With so many social occasions focused around food, it’s inevitable that you’ll eat something that falls outside the boundaries of a “clean” diet. Holidays, birthdays, weddings, family get-togethers, restaurant gatherings all make it hard to stay on the “straight and narrow.” What’s a wedding without a bite of wedding cake?
According to a new study, you don’t need to fret too much about that cinnamon bun or the chocolate chip cookie you ate when you were shopping with friends on the weekend. Researchers at the National Institutes of Health found an occasional high-calorie splurge probably won’t show up on the scale unless you turn high-calorie noshing into a habit.
Based on this research, you have some leeway when it comes to calorie intake. In fact, you can vary your calorie intake by as much as 600 calories over the course of a day and not experience long-term weight gain. You may experience a temporary rise in weight due to extra stored glycogen and, if you ate a salty food, fluid retention, but you’ll likely return to your “normal” weight a few days later. Of course, most people can’t consume an extra 600 calories EVERY day and get by with it. The key is to make your splurges not too frequent.
Most People Compensate for Splurges
To reach this conclusion, researchers used a mathematical model that simulates human metabolism. They programmed in various calorie counts typical of the daily variations in calories people normally consume. They found most people can tolerate caloric variations of as much as 600 calories a day without gaining a significant amount of weight over time. As the researchers in this study point out, most people consciously or unconsciously compensate for a splurge by taking in fewer calories the following day.
For example, if you have a 400 calorie ice cream treat at a birthday party, you might consume 200 fewer calories for the next two days. The key is to stay around an average calorie value that’s appropriate for maintaining your weight. Going above or below on some days won’t have a significant impact on your weight if everything averages out.
How Important is it to Count Calories?
A number of studies call into question whether the “calorie in, calorie out” model is the real secret to weight control. A 300-calorie brownie and 300 calories of salmon will have very different effects on hormones that regulate weight, especially insulin. For example, a 300-calorie brownie, despite being low on nutrition, will cause a rapid rise in blood sugar and promote more insulin release than a 300-calorie meal of salmon. With more insulin circulating in your bloodstream, you create an environment conducive to fat storage.
In addition, the brownie won’t fill you up like salmon and will drop your blood sugar more quickly, causing you to crave more carbs. Salmon is high in protein. Protein, being the most satiating of the macronutrients, will curb your appetite and keep you satiated longer. Calories in/calories out fails to consider the hormonal effects of different foods – the effect they have on insulin, leptin, and ghrelin.
Study Suggests All Calories Aren’t Equal
A study published in the Journal of the American Medical Association also questioned whether balancing calories is the key to weight loss. In this study, one group of participants ate a very low-carb diet, another a low-fat diet while a third ate a low-glycemic diet. The diets were rotated so each group consumed each diet for one month. All participants consumed the same total number of calories daily, regardless of the diet they were eating.
Interestingly, the participants burned 300 more calories daily on the very low-carb diet than when they ate the low-fat diet. When consuming a low-glycemic diet, they burned 150 more calories daily relative to the low-fat diet. In this study, the TYPE of calories the participants ate affected their metabolism even though they were consuming an equal number of calories. Though the very low-carb diet was most beneficial from a metabolic perspective, this type of diet is often difficult to sustain. Calorie quality counts too.
An Occasional Splurge Won’t Hurt You
An occasional splurge shouldn’t make it harder to control your weight. This study suggests most people compensate for a splurge by eating fewer calories the following day. Plus, an eating plan that allows an occasional splurge is easier to stick with long term than a rigid, inflexible diet. The key is not to slip back into the habits that caused you to gain weight in the first place.
A cheat meal once a week can actually work in your favor. When you’re restricting calories, your leptin level drops. A high-calorie meal helps boost leptin production. This gives your metabolism a boost. Some people use the strategy of eating cleanly 90% of the time and “cheat” 10% of the time. A cheat meal can be mentally therapeutic, a chance to enjoy something you wouldn’t normally allow yourself to eat.
Spread your cheat meals out and stick to a cheat meal rather than a cheat day. It’s harder to get back on track after a full day of cheating. Plan cheat meals whenever possible so you can eat as clean as possible on days leading up to it. Special occasions like holidays, weddings and parties are a good time to plan a cheat meal.
The Bottom Line?
Don’t feel bad about an occasional splurge. It probably won’t impact your weight unless you fall back into unhealthy eating patterns. You won’t need to turn down a slice of wedding cake at a wedding or pass on pizza, but don’t do it every day.
References:
WebMD News Archive. “High-Calorie Splurging Won’t Ruin Your Diet” (2014)
WebMD. “All Calories Not Created Equal, Study Suggests” (2012)
JAMA. 2012;307(24):2627-2634. doi:10.1001/jama.2012.6607.
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