I usually eat one main meal a day, and get all of my calories in with that meal. Yes, I realize “OMAD” is the name for that. However, I don’t purposely do intermittent fasting, but I find that I always naturally eat a lot at one time, instead of eating consistently throughout the day. I guess it just fits into my schedule nicely.
Every once in a while, I have a planned cheat day, where I eat copious amounts of food (mostly sugar), for fun. It definitely is a challenge. However, I find that I do not gain much weight after eating 3,000-4,000 calories over my maintenance.
My maintenance is around 1300 calories (I’m a small-built girl). On most days, my diet consists of healthy whole-grains, lean protein, and whole foods.
The other day I had around 4,000 calories. The following day, after the cheat day, I ate 500 calories less than my maintenance (no exercise) and on the 2nd day, I had 1,000 calories. On the 3rd day, I was at my normal weight.
I want to know why I never gain as much weight as I should, considering my activity level is not that high and the thermogenic effect of food is not a big contributing factor.
Has “fasting” primed my body to efficiently utilize those extra calories as fuel/energy? Is it more difficult for me to gain weight compared to those who eat consistently throughout the day?
I would love any science-backed answers!
What /u/rishmish87 said + 1300 calories as maintenance doesn’t seem likely to me. For example even at BMI 19 and 160cm of height your TDEE would be a little over 1400kcal. And that is only if you were sedentary - if you do any exercise like taking a slow walk a few times a week then it’s going to be higher.
So imho you should also check if your TDEE really is just 1300kcal - methinks it’s higher.
I do intermittent 18/6 fast Monday to Friday, and eat whenever or whatever I feel like on the weekends. I look at it the opposite of you. Why don’t I lose weight when I fast 5 out of 7 day of the week. Answer is it all averages out over time. To lose weight I’d need to fast on weekends as well. To gain weight you simply need to pig out on sugar more often - a really bad idea BTW.
Did you ever notice when you overeat you feel warm, even sweaty? Your body is trying to get rid of some of those calories. You can also excrete more partially digested food, whether solid, liquid, or in between.
My (somewhat educated) guess is that your results would be worse if you ate a lot of fat…
Glycogen storage capacity and de novo lipogenesis during massive carbohydrate overfeeding in man.
Adaptation to overeating in lean and overweight men and women
Surely there must be a ceiling to the amount of fat you can create and store over a given period?
Eg if my body can only possibly create and store 6000 calories worth of fat in 24 hours then anything over that would just be excreted?
I would love to know if there is any literature describing the upper limit (or lack of) of fat creation and storage.