If a calorie is a calorie, why do I gain when eating out?

I keep my calorie deficit at 500-800 no matter what. I drink nothing but water, however, when I eat out, I seem to gain weight. If I want a salad, I'd eat at home. I just don't get it. I had KFC and gained a pound and I was still only at 1300 calories for the day. Any suggestions?

BG

Sodium from the KFC food or other chemicals/preservatives may make you retain more water, therefore increasing your "weight".  Just a guess.

Maybe KFC's #'s are off?

I looked up Popeye's chicken here and nearly had a heartattack at what a thigh, leg and wing added up to be... expecially with a buttermilk biscuit added on there.

Also if this was your last meal of the day then that kind of hurt you too.

Oh, and weigh yourself once a week.. not daily.   People have fluctuations in weight all week long... and a more spaced out measurement will give you a better sense of real weight loss versus gain.

Yeah, I thought the #'s may be off too, then I got a calorie chart from KFC and it matches what CC says. I'm just getting so frustrated. I loose a pound and gain two. Thanks for the advice.

BG

Salt -- totally!

I wanted to know the same thing!  Everytime I eat something even if I keep the calorie count by the end of the day low I still gain if it's junk.  Even ice cream does this to me.  Is it because I eat it usually at night?  I thought it didn't make a difference at what time you eat

My body will become acustomed to my dieting plan.  If I hit a spot where I'm not budigng the scale (in my favor) I change things up a bit.  I change the foods I eat, and the time I eat and that will move me off the dead zone.  I too will gain by eating out.  The others are dead on -- the sodium and the chemicals in the food we eat out is super sizing us.  If I prepare the foods at home than I can control the sodium in what I'm eating.  Lots and lots of water to flush my system and very low sodium and a good source of potassium helps me.

A calorie isn't a calorie! You will still have to watch what it is, for example a big mac is 580 calories add fry's and it is about 800 calories, a chicken breast sweet potatoes and veggies with some sweet tea is 500 calories. which one do you think is better? Those calories charts the fast food places provide doesn't include the cooking of the food, which is on oil.

Okay, bodyscience, then if the only thing I ate all day was the big mac and fries that would be 1350 calories. How do you gain weight just eating 1350 calories in a day? Especially since I drink nothing but water. I drink at least two liters per day and exercise at least 30 minutes a day. It just doesn't make sense.

BG

Your body weight goes up and down all day long. For some time after eating the food is literally still there in your stomach and intestines. It weighs something. Also, salty foods might make you retain excess water for a while. Certainly drinking 64 oz of water/tea will make you weigh 64 oz more until the water is digested and expelled. It evens out.

Even ice cream has tons of sodium! Read the labels.

I will gain a pound overnight if i have anymore than 2000 mg of sodium. I bet that one KFC meal had that amount.

KFC sodium count:

- Biscuit 580 mg

- mashed potatoes 480 mg

- drumstick 440 mg

- thigh over 1000 mg

Add that up, it's a whopping 2500 mg.

Because it still has a ton of fat in it. Thats why I said a calorie isn't a calorie it depends on the source

I'm glad someone pointed this out.  I had no idea ice cream of all things had sodium jeez.  That's probably true about the sodium because when I cook at home I never gain.

Do perservitives cause this too?  I was going to make a topic about how I didn't understand how I could a frozen dinner which is usually healthy choice which never goes past probably 360 calories each and I gain from that but when I cook and it's around that range or sometimes more, I don't gain.  Could it be sodium also or the chemicals too?

Yes, frozen dinners are notoriously high in sodium. Here's a great article that I just happened to stumble on earlier today:

http://www.webmd.com/diet/guide/beware-of-the -salt-shockers

I followed it from this article, about a new study about the dangers of a high-sodium diet (it's not just about water retention):

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,267348,00.html

If you ate the same amount of calories, the gain cannot be fat, it has to be water.  You simply don't gain a lb over night if the math is correct.  A calorie is a calorie in my opinion, what you eat does make a difference in how you feel though.  Quite frankly, I believe it's easier to lose weight if you feel better.

In short, you havn't set yourself back because the day after you ate a high sodium dinner, you weigh more.  Keep drinking a lot of water for the next 3 days, it'll come off.

So Nocturne, I can a big macs everyday and lose weight because I don't go over my calories?

Yes, I even know people who do that.  Calories in, Calories out.  You will feel like crap though.

That being said, do I believe it's a good idea?
No.
Would I recommend it?
No.

Welcome to the world of lable reading.  I had no idea about food's sodium content either until my mother had open heart surgery & for years now has had to watch to salt intake.  I was always first to say "I don't eat salt" because I don't salt anything.  I didn't care for salt as a child and as and adult I still don't.  But when I started reading & watching for my mother (my mother is blind so I've been her eyes my entire life) and her sodium intake, that's when I realized is I didn't need to salt anything because the sodium that is already there is thru the roof.  If I do salt anything I usually use sea salt.  It's the best.

That is different. So a diet high in saturated fat and  high glycemic carbs I can loss weight! That is ridiculous! The saturated fat will eventually clog your arteries, slow your metabolism and the fat will go up on your body. Your body can not process fat calories as fast as it can process protiens and carbs, hence the metabolism prob.. Fat is the last thing your body wants to use as energy, that is why you will fell bad, but to say a calorie is a calorie is seriously wrong.

But everybody is entitled to eat what they want and believe what they want. The other thing is if you are going to eat fast food how are you going to stay below your calorie intake, you will consume most of them in one meal$, what does the person eat for the rest of the day?

I think you'd have to continue eating the same fast food meal at the same calories everyday for 25 years for your metabolism to be effected, you couldn't prove that it wouldn't have naturally occured either.


Exactly, I agree, a diet of only one fast food item is going to cause failure.  That doesn't mean someone can't lose weight in that manner though.  I absolutely support eating a healthy, well-balanced, diet.  I say it's possible, and people do it.  They feel like crap and fail, eventually realizing that isn't the way to go, or giving up. 

you were probably bloated from all the sodium they put into thing when you eat out. If you drink lots of water, you go back to normal usually.