# The "I eat 3000 calories daily and do or do not lose weight" experiment \[IS OFF\]. **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [March 9, 2011, 10:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-i-eat-3000-calories-daily-and-do-or-do-not-lose-weight-experiment-is-off/574098 "2011-03-09T22:44:12Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![MsWhatsit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/eb8c5e/32.png) [@MsWhatsit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MsWhatsit)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2011, 10:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-i-eat-3000-calories-daily-and-do-or-do-not-lose-weight-experiment-is-off/574098/1 "2011-03-09T22:44:12Z")
OK, I will readily and fully admit that this is probably really stupid, but I don’t care, I’ve done stupider things for worse reasons. Pursuant to [this thread](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=597317&page=9), a challenge has been issued: Is someone willing to go on a 10-day diet consisting of 3,000 calories per day but no more than 20g of carbohydrate (i.e., mostly fat and protein) in order to see if they in fact will gain weight in those 10 days? I have stepped up to that challenge. I will start tomorrow. This has been very badly planned and therefore I expect my diet to consist primarily of a lot of eggs, cottage cheese, milk, maybe some olive oil, and bacon. Lots and lots of delicious bacon. I will track daily progress in this thread. Under no circumstances am I doing this for longer than 10 days, so don’t even think about asking. ---
**Author:** ![pohjonen](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pohjonen/32/423_2.png) [@pohjonen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pohjonen)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2011, 10:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-i-eat-3000-calories-daily-and-do-or-do-not-lose-weight-experiment-is-off/574098/2 "2011-03-09T22:53:54Z")
Good for you! I eagerly await your results. And no cheating! At least 3000 calories a day - not really that hard. Lots of bacon for breakfast - fry your eggs in the grease! Macadamia nuts, avocado, fatty lunch meats for lunch! A 12-ounce T-bone (1000 calories right there!) and a salad with lots of high fat dressing! Heavy whipping cream in your coffee! Pepperoni snacks! May you pack on the pounds (if you can)! ---
**Author:** ![Athena](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/35a633/32.png) [@Athena](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Athena)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2011, 11:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-i-eat-3000-calories-daily-and-do-or-do-not-lose-weight-experiment-is-off/574098/3 "2011-03-09T23:10:32Z")
> [@pohjonen](#): > > Good for you! I eagerly await your results. And no cheating! At least 3000 calories a day - not really that hard. Lots of bacon for breakfast - fry your eggs in the grease! Macadamia nuts, avocado, fatty lunch meats for lunch! A 12-ounce T-bone (1000 calories right there!) and a salad with lots of high fat dressing! Heavy whipping cream in your coffee! Pepperoni snacks! May you pack on the pounds (if you can)! Good Lord. I don’t know about \*\*pohjonen \*\*or **MsWhatsit** , but doing this is a LOT harder than you might think. 20g of carbs (80 calories) to balance out the remaining 2,920 calories of protein and fat is going to be sickening. And that’s coming from someone who absolutely loves her bacon and cheese and eggs. There ain’t gonna be many salads with high fat dressing, I can tell you that. Not unless salad = nothing but lettuce, and you don’t eat any other carbs all day. ---
**Author:** ![Baal\_Houtham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/baal_houtham/32/13604_2.png) [@Baal\_Houtham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baal_Houtham)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2011, 11:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-i-eat-3000-calories-daily-and-do-or-do-not-lose-weight-experiment-is-off/574098/4 "2011-03-09T23:15:55Z")
Good luck, and yep it does sound goofy. I’ll wager a donut (heh) that you won’t be able to keep that calorie/carb combination for ten days. One food you might look into is pork rinds. It eats like junk carbs, but is mostly indigestible protein. The microwave kind is best. ---
