A question I've always wondered about calorie deficits and fat

[Dinitro]

This question occurred to me, and since I'm not a trainer or fitness scholar, I thought I'd ask you guys:

Is it possible to eat at caloric deficit but still GAIN fat?
I know the simplistic mathematical answer is no--a deficit is a deficit--but suppose that even at a 500cal/day deficit the type of food one ate was pure junk: Whoppers, donuts, fajitas with extra sour cream, sodas. Nothing healthy, just constant cheat food. Would a person gain fat simply by the nature of the food being eaten, or would even that crap diet still cut as long as it was at a deficit?

Thanks!
And don't forget to contact me for your non-traditional chemically-enhanced cutting protocol, too!

 

[shortz]

You're opening a can of worms here, you know that right? lol

You will get some answers that are "yes", but IMO, they are based on faulty science. These show that sugars cause the body to deposit fat from the insulin spikes. As someone who lifts weights/exercises, and if you eat ONLY what your body needs in terms of macros and calories, then no, it's impossible for you to gain fat. As I stated in another thread, the studies that show that sugar makes you gain fat, were the results of older studies showing people getting fat from over eating, and these high calorie diets were naturally high in sugar and fat. We now know that fat doesn't directly get stored as fat, so now they are blaming sugar. BUT!! We also know that if you eat what your body needs in macros, then the insulin spikes caused by sugar intake have little, if any, effect on fat.

 

[GiantSlayer]

LOL, oh boy shortz, here we go.

In the stricktest definition of caloric deficit, the answer would be no. Period. But this implies that there was not one hour during the day that you did not eat more calories than you spent. The caloric deficit that you or I refer to in the fitness world is better defined as a "daily caloric deficit." which simply means you spent more energy over the coarse of the day than you ate.

Let's say your a bodybuilder with a lot of muscle and very low bodyfat. Those muscles are highly metabolic and require a lot of calories to maintain. Now let's say you stop training and greatly reduce your daily caloric intake. Obviously your going to shrink. Now let's say you ate all of your daily calories in one meal. Your body might store some of those calories as fat for later use. But, the rest of the day your body has been breaking down those amino dense, highly metabolic muscles and using them for energy. In this case you may lose muscle and gain some fat.

I'm going to stay off of the insulin argument but your hormones will also play a role in this happening. Cortisol... estrogen... and many more.

There is a dieting method called intermittent fasting that would fight me tooth and nail against what I just said.

 

[shortz]

There is a dieting method called intermittent fasting that would fight me tooth and nail against what I just said.

lol I use that too. Come to the dark side, you know you want to, brah!

 

[Blacken]

For me I've noticed no difference in calorie timing be it eating every 2hrs or intermittent fasting. All I know is I need said macros from when I wake till when I sleep everything else is over complicating things.

I've done both but everybody is different in how our body responds. I've also ate everything before bed and had hardly anything in the morning a big no to many people nothing nothing was different.

Avoiding high sugar foods I'm on the fence about as I do feel avoiding sugars has helped me however.

All this I say is not science or broscience as it's my own personal experience and I think everybody responds a little differently so dont' take my words as facts they are far from it.

 

[woodswise]

Is it me, or does the op look like spam? Why tell us not to forget to contact him for his non-traditional chemically-enhanced cutting protocol???

 

[shortz]

Is it me, or does the op look like spam? Why tell us not to forget to contact him for his non-traditional chemically-enhanced cutting protocol???

Haha! I didn't even read the part after this "Thanks". yeah, sounds like he's trying to recruit clients, selling something etc with that ending .

 

[Gstacker]

Can of worms yes but the key here is "deficits" can you eat junk food and still gain fat? My answer is no you can't..
And I understand all the science behind insulin spikes etc... But just think about it... What's ur deficit? I'm guessing mines prolly around 2400 calories what's that a cookie and half a soda I don't see myself gaining fat... But hmmmm now that can of worms would I lose muscle mass? Most deft and with that my bf% will go up????
Now I'm confused but I still say no lol.

 

[Bigwhite]

Is it me, or does the op look like spam? Why tell us not to forget to contact him for his non-traditional chemically-enhanced cutting protocol???

He's not spam....

 

[ZeroFuxGiven]

There have been several studies and documentaries on this topic. One that comes to mind is the science teacher who did the twinkie diet, and there's another documentary (name is escaping me) who did a fast food diet. Both controlled caloric intake, but essentially ate like shit, and yet both saw health markers improve and lost body fat.

Eating like shit does not equal healthy, clearly. Shit food is still shit food. The reason their health markers improved is because being overweight/fat and in a state of inflammation is very bad for your health. Drop the weight and inflammation starts to go down, good cholesterol goes up, blood pressure reduces, etc., resulting in overall health improvements. So while the answer is yes, you can still lose the weight, its not recommended.

 

[flex001]

My opinion is yes. Depending on what you eat and how you train, your weight lose can be a lot of muscle which will equal an increase in bodyfat percentage. My opinion is that you'd be like the "skinny fat" people that I see and shake my head at.

 

[Gstacker]

^^^ my thought process also but since we're getting technical lets get real technical yes bf% would go up but ur not "gaining fat" anyways that's just putting way to much thought into it...
Basically if you eat less calories then you burn you will not gain fat....