Remove Festive Indulgences Added Body Fat

Every Christmas and New Year I eat and drink too much. Even though, I always tell myself not to. But everywhere you go there are offering... mince pies, cakes, chocolates, brandy and wine and Irish cream... there are nibbles and drinks at work, at home, at friends, parties... everywhere.

Although, it doesn't really feel like temptation. You don't have to twist my arm. I'm not resisting. I'm sure you have the same feeling, it's like we should because it's Christmas. We relax and let our hair down. It's anticipated and welcome. One drink turns into two. One chocolate turns into ten. The whole holiday season is fun and sociable.

But once it's over, I feel a bit rubbish because I ate my body weight on Christmas day. And drank it on New Year's Eve. Why do I stuff myself like a sausage and still find space for more snacks while sprawled in front of the TV? Why say yes to another drink when I've already had one too many? Because I only regret it...

...Consequently, I find myself standing in the mirror grabbing fat to see if it's grown. Looking down at my belly. Prodding and poking and feeling overweight. I feel a little disgusted with myself. And yet I'm not quite sure if I should!

Is my mind playing a trick on me?

Well, if you believe the commonly repeated consensus that overconsumption causes obesity then surely overeating will cause our bodies to pack some fat. So we turn to New Year's Resolutions and diets and detoxes.

Actually, the reality might shock you.

Despite seeming larger and a little depressed and bloated, the chances I actually pilled on the pounds over the week or so of overeating are very slim. Let me explain because overeating has been studied for some time. People have been locked up and force fed to see the outcome.

That might sound a bit crass, but a famous set of studies back in the 60's force-fed Vermont state prisoners and volunteers. Overall, the experiment proved difficult so Dr Ethan Sims change it a few times. To be fair, these old studies do not prove anything other than it is very difficult to make people eat excessively. Anyway, Dr Sims noted his subjects gained weight eating 4000kcal per day but levelled off over time... it wasn't enough to keep weight gain going. Therefore, he experimented with 10,000kcal a day - and again the outcome wasn't as predicted.

Now, these old experiments have been pulled to pieces so we have to look at better-controlled tests to see what is really going on in our bodies when we overeat.

In order to determine the effects of overeating, healthy young sedentary twins were housed and fed enough food to cause a 35-pound weight gain. However, it didn't. Even with these guys sitting around all day playing computer games and watching TV, the extra 1000kcal only cause an average 18lbs weight increase in 100 days. The most anyone gained was 30lbs while one twin only put on 9lbs... quite astonishing, isn't it? [1]

Instantly, I starting to feel better remembering this. A week's indulgence might only add a pound or less. [2]

To be fair, it is a lot easier gaining weight during the holidays. Many may think it's simply because we overeat, although, what we are eating makes a big difference. And during Christmas and the New Year, we are consuming a lot of carbs and fats and protein and alcohol... a lot of junk with larger meals.

Interestingly enough...

...there's no real difference between overfeeding carbs over fats...

...however, mix in the excess protein and alcohol and the story changes. It's because there's a limit to the amount of protein your body needs so the rest will either promote an increase in lean body mass (which explains some of the weight gain... not fat gain) or it can be converted or excreted.

In fact, the alcohol is the fattest promoting part of the mix because it's treated as a toxin and metabolised first. So your body will reduce usage of fat and carbs and instead, concentrate on utilising the alcohol. Plus, it stimulates your body to feel hungry so you're likely to eat and drink more. Also, alcohol really isn't good to your liver while it is detoxing your body.

The side-effects of all this are maximising your ability to store fat and glucose sugar. Plus, the process of absorbing the nutrients in your intestines is slowed down by alcohol. And your body can choose not to digest the food you've eaten. Effectively, your visit to the toilet will leave larger deposits.[3,4,5]

Accordingly, it is not that easy to gain body fat in the short term. Some of the added weight is everything else that makes you other than excess fat. It's your muscles and organs, bones, blood, and extra water. Some of the extra food you eat will end up as waste.

The rest can be explained by moving...

...not participating in a class or sport but things like twitching and fidgeting and expressive communication and being hyper. This non-exercise activity thermogenesis can burn off anything between 100-800kcal.[6,7 ] Then there's the thermal effect of food. Notably, protein generates a lot of body heat and eating large meals also raises your temperature.[8,9]

As it's been noted, we do not all respond in the same way - even between twins - genes are not a determining factor. While one twin gained 25lbs during the overfeeding experiment, the other only gained 13lbs. So you can see how gene expression can make a difference. Although, if you have obesity-prone genes then binging could contribute to more weight gain than if you don't have the genes. It's because those with the obesity genes typically reduce spontaneous physical activity levels. They've been recorded to significantly decreased the amount of time they spent walking.[10]

In truth, if you are not a naturally slim person then you'll have to make some conscious decisions. For the simple reason, those skinny people naturally make better choices. As it was shown in the Channel 4 program, The Truth About Slim People, after overeating and drinking they delay their breakfast... a naturally inspired intermittent fast... and they reduce the size of their meals. Plus, they move around a lot more. They walk and move quickly. They fidget. And they are very expressive.

In contrast, any added weight from the festive season shouldn't last very long. To be precise, there seems to be a bodyweight set range based on your lifestyle. So if you return to your previous diet then you should end up losing the weight anyway. This has dramatically been shown in overfeeding studies where the participants gain weight and then their weight returns very near to their starting weight once they have eaten normally for a while.[11]

Overall, we shouldn't feel upset after indulging and enjoying ourselves. Don't entertain guilt. It's a once a year experience that should be pleasurable. And now you know that it's not likely you've slathered your body with fat, the way you feel and see yourself could simply be down to belief and hormones. I mean, I don't feel great after binging... I look in the mirror and don't like what I see, although, I feel great after a workout and love my reflection, even though the image is almost exactly the same. The only big difference is the way chemical effect my judgment.

So I won't be going on a FAD diet or detox. I'll simply do what I know is proven true and beneficial throughout the year. Not to mention, I won't be making any New Year's resolutions because they are short lived and disappointing... Short achievable goals always get me in my best shape. This year will be no different.

To put it briefly, I'll be doing the Skinny & Lean in 5 plan to lose excess body fat and keep my lean muscle mass. And I'll always start with a foundation of fruit and vegetables to prevent serious overeating and drinking.