Re: When you eat food is it possible to put on more weight than the food itself

Aloha, Jo,

This question made me stop and think before attempting an answer.  Actually 
both answers may be correct, in some way.  First, let me introduce myself. 
I am a faculty member here at the University of Hawai`i at Manoa...and am a 
Ph.D.-level nutritionist by training.     

If my memory on energetics serves me correctly, you should not be able to 
put on more weight than what is in the weight of the food.  First off, it 
takes some energy (about 10% in the food) just to get the macronutrients 
carbohyrates, protein, and fat) in the food into a form which the body can 
use...already, then you have 'lost' about 10% of the energy in the 
food...and with that some of the weight of the food.  This 'lost' energy 
(or weight) goes to break down the food mechanically (chew, swallow, grind 
up in the stomach, etc.), to break down the food biochemically (by enzymes 
in the digestive tract), and to absorb and transport the breakdown products 
into and around the body, mainly via the blood stream.

Much of the energy in the food is used quite soon to make the body function 
(keep the body warm, keep all the organs working properly, move the body 
around, etc.).  If there is extra energy from the food, then that can be 
stored...as muscle or liver glycogen (lots of glucose molecules hooked 
together), as protein in the muscle, or as fat in the adipose/fat tissue.

Now, here is where some problem may come in...when carbohydrate is stored, 
several molecules of water must be stored along with each molecule of 
carbohydrate.  So, in a sense, you actually do add on more weight than just 
the weight of the carbohydrate stored. However, you don't store much 
carbohydrate in either the muscles or in the liver...you store much more of 
your energy reserves in the form of fat.  

Another issue may be the amount of water that you hold in your 
tissues...depends on a number of factors, especially how much salt (sodium) 
you might be eating in the food.  This is a temporary weight gain, 
though...even though it appears that you have 'gained' weight...the water 
soon leaves via the urine, once the sodium concentration in your tissues 
goes down, and with that the extra weight.

So, I think my answer remains that you really cannot add more weight than 
the weight of the food that you eat...over time.  However, extra energy, 
not used by the body, DOES get stored as something...usually fat.  Looking 
at it another way, you take in maybe 5-6 pounds of food each day (just a 
guess)..but, you certainly don't gain 5-6 pounds (or more?) each day, do 
you?  So the actual amount that you gain over time, if you eat excess 
kilocalories (energy) adds up at about 1 pound of weight equal to about 
3500 extra kilocalories...and a normal, average intake of kilocalories for 
stable weight is somewhere around 2000-3000 kilocalories/day for most of 
us.  If you maintain your weight in a relatively stable RANGE (not at some 
single number), over time...then your intake is about equal to your needs. 
Most of us can do this without much conscious thought, as long as we listen 
to our body's messages and eat when we are truly hungry and stop when we 
begin to feel truly satisfied.