I want to know how one pound of potato salad can make me gain 5 pounds...
Feeling guilty but happy
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I want to know how one pound of potato salad can make me gain 5 pounds...
buckytom
Chef Extraordinaire
because when it was weighed, your thumb was on the scale.
A real guilty pleasure is getting a half gallon of half and half to make oyster stew, and only using 1/4 of it in the stew.
A nice pretty cobalt blue cup filled to the brim with half and half. It was sinfully good to a milk lover like me.
Definitely good for the mental health.
A nice pretty cobalt blue cup filled to the brim with half and half. It was sinfully good to a milk lover like me.
Definitely good for the mental health.
bakechef
Executive Chef
Guilt is the #1 thing that will sabotage a diet. Even after 2 years since starting to lose weight, I have feelings of guilt when I eat something bad, or have a piggish weekend. It isn't as bad as it used to be.
Having a "free day" or "cheat day" will not set back your weight loss and will keep you sane. If I have a piggish weekend, I make sure that I follow it with a good 3-5 day of healthy eating and that seems to balance things out. Great thing about that is that I can eat whatever I want as long as I am willing to balance it out. This works for me. I like not having to scan a menu of yummy food for a piece of grilled chicken or a salad, I eat something I enjoy and move on with life, I just can't do it every day!
Having a "free day" or "cheat day" will not set back your weight loss and will keep you sane. If I have a piggish weekend, I make sure that I follow it with a good 3-5 day of healthy eating and that seems to balance things out. Great thing about that is that I can eat whatever I want as long as I am willing to balance it out. This works for me. I like not having to scan a menu of yummy food for a piece of grilled chicken or a salad, I eat something I enjoy and move on with life, I just can't do it every day!
GLC
Head Chef
I like to think of those days as "Mental Health Days."
The first time I scrolled past this post, I read it as "Mental Health Pies."
Works that way, too.
Greg Who Cooks
Executive Chef
A little bit of Internet research indicates that a pound of potato salad has about 517 calories (fitday.com) and that a pound of weight gain is approximately 3,500 calories (myfitnesspal.com, livestrong.com) so eating a pound of potato could cause 517/3500 = 0.14 pounds of weight gain, about 2 ounces in all. However, eat a pound a day for a year and that would be 60 pounds of weight gain!
roadfix
Chef Extraordinaire
A pound of anything I eat will make me heavier by one pound.
Andy M.
Certified Pretend Chef
Yes, but only temporarily.
Greg Who Cooks
Executive Chef
I was surprised that a pound of potato salad was equivalent to putting on only 2 ounces. I thought it would be more, although of course not 5 pounds, not more than it weighs even, but of course PF was just kidding.
I repeated the calculation for ice cream: chocolate, regular, 930 calories (fitday.com), 0.27 lbs, a bit more than a quarter pound.
I got to thinking about what it would take to gain more than a pound from eating a pound. Fat has 9 calories per gram, which is 4,082 calories per pound. You would gain about 1 pound 3 ounces if you ate a pound of fat. (It's debatable if you'd keep it down though.)
Sugar: 3.9 calories per gram, 1,755 calories per pound. You'd gain about half a pound.
100 proof vodka: 3 calories per mL (calories-in-foods.com), 2,250 calories per 750 mL bottle. Weight gain about two-thirds (0.64) of a pound. You could gain that 5 pounds from drinking 7-3/4 bottles (7.78) although of course nobody could do that in a day (unless it was their last day).
Wanna lose it with a postprandial walk? "Your weight and the distance you walk determine the energy calories burned while walking. Walking speed matters less than distance and weight. A rule of thumb is 100 calories per mile for a 180-pound person and 65 for a 120-pound person." (walking.about.com) If a 180-pound person ate a pound of fat (4,082 calories) they'd have to walk 40 miles to work it off. An average human walks at 3 mph, so that would take about 13 hours.
It was fun researching this post and discovering real numbers, and hope you enjoyed reading it. For me it seems to prove the point that one day of excess is not likely to affect your weight much unless you do it often.
I repeated the calculation for ice cream: chocolate, regular, 930 calories (fitday.com), 0.27 lbs, a bit more than a quarter pound.
I got to thinking about what it would take to gain more than a pound from eating a pound. Fat has 9 calories per gram, which is 4,082 calories per pound. You would gain about 1 pound 3 ounces if you ate a pound of fat. (It's debatable if you'd keep it down though.)
Sugar: 3.9 calories per gram, 1,755 calories per pound. You'd gain about half a pound.
100 proof vodka: 3 calories per mL (calories-in-foods.com), 2,250 calories per 750 mL bottle. Weight gain about two-thirds (0.64) of a pound. You could gain that 5 pounds from drinking 7-3/4 bottles (7.78) although of course nobody could do that in a day (unless it was their last day).
Wanna lose it with a postprandial walk? "Your weight and the distance you walk determine the energy calories burned while walking. Walking speed matters less than distance and weight. A rule of thumb is 100 calories per mile for a 180-pound person and 65 for a 120-pound person." (walking.about.com) If a 180-pound person ate a pound of fat (4,082 calories) they'd have to walk 40 miles to work it off. An average human walks at 3 mph, so that would take about 13 hours.
