Unless you’re a competitive eater, you probably don’t have to worry about gaining pounds of fat in a matter of days. But insatiably curious radio listeners still asked about the relationship between eating a pound of high-calorie food, like chocolate, and gaining a pound of weight. And Rhea Seehorn and the Sonic Boom team took on the challenge.
Sonic Boom: Chocolate Pounds Sonic Boom
Sonic Boom: Chocolate Pounds Transcript:
Lloyd
This is Lloyd with Rhea. Today on Sonic Boom: are you really what you eat? Today, we’re answering a letter from Janet from Baltimore. Janet wants to know if eating a pound of chocolate will make you gain a full pound of weight. Rhea here, investigated.
Rhea
Well, according to my experiment, one pound of M&M’s per day for a week for an average human female, ie me, does not result in a pound a day of weight gain. In fact, I’ve only put on two pounds all week.
Lloyd
No kidding?
Rhea
It’s true. I’ve had a rough time sleeping, though, been up watching the infomercials on cable access. Did you know I can take those two pounds off in just a few days with the Abdominator?
Lloyd
Sure, I buy everything they sell on those channels. In fact, the Home Shopping Network assigned me my own personal operator.
Rhea
Whoa, that’s hardcore.
Lloyd
But I’m still not convinced about this chocolate thing. What if I have a really slow metabolism?
Rhea
Don’t worry. I checked all this with Beth Stewart, a dietitian at the University of Arizona. She says, to gain a pound in a day, you’d have to eat 3500 calories more than you needed. And no chocolate has that.
Lloyd
Not even fudge?
Rhea
Nope. Fudge is only 1800 calories a pound. Pound of lard might just about do it. But even then, you’d have to eat that on top of the calories you burned off.
Lloyd
Sounds like your next experiment.
Rhea
Oh, even I have my limits, Lloyd. For Sonic Boom. This is Rhea, and Lloyd, and we’re gone.
Wait, it’s not that simple…
Yeah, the old “3500 calories equals a pound of fat” thing is a rule of thumb, but incomplete. As Rhea said, we’re talking about 3500 calories more than the calories that you burn just to keep you alive and active. Your body can adjust its metabolism to burn more or fewer calories depending on what you eat and many other factors. This peer-reviewed article focuses on weight loss, as opposed to weight gain.
Also, CHOCOLATE!
How can something so bitter and unappetizing on the plant become so irresistibly delicious through the magic of chemistry? Nerd out on chocolate chemistry with this detailed paper published in the journal Molecules, but available free! No paywall!
The magical journey from tree to tongue
And/or watch this video from Noal Farm to follow the journey of a cacao fruit, from the moment that it’s cut from a tree to its transformation as a deliciously sinful morsel.
Or see it here
A nice graphic showing the chemical composition of various kinds of chocolate, from the National Institutes of Health:
Sonic Boom: Chicken Gun