How to maintain weight over the holidays
How much food is too much food?
What I love most about nutrition science is the nuance of the language, because in order to answer that question we have to first define what “too much” means. Are we referring to the amount of food required before it causes gastric upset or are we referring to the amount of food required to make an individual gain weight?
The answers depend of course on the purpose of the question. But since we are well and truly in the holiday seasons and many of the questions I get asked are “how much food can I eat before I gain weight?” That I can to a certain extent answer.
Energy Balance Model
The theory of weight loss or weight gain is based on the energy balance model. We know that taking in more energy than used causes weight gain and conversely taking in less energy than used causes weight loss. However, because calories aren’t as simple as “1 calorie in equals 1 calorie out”, this is often where the confusion and frustration sets in.
You only have to look at the map of the human metabolism to see why this might be.
*Click to enlarge.
You see, textbook theory will have us believe that 1 pound of body mass is approximately 3,500 calories. This means (in theory) eating 3,500 calories less per week should result in weight loss and conversely, eating 3,500 calories more per week should result in weight gain.
If you’ve been on and off dieting, you’ll know that this equation isn’t linear. You only have to look at that metabolism pathway above to understand that there are a lot of systems involved that help us lose or gain weight.
Now, of course when we are referring to body mass, we are not including any water weight into the discussion as that can easily be affected by a sudden change in your food choices, or a woman’s menstrual cycle as examples.
So while there isn’t a linear equation to how much you can eat before you gain weight there are of course a few things you can do to minimise fat gain over the holiday seasons.
I’m afraid there is no magic solution and the boring fundamentals of good eating habits still
#1. Choose foods with a high TEF
Believe it or not, eating food actually burns energy. The act of eating itself and digesting and absorbing food or nutrients is a process that increases heat production.
This means that the type of food you choose can affect how you “burn” energy. On average, the thermic effect of food actually amounts to 10% of our total daily energy expenditure.
We burn energy just by eating
When it comes to energy balance, your diet can determine how much more effective your weight loss efforts are.
Protein for example requires a fair amount of energy just to digest, up to 20-30%. What this means is that if you eat 100 calories of protein, your body is only really absorbing net 70-80 calories.
Carbs on the other hand require 5-10% to digest and fats 0-3%. So you can see how choosing protein, might be a better choice in helping you maintain weight over the holiday seasons.
But as you might have guessed, there are more benefits to focusing on protein this season, which I will elaborate in my next point.
#2. Encourage satiety
The amount of food on your plate often doesn’t accurately reflect the amount of energy you are intaking. This is one of the reasons why focusing on vegetables and protein is another winning strategy.
Highly processed foods for example tend to contain more energy than whole foods and since they also tend to be more hyper-palatable, it can often mean we end up eating much more than we realise.
There is also the fact that our bodies react differently to different foods too.
Some more geeky science…
Protein for example releases certain hormones that can directly impact satiety. The hormone Peptide YY (PYY3-36) for example is a hormone that is released in the hours after a meal has been consumed. This hormone sends a message to the brain to suppress appetite and to slow down stomach motility.
This means that the more protein you consume, the longer you will be able to remain full.
#3. Stay active
Movement changes how our bodies process food and absorb energy. Needless to say, the more active an individual is, the more energy output there is going to be. An average sedentary individual with a typical 9-5 job that doesn’t have much opportunity to move might exert about 10-15% of their daily energy demand, whereas an athlete might exert 30% or more.
Here are some of the things you can expect to happen to your body when you increase energy expenditure:
Your muscles get damaged but they also get repaired later, and if you recover well enough, they become stronger
Your cells produce more energy
You challenge your body’s defences and increase its immunity
You circulate more nutrients around your body
You can see in the points above that simply having a high TDEE can impact energy balance.
#4. Stay consistent with your strength training routine
As tempting as it is to ramp up our cardio during moments of increased food intake, there is no need to go crazy here. While increasing any form of physical activity will of course help in managing an energy balance, there is no need to punish yourself every day with a 20 mile run.
Here’s why…
If your body is made of predominantly lean mass such as muscle, bone and connective tissue, it's going to require more energy to maintain weight.
Since strength training encourages muscle growth and increases lean body mass, it’s a great strategy for maintaining a “better” fat-to-muscle partitioning ratio.
Also, muscle growth requires energy so if you’re afraid of gaining fat, shift that mindset a little to eating for muscle growth. Being in a surplus accidentally for a couple of weeks isn’t going to hurt you.
#5 Increase your overall energy expenditure
This is something I talk about extenisively on all of my platforms and also an extension of #3. Exercise only makes up a small percentage of your overall TDEE so its not necessarily about smashing your workouts harder in order to maintain weight, its about making sure that your overall energy expenditure far exceeds your energy intake.
The more you can increase non exercise energy expenditure (NEAT), the better your chances are of maintaining weight over the festive periods.
What this means is that you can increase your daily movements through regular day-to-day activities like walking and doing housework to remain in a healthy energy balance. Since NEAT makes up at least 15% of your overall TDEE and is something that is within your realm of control, this is where the focus should be for energy expenditure.
Think, long family walks or clearing out the dinner table at parties or maybe even handwashing the dishes.
Conclusion
In theory, it takes an increase of roughly 3,500 calories per week to gain 1 pound of body mass (this does not include water weight). This is a very oversimplified theory that often isn’t linear.
The human metabolism is very complex and even though energy balance ultimately determines whether you lose or gain weight, food quality also matters since nutrients can determine how well your body functions and therefore has an effect on your hormones, which in turn can affect your metabolism.
We know that movement and nutrients can change how our bodies process energy, therefore making sure that you practice helpful habits will ensure that you move closer to your goals.
According to research, BMI is 75% heritable so while there may be a lot about the way your body processes foods that are outside of your control, putting in place great habits can negate some of those heritable traits.
