Caloric Surplus - The Science Of Weight Gain

Weight has a funny way of creeping up on us.  OK, not funny… FRUSTRATING! One day we're feeling slim, the next we're convinced our jeans have shrunk. 

The good news is that nobody has ever gone from being a healthy weight to obesity overnight.  The bad news is that it can happen in a matter of weeks.

But exactly how much do we have to overeat to get fat?  What does 100 calories of stored fat look like?  Read on and all will be revealed…

Everyone has a unique amount of calories their body needs each day to maintain their current weight.  Eat MORE than this and your body stores the excess calories as a nice thick layer of fat around your organs and underneath your skin. 

The best way to understand how much fat is stored each time we overeat is by thinking of an everyday household item that has surprising little to do with fat… FRUIT! 

The following list uses everyday fruits as a  “fat storage size guide”…

20 excess calories…

Eating just 20 calories more than your body needs will store an amount of fat the size of a juicy raisin.  That 20 calorie teaspoon of sugar in your tea? … stored neatly as a plump little raisin on your bum!  Noticed your bum is slowly getting BIGGER? Drop the sugar! 

100 excess calories…

Overeating by just 100 calories will store a grape sized amount of fat on your body.  A single grape may be small, but eating 100 excess calories a day over a year is a whopping 365 grapes… enough to give someone with a six-pack in 2009 a  pot belly in 2010!

500 excess calories…

Overeating by 500 calories will store an amount of fat the size of a plum.  If you've got into the habit of having a pudding and wine with dinner each night, that's easily 500 excess calories a day…  adding a jean-busting 7 plums of fat to your body every week!

1000 excess calories…

Overeating by 1000 calories will store an apple sized lump of fat on your body.  You'll be amazed how easy it is to eat 1000 excess calories a day on a two week Summer holiday, which means you'll be flying home with a great tan… and small orchard in pants!

3500 excess calories…

If you eat 3500 calories more than you body burns, you will gain exactly 1lb of fat, the size of a small grapefruit.  Whether its 100 excess calories for 35 days, or 3500 excess calories in a weekend blowout… you've just added a grapefruit to your waistline!

Thankfully it works the other way…

If you've eaten no more than your daily allowance of calories and then burn off the following, this is how much fat you'll lose…

A 10 minute power walk at 100 calories = a grape of fat burned. A 45 minute, 500 calorie body attack class = a plum of fat burned. 10 minutes power walking a day for 35 days = a grapefruit of fat burned.

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