**Author:** ![Amasia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ba9def/32.png) [@Amasia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Amasia)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2011, 11:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-i-eat-3000-calories-daily-and-do-or-do-not-lose-weight-experiment-is-off/574098/5 "2011-03-09T23:15:57Z")
> [@MsWhatsit](#): > > OK, I will readily and fully admit that this is probably really stupid, but I don’t care, I’ve done stupider things for worse reasons. > > Pursuant to [this thread](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=597317&page=9), a challenge has been issued: Is someone willing to go on a 10-day diet consisting of 3,000 calories per day but no more than 20g of carbohydrate (i.e., mostly fat and protein) in order to see if they in fact will gain weight in those 10 days? > > I have stepped up to that challenge. I will start tomorrow. This has been very badly planned and therefore I expect my diet to consist primarily of a lot of eggs, cottage cheese, milk, maybe some olive oil, and bacon. Lots and lots of delicious bacon. I will track daily progress in this thread. Under no circumstances am I doing this for longer than 10 days, so don’t even think about asking. All I can say is: gross. More seriously though, do you really think that anyone in that thread is advocating that you could possibly lose weight doing that? Please, reconsider before you put your body through that! Based on my experience, reaching 1200 calories a day is tough on a high fat diet. 3000… I can’t imagine. ---
**Author:** ![TravisFromOR](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/cc9497/32.png) [@TravisFromOR](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TravisFromOR)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2011, 11:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-i-eat-3000-calories-daily-and-do-or-do-not-lose-weight-experiment-is-off/574098/6 "2011-03-09T23:17:28Z")
> [@pohjonen](#): > > And no cheating! At least 3000 calories a day - not really that hard. Lots of bacon for breakfast - fry your eggs in the grease! ! Chop and fry a package of bacon. Do not drain the grease. Add a half dozen beaten eggs, cook until almost done. Add half a pound shredded cheese, cook until cheese is melted. Enjoy! (I used to do this all the time in college. All my roommates would do was shake their heads.) ---
**Author:** ![Onomatopoeia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/onomatopoeia/32/4145_2.png) [@Onomatopoeia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Onomatopoeia)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2011, 11:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-i-eat-3000-calories-daily-and-do-or-do-not-lose-weight-experiment-is-off/574098/7 "2011-03-09T23:27:33Z")
Ah. I get it now. You _want_ to gain weight. Okay. If it’s an experiment, I don’t see that’s it’s much of one. Ingest more calories than you burn, profi…I mean weight gain! The larger question is can you keep up a diet of 3000 calories a day for ten days consisting of only 3% carbs. I think that’d be tougher than it seems. ETA: I see **Athena** in post #3 and I are somewhat in sync here. ---
**Author:** ![pohjonen](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pohjonen/32/423_2.png) [@pohjonen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pohjonen)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2011, 11:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-i-eat-3000-calories-daily-and-do-or-do-not-lose-weight-experiment-is-off/574098/8 "2011-03-09T23:30:36Z")
> [@Amasia](#): > > Based on my experience, reaching 1200 calories a day is tough on a high fat diet. 3000… I can’t imagine. Oh piffle. There’s a thousand in a decent size steak. ---
**Author:** ![pohjonen](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pohjonen/32/423_2.png) [@pohjonen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pohjonen)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2011, 11:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-i-eat-3000-calories-daily-and-do-or-do-not-lose-weight-experiment-is-off/574098/9 "2011-03-09T23:32:13Z")
> [@Onomatopoeia](#): > > Ah. I get it now. You _want_ to gain weight. Okay. Trying to gain weight isn’t the point of the experiment. The point is to see if she DOES. I’m betting she won’t. ---
**Author:** ![Amasia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ba9def/32.png) [@Amasia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Amasia)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2011, 11:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-i-eat-3000-calories-daily-and-do-or-do-not-lose-weight-experiment-is-off/574098/10 "2011-03-09T23:35:08Z")
> [@pohjonen](#): > > Oh piffle. There’s a thousand in a decent size steak. I’m not sure what kind of steak you’re eating, but even a 12 oz steak only has about 150 calories from fat and 500 more from protein. Although I do love steak…yummmm… ---
