Training & Nutrition - What's the deal with gaining weight?

I can understand gaining weight through eating too much fat. You store the fat you don;t use, right, and store it round your waist and in your arteries. But how about if you don;t eat that much fat, say it's too much carbohydrate (inc sugers)? does your body convert that to fat? I assume it does as beer or wine has no fat, and yet you can still put on weight if you drink too much, right?
So, does it mean if you eat too much, say, dried fruit, you can gain weight because of the high levels of suger?
I find it all rather confusing.

It's not how much 'fat' you eat. Its how many calories you eat. Confusing? More calories in than calories out gains weight.

At first glance id say troll post.

Hi,
your body breaks down any extra and stores it as fat. Doesn't matter if it's carbs, protein or fat.

The problem with concentrated sugars is that they often trigger an insulin response. Insulin is part of the process by which carbs get stored as fat.

It's not how much 'fat' you eat. Its how many calories you eat. Confusing? More calories in than calories out gains weight.

At first glance id say troll post.

Please believe me, it's not a troll post. I've just never been sure as to the mechanics of which foods are stored as fat. Being 43 now, always in possession of a good appetite, and trying to stay under 12 stone, it's kind of important to me to understand whether I can still eat a ton of bread, so long as I lay off the chocolate, or whether in eating dried fruit by the bucketful instead of candy, I'm just fooling myself.

Sorry if I came across as trolling, but honestly, no.

Hi,
your body breaks down any extra and stores it as fat. Doesn't matter if it's carbs, protein or fat.

The problem with concentrated sugars is that they often trigger an insulin response. Insulin is part of the process by which carbs get stored as fat.


Thanks, that makes things clearer, esp the insulin part. So will eating low gi carbs (wholegrains etc) mean less carb is stored as fat, or is a carb a carb?

I can understand gaining weight through eating too much fat. You store the fat you don;t use, right, and store it round your waist and in your arteries. But how about if you don;t eat that much fat, say it's too much carbohydrate (inc sugers)? does your body convert that to fat? I assume it does as beer or wine has no fat, and yet you can still put on weight if you drink too much, right?
So, does it mean if you eat too much, say, dried fruit, you can gain weight because of the high levels of suger?
I find it all rather confusing.

yes, the body converts extra calories from any source into fat. The chemistry is basically as follows:

Carbohydrate is broken down into glycerol of which 3 fatty acid chains are attached. This is a trigylceride and is how the body stores fat. Where do the fatty acid chains come from? Food intak of fat for one, too many carbohydrates then the body converts the carbon chains in the carbohydrates into fatty acids....proteins are treated the same after being deaminated...basically protein gets slowly converted to carbohydrate and then enters the same cycle as a carbohydrate.

note- the above is a gross oversimplification because I'm too lazy to type and entire dissertation on this subject.

Hi,
your body breaks down any extra and stores it as fat. Doesn't matter if it's carbs, protein or fat.

The problem with concentrated sugars is that they often trigger an insulin response. Insulin is part of the process by which carbs get stored as fat.


As everyone has said anything can be converted into fat.

When you consume carbs, everything is broken to simple sugars, like glucose. This goes and gives cells (brain!) energy if they need it. The rest is converted to glycogen, which is the storage form of sugar. This will go and replenish stocks in the muscles and the liver. Finally, all the leftover is converted into fat.

Back in the 1960's comedian Dick Gregory decided to become a vegetarian. He figured vegetables have so little food value that he ate and ate and ate vegetables. He was shocked to find he actually gained weight eating only vegetables.

Thanks for that, much appreciated.

note- the above is a gross oversimplification because I'm too lazy to type and entire dissertation on this subject.

I know the feeling...I don't participate in a lot of threads because I feel that to give the answer I intended it would require way too much writing. Pictures can help. :)

http://i168.photobucket.com/albums/u164/Enthalpic/MetabolismSummary.gif

I have high levels of insulin, due to years of lousy diet and family history. I gain weight rapidly with what is considered "normal" foods. To loose or maintain a light weight, I must only eat uncooked veggies once a day coupled with protein. Salad with fish, no dressing, no bread products is a good example. No breakfast, no dinner. On days that I ride, I eat carbs (oatmeal or cereal w/milk) before the ride. Protein powder after.

While my situation is somewhat different from most, it is a good example of calorie management. I must only eat enough (or a tick less realy) calories to make it through the day. Any excess turns into weight right away.

I can easily gain a pound a day, and sustain that rate for a month eating improperly.

I went from 170 to 232 in less than a year. Even while riding.

It took me some time to really understand that my body "attacks" excess calories rapidly. I have a thick head. Doc says that I produce excess insulin after a meal with excess carbs, excess protein, or high calorie load. That is why I go into a coma and become "completely not with it" after eating a turkey sandwich.

Think about it for a bit, some people are naturally thin, no matter how or what they eat. Some are not. Those who gain rapidly (like me) are well served to deal with the issue early on, hopefully preventing the onset of problems. This is truly my hope.

Chris

I can understand gaining weight through eating too much fat. You store the fat you don;t use, right, and store it round your waist and in your arteries. But how about if you don;t eat that much fat, say it's too much carbohydrate (inc sugers)? does your body convert that to fat? I assume it does as beer or wine has no fat, and yet you can still put on weight if you drink too much, right?
So, does it mean if you eat too much, say, dried fruit, you can gain weight because of the high levels of suger?
I find it all rather confusing.

When you eat carbs, your blood sugar goes up. If your blood sugar exceeds a specific level, your body releases insulin, and the sugar gets converted to triglycerides (ie "fat"), and stored.

The problem is that the resultant blood sugar drop tends to make you hungry again.

Complex carbs (or simple carbs in combination with fat and protein) are better because you don't get the same insulin response, which means a) less sugar is stored as fat and b) you don't get hungry quickly afterwards.

But, as others have said, it's all about calories.

You need to go buy a good nutrition book and do some research on glycemic index also.

Key is first not to over consume calories and switch to mind set of eat to live. Slowly make health substiutes into diet and eliminate bad foods / habits.

Some key basic aspects to eating and nutrition are:

1) Knowing how many calarioies you need daily to just maintain your body wt with current exercise level.
2) Making the healthiest choices of those calories - ex body needs 2000 calories - then try to have 90% clean and healthy - not processed food or junk food or booze etc.
3) Making sure your are getting enough nutrients, fiber, protein, healthy fats, antioxidants etc
4) Have all meals except pre and post wk out have protein, fat, and carbs - you can figure out the ratio you want starting with 1/3, 1/3,1/3 of each. Remember fat g is 9 vs 4.
5) Eat smaller meals - 3 mian meals and two snacks vs. 2-3 big meals.
6) Hydration - water mainly
7) Eat the largiest variety of healthy fruits, veggies and proteins you can.
8) Shut down eating carbs and eating in general after 7PM.
9) Only eat high glyceimc carbs or starches after a wk out. Example - wk out have rice with chicken breat and vegies. No wk out then no rice or potatoes just the veggies with your protein.
10) Eat slowly -really take time to chew food as this is start of digestive process. Many do not do this.

Paleo Diet is a good read.

I can understand gaining weight through eating too much fat. You store the fat you don;t use, right, and store it round your waist and in your arteries. But how about if you don;t eat that much fat, say it's too much carbohydrate (inc sugers)? does your body convert that to fat? I assume it does as beer or wine has no fat, and yet you can still put on weight if you drink too much, right?
So, does it mean if you eat too much, say, dried fruit, you can gain weight because of the high levels of suger?
I find it all rather confusing.

Your body converts everything it doesn't need to fat. There is only so much sugar it can use/store directly, the rest gets converted.