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I ate 40 teaspoons of sugar a day. This is what happened (2015)

telegraph.co.uk

11–20 of 43 posts

Re: I ate 40 teaspoons of sugar a day. This is what happened (2015)

#11
post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

He ate 40 teaspoons which is 160 grams of sugar. Also, perhaps the fact that he went from very little sugar to 160 grams a day caused rapid weight gain. I know for instance that your body changes over time to burn fat more efficiently if you are on a lower carb diet, perhaps the reverse is true as well.

Weight gain is impossible without the necessary amount of calories. It is the simple law of conservation of mass/energy. 160 calories * 21 days = 3360 calories. This is enough to gain about 1 pound of weight, not 19.

probably spiked his blood sugar causing him to eat more food in general. pretty poor article missing a million confounding variables

Re: I ate 40 teaspoons of sugar a day. This is what happened (2015)

#12

Ignoring confounding variables, and a sample size of one caused me to discount this "study". While I'm sure sugar consumption is an issue, this escapade seems like more of a capitalist venture than anything else.

Nobody said it was a study... But if you want to see what effect 40 teaspoons of sugar a day have on yourself then you don't care about anybody else. It's like beeing in a plane that crashes: you don't care that a proper study says that you only have a chance of 1 in 10 milion to die when you are already in a plane that crashes.

Re: I ate 40 teaspoons of sugar a day. This is what happened (2015)

#13
post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

He ate 40 teaspoons which is 160 grams of sugar. Also, perhaps the fact that he went from very little sugar to 160 grams a day caused rapid weight gain. I know for instance that your body changes over time to burn fat more efficiently if you are on a lower carb diet, perhaps the reverse is true as well.

Weight gain is impossible without the necessary amount of calories. It is the simple law of conservation of mass/energy. 160 calories * 21 days = 3360 calories. This is enough to gain about 1 pound of weight, not 19.

1 teaspoon is 16 calories, so you're off by a factor of 4 here though you're still in the same ballpark.

Re: I ate 40 teaspoons of sugar a day. This is what happened (2015)

#14
post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

He ate 40 teaspoons which is 160 grams of sugar. Also, perhaps the fact that he went from very little sugar to 160 grams a day caused rapid weight gain. I know for instance that your body changes over time to burn fat more efficiently if you are on a lower carb diet, perhaps the reverse is true as well.

Weight gain is impossible without the necessary amount of calories. It is the simple law of conservation of mass/energy. 160 calories * 21 days = 3360 calories. This is enough to gain about 1 pound of weight, not 19.

Its 160 grams of sugar which equals 619 calories which leads to 12999 calories in 21 days. Still less than 4 pounds though.

However, you're really oversimplifying weight gain. Hormones play an important role in how much fat is stored and how much your metabolism burns. And the type of food you eat can affect your hormones.

Re: I ate 40 teaspoons of sugar a day. This is what happened (2015)

#15
post #9
post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What else did he eat? Sugar will raise your insulin level, which directs more blood sugar to fat cells. So it's not just a case of calories in calories out.

It is a matter of calories in calories out. He didn't just increase his concentration of fat, he straight up gained 8.5 kilograms of mass.

The main part of the kind of body mass you can gain is water.

Re: I ate 40 teaspoons of sugar a day. This is what happened (2015)

#16
post #4

The math does not add up. 40 grams of sugar does not have enough calories for you to gain 3 kilograms in 12 days, or 8.5 kilograms in 21 days. Moreover, if he ate as much as the average American eats, how is it that the average American has not experienced what he has? The guy almost gained 1 pound a day.

Was under the impression he ate food with sugar, hidden sugar as he call it. Plus, he went from no sugar to 40g so it's not not comparable to the avg person

Re: I ate 40 teaspoons of sugar a day. This is what happened (2015)

#17
"That Sugar Film" is interesting, and worth a watch. The stuff about dental health in poor parts of America is gruesome.

He's pushing his agenda pretty hard. It's good that it's an obvious bias, but it makes the film a bit exhausting to watch. The "sugar is pure evil" line is relentlessly pushed through the film. That's a shame, because he has some really good points, especially around foods perceived as healthy.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/That_Sugar_Film

Re: I ate 40 teaspoons of sugar a day. This is what happened (2015)

#18
post #4

The math does not add up. 40 grams of sugar does not have enough calories for you to gain 3 kilograms in 12 days, or 8.5 kilograms in 21 days. Moreover, if he ate as much as the average American eats, how is it that the average American has not experienced what he has? The guy almost gained 1 pound a day.

He completely changed his diet from cooked from scratch to "foods perceived as healthy but which contain hidden sugar". He claims he controlled for fat intake.

It's likely that taking on that much sugar all of a sudden would require him to increase his fluid intake, and so some of the weight may be water.

Re: I ate 40 teaspoons of sugar a day. This is what happened (2015)

#19
post #9
post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What else did he eat? Sugar will raise your insulin level, which directs more blood sugar to fat cells. So it's not just a case of calories in calories out.

It is a matter of calories in calories out. He didn't just increase his concentration of fat, he straight up gained 8.5 kilograms of mass.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Insulin

> promoting the absorption of, especially, glucose from the blood into fat, liver and skeletal muscle cells

> in the tissues that can carry out these reactions, glycogen and fat synthesis from glucose are stimulated

> The breakdown of triglycerides by adipose tissue into free fatty acids and glycerol is also inhibited

> Increased lipid synthesis – insulin forces fat cells to take in blood glucose, which is converted into triglycerides (aka fat)

> Increased esterification of fatty acids – forces adipose tissue to make neutral fats (i.e., triglycerides) from fatty acids

> Decreased lipolysis – forces reduction in conversion of fat cell lipid stores into blood fatty acids and glycerol

Kcals in kcals out fails practically every overweight person over 30 I know. But they won't hear about biochemistry. Poor folks aren't even eating that much, but what they do eat sufficiently inhibits liberation of the many-months-worths of energy stores they carry around all day. Don't envy them, full of energy yet out of energy!

Re: I ate 40 teaspoons of sugar a day. This is what happened (2015)

#20
post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Weight gain is impossible without the necessary amount of calories. It is the simple law of conservation of mass/energy. 160 calories * 21 days = 3360 calories. This is enough to gain about 1 pound of weight, not 19.

Its 160 grams of sugar which equals 619 calories which leads to 12999 calories in 21 days. Still less than 4 pounds though. However, you're really oversimplifying weight gain. Hormones play an important role in how much fat is stored and how much your metabolism burns. And the type of food you eat can affect your hormones.

Hormones, food, stress, mood, sleep, exercise, medications etc all affect your metabolism and how fat is stored.
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