weight is just as a myth as being starved and your body kinda “getting adapted”.