The FastDay Forum

A guy is eating 5000 cals for 21 days to see if the "calorie is a calorie" view of life holds true. This is gaining weight not losing.

He's chosen a low carb high fat diet.

http://www.smashthefat.com also on twitter @samfeltham and youtube http://www.youtube.com/SmashTheFat :-

There is a BBC Horizon programme on Youtube, it is very interesting, I recommend it.Why are thin people not fat

If I remember 12 naturally thin people are put on 5000 cals / day for 4 weeks - what do you think happens.

Enjoy

Hi Izzy,

I think that's about it. A range of weights was gained from about 3-11kg and all went back to their usual weights within 2 months.

The guy that only gained 3 kgs metabolism speeded up to burn the extra calories he became very fidgety and couldn't keep still.

And yes, some people couldn't eat the 5000 calories and actually vomited.

The programme asks some important questions about the obesety epidemic.

Cheers

Yeah, you gotta be skilled to eat 5000 calories. I might do that tonight, BTW...

Oh, to be blessed with skinny genes!

I've got the skinny genes, I just can't get into them.

Oh, to be blessed with skinny genes!

I've got the skinny genes, I just can't get into them.

BLESS YOU, Peter! I needed that!!!

His TDEE is over 3100 calories? He must be exercising a lot every day to only get a 1900 calorie surplus out of 5000 calories...

Wow--here's his daily diet:

http://live.smashthefat.com/5000-calori ... nge-day-6/

Grand Total; 5,794 Calories, Carbohydrate=85.2g (10%), Fat=461.42g (53%), Protein=322.2g (37%)

322g of protein!

461grms of FAT???

5000 calories? I know some pre 5:2 days I would definitely be going over tdee, but I'm not sure even I could manage 5000. Even with alcohol and platters of hams... Wow

His diet - same every day :

Breakfast

15g of coconut oil; 135 calories, Carbohydrate=0g, Fat= 15g, Protein=0g
200g of salmon; 374 calories, Carbohydrate=0.4g, Fat= 19.8g, Protein=48.2g
180g of green beans; 60 calories, Carbohydrate=18g, Fat= 0g, Protein=2g
250g of eggs; 390 Calories, Carbohydrate=3g, Fat=26.5g, Protein=31.5g
Total; 959 Calories, Carbohydrate=21.4g, Fat=61.3g, Protein=81.7g

Snack

150g of walnuts; 1,058 Calories, Carbohydrate=4.6g, Fat=102.75g, Protein=25.95g

Lunch

15g of coconut oil; 135 calories, Carbohydrate=0g, Fat= 15g, Protein=0g
180g of green beans; 60 calories, Carbohydrate=18g, Fat= 0g, Protein=2g
260g of mackerel; 785 calories, Carbohydrate=5.2g, Fat=62.92g, Protein=48.1g
Total; 980 Calories, Carbohydrate=23.2g, Fat=77.92g, Protein=50.1g

Snack

150g of pecans; 1,059 Calories, Carbohydrate=8.25g, Fat=105.15g, Protein=16.35g

Dinner

15g of coconut oil; 135 calories, Carbohydrate=0g, Fat= 15g, Protein=0g
400g of topside beef; 576 calories, Carbohydrate=0g, Fat= 15.6g, Protein=108g
180g of green beans; 60 calories, Carbohydrate=18g, Fat= 0g, Protein=2g
Total; 771 Calories, Carbohydrate=18g, Fat=30.6g, Protein=110g

Snack

150g of almonds; 967 Calories, Carbohydrate=9.75g, Fat=83.7g, Protein=38.1g


GRAND TOTAL;

5,794 Calories, Carbohydrate=85.2g (10%), Fat=461.42g (53%), Protein=322.2g (37%)

An interesting activity. Should generate some conversations.

I hesitate to call it an experiment. He has switched what he eats to do this, so currently we're seeing a combined effect of changing to a low carb diet and eating more food. It would have been better to do a stabilisation on this food regime at TDEE for 2 weeks first.

He's also a bit lacking on measuring stuff - he didn't have a baseline body composition assessment so we'll never know how much fat he gains (or indeed, loses).

I don't know how it'll turn out. Atkins, low carb and LC/HF advocates will be hoping for small weight gain. Paleo folks are trying to claim he's eating paleo, but given the barn door wide definition of that he probably is.

So good publicity for him and a potentially disruptive input to the status quo thinking.

I thought the same Phil. I do tend to swing towards the 'not all calories are equal' school of thought rather than 'calories in calories out' but I don't think hes actually doing any of us any favours is he? Its badly thought out. Could have been designed by me on a bad-brain day and I've been known to try and pay for my papers at the newsagents with half a pound of Lurpak whilst hubby found my purse when he went to the fridge for the butter!

It has been done properly before :-

http://ajcn.nutrition.org/content/62/1/19.full.pdf+html

Results of this study demonstrate that diet composition can
have important effects on energy expenditure and body energy
storage when subjects are in positive energy balance. Greater
than 75% of the excess energy consumed by our subjects was
stored in the body, not expended, regardless of the composition
of the excess. Other recent overfeeding studies have reached
the same conclusion (9-11).

Thanks Phil. Will have to save the link for a better day. I'm seriously dyslexic today! Good old FMS!