Paleo Diet and Paleolithic Diet Questions & Answers

Question

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Does anyone know how long it takes for any extra calories to move from your stomach to adipose tissue?

That is, how long after a meal can you be reasonably sure that it won't have any more of an affect on your visible body composition?

edited Aug 1 2010 at 23:42

Ed♦
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asked Aug 1 2010 at 17:02

MM
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Wow- who cares! That is really micro-managing. LOL – henny Aug 1 2010 at 17:36

i'm not sure they are asking so they can micromanage, it's kinda an interesting question from a scientific perspective... although the way they word the question my short answer would be you can't be 'reasonably sure' as one meal doesn't affect visible body comp its a change over time/many meals. i like pfw's answer. – MikeD Aug 1 2010 at 20:04

Come on, don't tell me you haven't wondered, AnnaA. – MM Aug 1 2010 at 20:30

pfw · Answer 1 · 2010-08-01 19:58:58Z UTC

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One meal will have zero effect on your visible body composition. It's probably mechanically impossible to eat/digest enough food to generate enough fat gain to visibly change your body composition in a period which one might consider a single meal; any reasonably eatable meal would not visibly impact you at all.

Visible body composition changes happen over time and in response to continued, sustained dietary/environmental stimuli. One day isn't even a blip. Think of it like a moving average and it's probably closer to the truth than "one meal == this much belly fat" model.

answered Aug 1 2010 at 19:58

pfw
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I've downed 8000 calorie meals , I can tell you 2 lbs sits visibly ...but unless you do it often, your body says "I'm full" and it comes right off – Stephen-Aegis Aug 3 2010 at 3:02

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I'm 6'3" and weigh 165 soaking wet. It took 25lbs in two months to create a moderate softening of my abs. I'm not sure how skinny you have to be to notice 2 extra pounds the next day, but I know I didn't notice any visible body comp changes until I had hit 10-15, and I was comparing with pics.. so yeah, not sure what to say here. My personal experience is that even eating heroic amounts of food in "one meal" cannot possibly affect "visible" body composition, at least in reasonably average people. I'm way skinnier than average and it didn't show on me. – pfw Aug 3 2010 at 3:18

What you eat eat can make you gain weight on the scale really fast, like several pounds over night, or more if you are heavier. Carbs are a classic case. Eat a carby meal and you will gain multiple pounds on the scale the next day. But most of that weight is water retention and perhaps glycogen as well. It shows on the scale but is not actually going to bouncing on your thighs or anything. – Eva Aug 3 2010 at 3:57

Chris · Answer 2 · 2010-08-01 17:52:16Z UTC

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Interesting question.

Talking with one or two of my close friends who are paleo would suggest that the 'damage' from consuming a lot of beer can show up 2 or 3 days later.

answered Aug 1 2010 at 17:52

Chris
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when you are gluten intolerant the damage from wheat/barley based beer is evident very immediately in a bloated stomach, but that's not a shift in andipose its just gas. :) – MikeD Aug 1 2010 at 20:06

Eva · Answer 3 · 2010-08-02 00:18:37Z UTC

That's going to depend on rate of digestion. As long as there is food in your stomach and intestines, then calories are being processed and moved into your blood stream. How fast they get processed also depends on how fast your body can digest them. Glucose digests quickly, even being absorbed via saliva. Usually protein and fat take longer but there are both slow and fast proteins. Many body builders like to use fast digesting proteins like whey to speed the protein to the body quickly. Overall, I'd say whole foods meals with mixed protein, fat and some carbs will probably take about 5 or 6 hours to digest. But results will vary from one individual to the next.

If you are overweight and trying to lose and are eating less calories than you are burning (and of course your body has not slowed down its burn rate and made you tired because you are on paleo), then probably most if not all of the time, the calories you are currently eating are not being stored in fat at all. THey are being burned.

However, if you are maintaining stable weight, then a majority of time during the day, you are probably actually storing some amount of fat in your fat cells. Because sleep is a time of fasting and so there will need to be extra calories stored in the day in order to feed your body in the middle of the night when all those stored calories will then be taken out of their storage bank and used. -Eva

Alan · Answer 4 · 2010-08-03 02:24:18Z UTC

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There is a constant movement in and out of adipose tissue.

Do a search on Loren Cordain's site. http://www.thepaleodiet.com/index.shtml He has some great research on this subject. Also see: http://ajpendo.physiology.org/cgi/content/abstract/266/3/E308

The main thing to worry about tho is that the main movement is out and not in.

answered Aug 3 2010 at 2:24

Alan
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	Or as Dr. Harris puts it, insulin is a doorman at the fat cell nightclub, not a lock on the door: paleonu.com/panu-weblog/2010/3/15/… – Paul Aug 3 2010 at 2:39
	Alan, I would agree with you only if the person needs to lose weight. If weight is already good, then you want a balance between in and out. – Eva Nov 10 2010 at 0:51

From Stomach to Fat

4 Answers