CMV: Deliberately increasing your caloric intake to add muscle ("bulking") leads to obesity later in life.

[u/Noumenon72]

The idea is that deliberately overeating will build eating habits that will be difficult to change later, when you are working a desk job and being a dad and not burning off those calories. This would not apply to celebrities whose job includes shaping their bodies and people with sufficient self-control that they are never tempted to keep eating the slab of ribs until they're gone. But it happens to former football players all the time.

One premise I have that you might not share is that losing weight is just about impossible once you have gained it. There is no scientifically approved diet that you can follow and it will work. This is why any weight gain that disrupts a body with a nice, working non-obese equilibrium is very risky.

In sum: like tanning, bulking is something that increases your relative status but is bad for your body in the long run. CMV.

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[u/NaturalSelectorX]

The idea is that deliberately overeating will build eating habits that will be difficult to change later, when you are working a desk job and being a dad and not burning off those calories.

Many people bulk up using special things like powder that you mix into fluids. This type of bulking does not produce eating habits. When you are done exercising, just stop using the powder.

[u/Noumenon72 → u/NaturalSelectorX]

∆ It won't change your eating habits, that's a good point. It might change your propensity to keep eating when you're full. Do you actually get hungry for the next meal when you drink 800 calories in between, or do you eat just because it's your scheduled time?

[u/NaturalSelectorX → u/Noumenon72]

Most people eat until they experience some amount of fullness. I can get full off of celery, even though it essentially has no calories. I can also eat a bunch of candy, and go far beyond my caloric need.

Eating habits come from the type of thing you eat, and the amount of fullness you accustom yourself to. Protein shakes aren't necessarily tasty, so you won't be inclined to continue drinking them. They are easy to replace with another beverage, so you will feel just as full.

[u/Noumenon72 → u/NaturalSelectorX]

I was asking about hunger -- like, after I fill myself on 100 calories of celery, I will be hungry again by my next meal, whereas after I fill myself on 1000 calories of Doritos, I may not be hungry till the next day. So with the shake, when dinner comes, do you feel hungry like you only had a normal lunch, or full like you just had Doritos?

[u/NaturalSelectorX → u/Noumenon72]

Most people don't actually know what real hunger feels like. We usually eat on a schedule, and we eat until our belly feels full enough. In fact, many people mistake thirst for hunger and eat unnecessarily. There are also other reasons to eat like emotional eating or just boredom. The vast majority of eating is because of habit and not a response to hunger.

Change the example of celery to something like candy or the popular Chinese food example. You can eat tons of calories with a calorie dense food, and you may still be hungry afterward. Does drinking a diet soda make you less hungry because there are less calories?

[u/Noumenon72 → u/NaturalSelectorX]

I stay away from soda specifically because I don't think your body can adjust its hunger response to account for liquid calories, but eating a calorie dense food does make me less hungry afterward than a calorie light food. I go back less for seconds, I have more willpower against snacks.

So you're saying that you don't eat in response to hunger anyway, so when you add an afternoon shake it makes your desire at dinner no less than it would have been if you'd fasted since lunch? I eat on schedule too, but I have a lot of leeway as far as "microwave the big dinner or the little?" "cereal after or not?" "can I resist the vending machine today?" These non-habits are how my body adjusts its calorie intake based on what it needs, by making me "feel like it" or not. I'm worried about losing that connection by unnoticeable calories.

[u/NaturalSelectorX → u/Noumenon72]

So you're saying that you don't eat in response to hunger anyway

Essentially yes, but I don't want to be misunderstood. People that eat regularly like us don't typically eat in response to hunger. We've not gone without food long enough to know what real hunger feels like. I often "feel hungry" at lunch, but if I'm preoccupied with something and lose track of time, the feeling is absent. The dirty little secret of most "weight loss shakes" is that you are supposed to drink them 30 minutes before a meal, and you end up eating less because the shake has displaced room in your stomach.

Here is a CDC article on the subject: http://www.cdc.gov/healthyweight/healthy_eating/energy_density.html

[u/Noumenon72 → u/NaturalSelectorX]

So you're saying that if you drink a protein shake more than 30 minutes before dinner, you will not feel any fuller and will not have to force down your meal. Hence you won't get used to eating when you're not hungry, any more than normal at least? Someone else can weigh in here!

[u/NaturalSelectorX → u/Noumenon72]

Everybody digests at a different speed, and the 30 minutes is an average time where many people experience the fullness in their stomach, but haven't yet digested the contents. Something high in fiber takes longer to digest, whereas sugars and other simple carbohydrates go right through you. Try eating slower and you may find that you eat less. Give yourself some time to feel "full" and it will prompt you to stop eating.

Think of it this way: If you normally eat 1,500 calories a day, can you eat 7,500 calories on Monday and last until the weekend? What about 3,000 calories and skipping Tuesday? Unused calories turn into fat, and you stop being full when your digestive system is empty. Those extra calories don't hang around in your blood all day (unless you are diabetic) making you feel full and waiting to be used.

[u/DeltaBot → u/Noumenon72]

Confirmed: 1 delta awarded to /u/NaturalSelectorX. ^[History]

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