Fun with math- surprising results

I've always been kind of a math nut, and I was just sitting down to do some
basic calculations about my dieting history. At age 18, I was finished
growing and pretty much had my adult body in place. I weighed 160 lbs.
then. This past year, 16 years later, I was up to 220 lbs. My weight gain
was pretty steady and even the whole way, and an extra 60 lbs. over 16 years
amounts to a gain of 3.75 lbs./year. Not much, huh? I went further, using
the standard figure that gaining or losing 1 lb. amounts to 3500 total
calories in either direction. Multiplying 3.75 by 3500 shows that I overate
by 13,125 calories per year on average. 13,125 divided by 365.25
(accounting for leap year) gives me a daily overage of about 36 calories. I
had to redo it 3 times to convince myself that was right. What I thought
was 16 years of pigging out really amounts to overeating by the amount of a
plain rice cake every day. I know this is all oversimplifying to some
extent, and there are different things to take into account involving how
many daily calories you need based on your current weight, but it has to
make you think. What if I could do it all over and just eat a little less
every day? Just skip that extra helping of mashed potatoes, have a few less
Doritos, get the burger without cheese. Just one thing like that every day
could have kept me at a normal weight, possibly. Is it all really this
simple, or does anyone see any big holes in this theory?

William
210/205/160

If you gained weight slowly over time then yes, you are correct, it is
basically that calculation.

You also have to take into account that your body tends to need less
calories as you get older. One common estimate of this is 1% less for each
year over 25. That accounts for people who tend to put on weight slowly in
middle age even though they are eating about the same amount of food every
day.

For some of us though it isn't that simple. In my case I've been overweight
most of my adult life, so overate a lot more than just a rice cake's worth
of calories per day.

doug

On 9/18/04 10:13 PM, in article
, "WT Brooks"
wrote:

I've always been kind of a math nut, and I was just sitting down to do some
basic calculations about my dieting history. At age 18, I was finished
growing and pretty much had my adult body in place. I weighed 160 lbs.
then. This past year, 16 years later, I was up to 220 lbs. My weight gain
was pretty steady and even the whole way, and an extra 60 lbs. over 16 years
amounts to a gain of 3.75 lbs./year. Not much, huh? I went further, using
the standard figure that gaining or losing 1 lb. amounts to 3500 total
calories in either direction. Multiplying 3.75 by 3500 shows that I overate
by 13,125 calories per year on average. 13,125 divided by 365.25
(accounting for leap year) gives me a daily overage of about 36 calories. I
had to redo it 3 times to convince myself that was right. What I thought
was 16 years of pigging out really amounts to overeating by the amount of a
plain rice cake every day. I know this is all oversimplifying to some
extent, and there are different things to take into account involving how
many daily calories you need based on your current weight, but it has to
make you think. What if I could do it all over and just eat a little less
every day? Just skip that extra helping of mashed potatoes, have a few less
Doritos, get the burger without cheese. Just one thing like that every day
could have kept me at a normal weight, possibly. Is it all really this
simple, or does anyone see any big holes in this theory?

William
210/205/160

If you gained weight slowly over time then yes, you are correct, it is
basically that calculation.

You also have to take into account that your body tends to need less
calories as you get older. One common estimate of this is 1% less for each
year over 25. That accounts for people who tend to put on weight slowly in
middle age even though they are eating about the same amount of food every
day.

For some of us though it isn't that simple. In my case I've been overweight
most of my adult life, so overate a lot more than just a rice cake's worth
of calories per day.

doug

On 9/18/04 10:13 PM, in article
, "WT Brooks"
wrote:

I've always been kind of a math nut, and I was just sitting down to do some
basic calculations about my dieting history. At age 18, I was finished
growing and pretty much had my adult body in place. I weighed 160 lbs.
then. This past year, 16 years later, I was up to 220 lbs. My weight gain
was pretty steady and even the whole way, and an extra 60 lbs. over 16 years
amounts to a gain of 3.75 lbs./year. Not much, huh? I went further, using
the standard figure that gaining or losing 1 lb. amounts to 3500 total
calories in either direction. Multiplying 3.75 by 3500 shows that I overate
by 13,125 calories per year on average. 13,125 divided by 365.25
(accounting for leap year) gives me a daily overage of about 36 calories. I
had to redo it 3 times to convince myself that was right. What I thought
was 16 years of pigging out really amounts to overeating by the amount of a
plain rice cake every day. I know this is all oversimplifying to some
extent, and there are different things to take into account involving how
many daily calories you need based on your current weight, but it has to
make you think. What if I could do it all over and just eat a little less
every day? Just skip that extra helping of mashed potatoes, have a few less
Doritos, get the burger without cheese. Just one thing like that every day
could have kept me at a normal weight, possibly. Is it all really this
simple, or does anyone see any big holes in this theory?

William
210/205/160

If you gained weight slowly over time then yes, you are correct, it is
basically that calculation.

You also have to take into account that your body tends to need less
calories as you get older. One common estimate of this is 1% less for each
year over 25. That accounts for people who tend to put on weight slowly in
middle age even though they are eating about the same amount of food every
day.

For some of us though it isn't that simple. In my case I've been overweight
most of my adult life, so overate a lot more than just a rice cake's worth
of calories per day.

doug

On 9/18/04 10:13 PM, in article
, "WT Brooks"
wrote:

I've always been kind of a math nut, and I was just sitting down to do some
basic calculations about my dieting history. At age 18, I was finished
growing and pretty much had my adult body in place. I weighed 160 lbs.
then. This past year, 16 years later, I was up to 220 lbs. My weight gain
was pretty steady and even the whole way, and an extra 60 lbs. over 16 years
amounts to a gain of 3.75 lbs./year. Not much, huh? I went further, using
the standard figure that gaining or losing 1 lb. amounts to 3500 total
calories in either direction. Multiplying 3.75 by 3500 shows that I overate
by 13,125 calories per year on average. 13,125 divided by 365.25
(accounting for leap year) gives me a daily overage of about 36 calories. I
had to redo it 3 times to convince myself that was right. What I thought
was 16 years of pigging out really amounts to overeating by the amount of a
plain rice cake every day. I know this is all oversimplifying to some
extent, and there are different things to take into account involving how
many daily calories you need based on your current weight, but it has to
make you think. What if I could do it all over and just eat a little less
every day? Just skip that extra helping of mashed potatoes, have a few less
Doritos, get the burger without cheese. Just one thing like that every day
could have kept me at a normal weight, possibly. Is it all really this
simple, or does anyone see any big holes in this theory?

William
210/205/160

WT Brooks wrote:
I've always been kind of a math nut, and I was just sitting down to
do some basic calculations about my dieting history.
[snip]
Multiplying 3.75 by 3500 shows that I overate by 13,125
calories per year on average. 13,125 divided by 365.25 (accounting
for leap year) gives me a daily overage of about 36 calories.
[snip]
Is it all really this simple,
or does anyone see any big holes in this theory?

It's close to that simple. The part you have left out is that your
maintenance level has gone up as you've gotten heavier. So the extra ~40
calories a day are all you have needed to add an additional pound at the
margin, but that really compounds with the extra calories you were eating to
maintain the extra pounds you had already put on.

In other words, if you only eat 40 calories above maintenance for your
starting weight, you will eventually stabilize at a weight slightly above
your starting weight. In order to keep gaining after that, you have to add
still more calories, and so on.

--
carla
http://geekofalltrades.typepad.com/geek

WT Brooks wrote:
I've always been kind of a math nut, and I was just sitting down to
do some basic calculations about my dieting history.
[snip]
Multiplying 3.75 by 3500 shows that I overate by 13,125
calories per year on average. 13,125 divided by 365.25 (accounting
for leap year) gives me a daily overage of about 36 calories.
[snip]
Is it all really this simple,
or does anyone see any big holes in this theory?

