Weight Gain
I have long been an admirer of Winston Churchill, aside from being a prolific author and a great leader of Britain..that man also had impeccable taste in hats and looked rather fetching in them too. But one thing that people always tend to remember him for is his inspirational speeches and philosophical quotes. For instance
"A pessimist sees the difficulty in every opportunity; an optimist sees the opportunity in every difficulty."
(Winston Churchill)
Profound and sure to be remembered my man Winston had a way with words. Now I hold my hands up and say I am not a patch on Winston, however I like to think someday, somewhere, someone may quote me if I was to say something really intelligent and thought provoking. So here goes, I will do Gillian proud, time to shine..
"When trying to gain weight, your calorie consumption should be like your accessorising of jewellery when auditioning for a part in the A-Team as Mr T...more is better"
(Ross Edgley a.k.a. Me)
Not bad eh? Now allow me to explain:
Put in its very simplest form; if you are underweight and wish to increase your weight you must be eating more calories (energy) than you are expending. I.e. Energy in (calories in) must be greater than energy out (calories out.) Below are examples and explanations of how the body puts 'Energy In' and puts 'Energy Out:'
Energy in: This refers to any food or drink which contains calories/energy.
Energy Out: This refers to ways in which energy is expended in the body, this occurs in 3 ways:
(1) Through the movement of your body. Any movement produced by your body requires energy, a general rule of thumb is the more muscle fibres used to move the more calories you will be using or 'burning'. E.g. Running on a treadmill burns more calories than cycling on a gym bike since the gym bike only requires the leg muscles to move, whereas running requires muscles throughout the entire body to work.
(2) Through the digesting of your food. Few people know the actual eating and digestion of food will result in 'energy out' i.e. you expending energy and burning calories when eating.
(3) Through simply keeping alive. Your body burns calories even when you are doing nothing, this is known as your Basal Metabolic rate, and is the number of calories you expend merely keeping the body functioning at rest.
Lastly just before I finish and go and think up some more profound quotes, I took the liberty of writing down the more complex way of explaining the science of gaining weight for those of you who wish to know the technical side of things. Just because:
- You never know when such knowledge may be needed.. to impress friends at a dinner party or even to woo that special someone with your vast intellect
- In my opinion fully empowering yourself with knowledge is key to creating a healthier you
- There's nothing good on TV tonight so thought I would ramble on a little more
Consuming more calories than you expend is known as 'Energy Surplus.' This can be explained through the equation below:
Energy Surplus = Energy taken in (Food + Drink) > (is greater than) Energy expended (exercise, metabolism, thermic effect of feeding)
Right that's the art of 'Weight Gain'.. If you're reading this then it means you've sat through all my ramblings and for that I thank you..if you've enjoyed it then my names Ross Edgley and I will be writing for you again soon. if you think its pretty bad and haven't enjoyed it at all then my name is Hughbert Valdervand, haha.
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For more information on gaining weight, please visit the weight gain page in the weight section
