No, you cant actually gain weight from one day of overeating

No, you cant actually gain weight from one day of overeatingNo, you cant actually gain weight from one day of overeatingMany people complain that they gain weight around the holidays, but youll be happy to know that you cant really gain weight from a single meal or day of overeating. If youre typically consuming an average of 2,000 calories per day, which is what most mildly activetwenty-somethings should consume dailyto maintain their current weight, you would have to eat3,500 additional caloriesthat day to gain just one pound of fat.To give you a better sense of what 3,500 calories looks like in food form, consider this. Youcould eatyour regular diet plus three glasses of wine (350 calories), two chicken wings (110 calories), some onion rings (340 calories), a portion of chips and queso (290 calories), a loaded burger (860 calories) and a slice of The CheesecakeFactorys OG cheesecake (830 calories) and still have 720 calories to spare before you could potentially gain only one poun d. Thatsa lot of food. Most of us would probably feel sick before wed be able to put down that amount of food in one sitting, even on Thanksgiving.If you do step on the scale following Thanksgiving Day and notice that the number went up, dont freak. The excess weight that you see is likely just water weight. Most high-calorie foods are also high in sodium and one of sodiums jobs is to help your body regulate its fluid balanceby retaining water. So when you eat a lot of sodium in one sitting, your body retains excess water, which causes you to bloat and may temporarilyadd a few extra pounds(even as much as five) to your regular body weight. But this bloating isnt permanent and itll likely go down over the next couple of days, along with that number on the scale.While peopletypically thinkthat they gain an average of five to 10 pounds over the holiday period that runs from Thanksgiving to New Years Day, that is untrue for most folks. A study published in theNew England Journal of Medi cinefound that the average weight that people gain during the winter holidays isjust one pound. And this happens over the course of six weeks, not from one meal or day of overeating. Less than10 percentof the studys participants actually gained more than five pounds between Thanksgiving and New Years Day.So when that turkey dinner roles around, indulge without guilt knowing that itll take more than just one splurge for you to see a difference in your body. And dont let this one indulgence derail you from your pursuit of a healthier lifestyle, either. Just getback on trackthe next day and youll be good to go.Thisarticlewas originally published onSwirled.comin the Thrive section, which covers valuablecareer and personal finance contentfor Millennials.