It's close to that simple. The part you have left out is that your
maintenance level has gone up as you've gotten heavier. So the extra ~40
calories a day are all you have needed to add an additional pound at the
margin, but that really compounds with the extra calories you were eating to
maintain the extra pounds you had already put on.

In other words, if you only eat 40 calories above maintenance for your
starting weight, you will eventually stabilize at a weight slightly above
your starting weight. In order to keep gaining after that, you have to add
still more calories, and so on.

--
carla
http://geekofalltrades.typepad.com/geek

WT Brooks wrote:
I've always been kind of a math nut, and I was just sitting down to
do some basic calculations about my dieting history.
[snip]
Multiplying 3.75 by 3500 shows that I overate by 13,125
calories per year on average. 13,125 divided by 365.25 (accounting
for leap year) gives me a daily overage of about 36 calories.
[snip]
Is it all really this simple,
or does anyone see any big holes in this theory?

It's close to that simple. The part you have left out is that your
maintenance level has gone up as you've gotten heavier. So the extra ~40
calories a day are all you have needed to add an additional pound at the
margin, but that really compounds with the extra calories you were eating to
maintain the extra pounds you had already put on.

In other words, if you only eat 40 calories above maintenance for your
starting weight, you will eventually stabilize at a weight slightly above
your starting weight. In order to keep gaining after that, you have to add
still more calories, and so on.

--
carla
http://geekofalltrades.typepad.com/geek

"WT Brooks" wrote in message
. ..
13,125 divided by 365.25 (accounting for leap year) gives me a daily
overage of about 36 calories. I
had to redo it 3 times to convince myself that was right. What I thought
was 16 years of pigging out really amounts to overeating by the amount of
a
plain rice cake every day.

This shows how good the homeostatic control is in slim people, since their
body is able to maintain a weight with such a small margin of error... On
the contrary, this also shows that small changes can be enough to offset
small weight gains...
Though the 3,500kcal - 1lbs of fat equation is not very accurate,
especially in the energy - fat direction. The ability to convert excess
energy to fat is very different from one person to the other, or even for a
given person at different times in his life. In over-feeding experiments,
some people have shown very poor ability to do that, like only producing
less than 10 extra pounds from a daily excess of 3,000 kcal sustained for
several months.

"WT Brooks" wrote in message
. ..
13,125 divided by 365.25 (accounting for leap year) gives me a daily
overage of about 36 calories. I
had to redo it 3 times to convince myself that was right. What I thought
was 16 years of pigging out really amounts to overeating by the amount of
a
plain rice cake every day.

This shows how good the homeostatic control is in slim people, since their
body is able to maintain a weight with such a small margin of error... On
the contrary, this also shows that small changes can be enough to offset
small weight gains...
Though the 3,500kcal - 1lbs of fat equation is not very accurate,
especially in the energy - fat direction. The ability to convert excess
energy to fat is very different from one person to the other, or even for a
given person at different times in his life. In over-feeding experiments,
some people have shown very poor ability to do that, like only producing
less than 10 extra pounds from a daily excess of 3,000 kcal sustained for
several months.

"WT Brooks" wrote in message
. ..
13,125 divided by 365.25 (accounting for leap year) gives me a daily
overage of about 36 calories. I
had to redo it 3 times to convince myself that was right. What I thought
was 16 years of pigging out really amounts to overeating by the amount of
a
plain rice cake every day.

This shows how good the homeostatic control is in slim people, since their
body is able to maintain a weight with such a small margin of error... On
the contrary, this also shows that small changes can be enough to offset
small weight gains...
Though the 3,500kcal - 1lbs of fat equation is not very accurate,
especially in the energy - fat direction. The ability to convert excess
energy to fat is very different from one person to the other, or even for a
given person at different times in his life. In over-feeding experiments,
some people have shown very poor ability to do that, like only producing
less than 10 extra pounds from a daily excess of 3,000 kcal sustained for
several months.