**Author:** ![Larry\_Borgia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/larry_borgia/32/156_2.png) [@Larry\_Borgia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Larry_Borgia)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2011, 11:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-i-eat-3000-calories-daily-and-do-or-do-not-lose-weight-experiment-is-off/574098/11 "2011-03-09T23:41:05Z")
You’re torturing yourself and risking your health for ten days just to prove someone on the internet is wrong? I mean, I’ve seen that xkcd comic too, but isn’t this a little extreme? ---
**Author:** ![pohjonen](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pohjonen/32/423_2.png) [@pohjonen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pohjonen)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2011, 11:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-i-eat-3000-calories-daily-and-do-or-do-not-lose-weight-experiment-is-off/574098/12 "2011-03-09T23:45:34Z")
> [@Amasia](#): > > I’m not sure what kind of steak you’re eating, but even a 12 oz steak only has about 150 calories from fat and 500 more from protein. Although I do love steak…yummmm… [http://www.nutrientfacts.com/foodpages/calories/calories\_t-bone\_steak.htm](http://www.nutrientfacts.com/foodpages/calories/calories_t-bone_steak.htm) Meat and Fat Broiled 3-oz. 260 calories ---
**Author:** ![Amasia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ba9def/32.png) [@Amasia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Amasia)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2011, 11:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-i-eat-3000-calories-daily-and-do-or-do-not-lose-weight-experiment-is-off/574098/13 "2011-03-09T23:49:31Z")
> [@pohjonen](#): > > [http://www.nutrientfacts.com/foodpages/calories/calories\_t-bone\_steak.htm](http://www.nutrientfacts.com/foodpages/calories/calories_t-bone_steak.htm) > Meat and Fat Broiled 3-oz. 260 calories Do you actually eat the fat on a steak? I hate the texture so I always remove it or just get flank steak… I guess I assumed no one eats that stuff but I obviously stand corrected if it’s nutrition facts for it. ---
**Author:** ![MsWhatsit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/eb8c5e/32.png) [@MsWhatsit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MsWhatsit)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2011, 11:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-i-eat-3000-calories-daily-and-do-or-do-not-lose-weight-experiment-is-off/574098/14 "2011-03-09T23:50:01Z")
“Risking my health”? I’m overeating for a week and a half. If I start having heart palpitations or feeling dizzy, I’ll quit, I promise. Here is my hypothesis: I will gain weight. And will probably have trouble consuming 3,000 calories per day. Although frankly, even if I don’t make it to 3k calories, I should still lose weight according to the theory that calories are irrelevant and only carbohydrates matter. So even a “modest” 2000-2500 calorie intake should show weight loss. But I will shoot for 3,000. One single episode of vomiting and this entire experiment is over immediately, though. Even I have my limits. ---
**Author:** ![ENugent](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/4af34b/32.png) [@ENugent](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ENugent)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2011, 11:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-i-eat-3000-calories-daily-and-do-or-do-not-lose-weight-experiment-is-off/574098/15 "2011-03-09T23:52:45Z")
MsWhatsit, don’t you have diabetes? If I’m remembering that right, please, promise me that you’ll monitor the shit out of your blood sugar while you’re doing this. A low-carb diet shouldn’t hurt you, but taking your standard dose of insulin while doing it might. ---
**Author:** ![Amasia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ba9def/32.png) [@Amasia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Amasia)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2011, 11:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-i-eat-3000-calories-daily-and-do-or-do-not-lose-weight-experiment-is-off/574098/16 "2011-03-09T23:52:45Z")
> [@MsWhatsit](#): > > “Risking my health”? I’m overeating for a week and a half. If I start having heart palpitations or feeling dizzy, I’ll quit, I promise. > > Here is my hypothesis: I will gain weight. And will probably have trouble consuming 3,000 calories per day. Although frankly, even if I don’t make it to 3k calories, I should still lose weight according to the theory that calories are irrelevant and only carbohydrates matter. So even a “modest” 2000-2500 calorie intake should show weight loss. But I will shoot for 3,000. > > One single episode of vomiting and this entire experiment is over immediately, though. Even I have my limits. I just want to state, for the record, I have read both Taubes books and I completely disagree that his point is that calories are irrelevant. Just curious… will you keep a food log? ---