It was fun researching this post and discovering real numbers, and hope you enjoyed reading it. For me it seems to prove the point that one day of excess is not likely to affect your weight much unless you do it often.
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Andy M.
Certified Pretend Chef
Right on, Greg. When I dieted successfully, I tracked my calorie consumption for a week and paid little attention to the daily numbers. That allowed me some flexibility and no guilt. Of course, that means you have to be anal about calculating, recording and tracking every calorie you take in.
Greg Who Cooks
Executive Chef
I think a dietary consumption audit would be a good idea for anybody who is concerned about their physical fitness, along with an assessment of their BMI (body mass index, google it, many BMI calculators online). However I think it would be a mistake to weigh yourself daily and record exact diet beyond a month. (I know you didn't say that. You did mention the AR thing though.)
My point in including the analysis of how long it would take you to walk of a pound of fat was to allude to this concept. Keep in mind that my analysis does not make any distinction of how you gained that pound of fat. If you gained a pound of fat over 20 years of sipping cream in your coffee then it will still take a 40 mile walk to lose that. Or more to the point a half mile walk every day for 80 days.
My opinion is that there is no personal fitness that does not involve both diet and exercise. You will be healthy and fit if you restrict your diet to that which you can work off through physical exercise, and if you can expand your exercise to accommodate all the calories you eat. And finally, to eat a balanced diet because diet is not just calories alone. The one-food examples are amusing but every healthy diet involves eating a broad spectrum of all the food groups, particularly fresh vegetables.
I had better get off my soapbox.
My point in including the analysis of how long it would take you to walk of a pound of fat was to allude to this concept. Keep in mind that my analysis does not make any distinction of how you gained that pound of fat. If you gained a pound of fat over 20 years of sipping cream in your coffee then it will still take a 40 mile walk to lose that. Or more to the point a half mile walk every day for 80 days.
My opinion is that there is no personal fitness that does not involve both diet and exercise. You will be healthy and fit if you restrict your diet to that which you can work off through physical exercise, and if you can expand your exercise to accommodate all the calories you eat. And finally, to eat a balanced diet because diet is not just calories alone. The one-food examples are amusing but every healthy diet involves eating a broad spectrum of all the food groups, particularly fresh vegetables.
I had better get off my soapbox.
A pint's a pound, the world around.
Andy M.
Certified Pretend Chef
No offense to you, gadzooks, but I hate this expression.
Some people who have heard this expression don't go beyond the surface to realize that it only applies to water based liquids.
Just yesterday, my sister called with a recipe dilemma.
She was making a new recipe that called for 5 pounds of flour and she had flour in a much larger quantity and no scale. She relied on that quote and figured 'if two cups (a pint) is a pound then I need 5x2' or 10 cups of flour to make five pounds. Clearly that didn't work. She was able to rescue the recipe by adding more flour until the dough looked right.
Sadly she didn't call me until after the deed was done and was amazed to learn there are about 19 cups of flour in 5 pounds!
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Greg Who Cooks
Executive Chef
Andy maybe you'd prefer the expression "a key is a liter no matter whose meter." Well maybe not. (One liter of water weighs one Kg.) I made it up anyway. (One cc of water occupies 1 mL and weighs one gram.)
You've brought up a good point though, that often weight units are more accurate than volume units. Well maybe your point was that it's good to own a scale.
We should just all adopt the metric system, and then the survivors can argue about whether weight or volume units are better for cooking use. Or have a sister who knows cooking.
I presume sissy does not have Internet. You could google that. (The weight:volume relationship of flour, not whether sissy has da webs.)
You've brought up a good point though, that often weight units are more accurate than volume units. Well maybe your point was that it's good to own a scale.
We should just all adopt the metric system, and then the survivors can argue about whether weight or volume units are better for cooking use. Or have a sister who knows cooking.
I presume sissy does not have Internet. You could google that. (The weight:volume relationship of flour, not whether sissy has da webs.)
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Andy M.
Certified Pretend Chef
"sissy" has the internet but doesn't think to use it. She has me and doesn't think to call me. Not much I can do.
Greg Who Cooks
Executive Chef
Well Andy you're a very accomplished chef if your posts on the forum are any indication, so I don't blame sis for calling Andy instead of googling it. Although she should probably google it if she can't reach you on the phone.
Your sister must be good if she's baking at all, and also good if she can recognize when dough has the right flour ratio, although anybody who has baked probably understands when that has been achieved. I'm not an experienced baker myself but I know I'd trust my judgement on how sticky the dough is over what any recipe calls for. Kudos to sis for knowing that too.
Your sister must be good if she's baking at all, and also good if she can recognize when dough has the right flour ratio, although anybody who has baked probably understands when that has been achieved. I'm not an experienced baker myself but I know I'd trust my judgement on how sticky the dough is over what any recipe calls for. Kudos to sis for knowing that too.
buckytom
Chef Extraordinaire
wow, what a bunch of party animals you guys are.
back on topic: apparently, cautiously living to an old age everyday makes dan a dull boy...
back on topic: apparently, cautiously living to an old age everyday makes dan a dull boy...
Andy M.
Certified Pretend Chef
You misunderstood. I'm not blaming her for calling me. I'm always available for questions, advice etc. The point of the story is how misleading that old bromide can be.
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