**Author:** ![LilyoftheField](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/13edae/32.png) [@LilyoftheField](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LilyoftheField)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2011, 11:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-i-eat-3000-calories-daily-and-do-or-do-not-lose-weight-experiment-is-off/574098/17 "2011-03-09T23:55:14Z")
Keep in mind - milk has lactose which = sugar which = carbs. Drinking only a couple of glasses a day will hit your carb restriction just by itself. Heavy cream is lower in carbs, but most people wouldn’t want to drink cream straight… I think this is going to be mission impossible also, or at least mission improbable. Consuming that many calories in just fat and protein will mean that you will have to eat - a lot! - when you are not even a little bit hungry. That’s going to be very difficult and sounds like something guaranteed to make you feel quite ill. I think the primary reason why it is said that low carb means ‘eat as many calories as you want and not gain weight!’ is that high fat/protein diets mean high satiety also. You can eat as much as you want because you won’t want that much. Unlike carbs, especially simple carbs, which seem to have the ‘chinese food effect’ - an hour after eating, you’re hungry again! I guess - go for the calorie dense, high fat stuff - at least you’ll hit that calorie mark sooner… ---
**Author:** ![Rick](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/9f8e36/32.png) [@Rick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rick)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2011, 11:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-i-eat-3000-calories-daily-and-do-or-do-not-lose-weight-experiment-is-off/574098/18 "2011-03-09T23:57:26Z")
3ooo calories and 20 grams or less of carbs isn’t real easy. Playing with a nutrition calculator on my iPhone it looks like 8 slices of thick sliced bacon 4 eggs 1.5 cups of cheddar cheese 16 oz of 30% fat ground beef 2 cups of broccoli comes out to 3,035 calories and 20.1 grams of carbs My prediction is you are not going to be very hungry by the third day. All of that protein is going to take a long time before you are hungry again. ---
**Author:** ![pohjonen](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pohjonen/32/423_2.png) [@pohjonen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pohjonen)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2011, 11:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-i-eat-3000-calories-daily-and-do-or-do-not-lose-weight-experiment-is-off/574098/19 "2011-03-09T23:57:29Z")
You won’t vomit, I promise - unless of course you try to eat all your calories in one sitting! You may get a headache. I usually do when I first start. You might want to get some no carb fibre - although constipation was never a problem for me. All that grease makes stuff go through me like Sherman through Atlanta. And for the record, I don’t think you’re risking your health. Three months on this diet and my cholesterol and triglycerides sink like a lead weight. Thanks for taking one for the science team! ---
**Author:** ![MsWhatsit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/eb8c5e/32.png) [@MsWhatsit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MsWhatsit)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2011, 11:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-i-eat-3000-calories-daily-and-do-or-do-not-lose-weight-experiment-is-off/574098/20 "2011-03-09T23:57:47Z")
> [@ENugent](#): > > MsWhatsit, don’t you have diabetes? If I’m remembering that right, please, promise me that you’ll monitor the shit out of your blood sugar while you’re doing this. A low-carb diet shouldn’t hurt you, but taking your standard dose of insulin while doing it might. I’m diet/exercise controlled, so if anything this should improve my blood sugar. However: > [@Amasia](#): > > I just want to state, for the record, I have read both Taubes books and I completely disagree that his point is that calories are irrelevant. > > Just curious… will you keep a food log? Now, wait a minute here. I’ve had one private message and now this message informing me that this whole “calories are irrelevant” thing is completely not what Taubes is saying, which is the whole point of this ridiculous little exercise. Proving a point about something a guy said in a relatively popular pop-nutrition book is one thing; proving a point that a couple of crazy Internet people said is something else entirely. 😛 Can I get some confirmation on whether I’m addressing potentially crazy popular science guy, or crazy Internet people? I have a line on the book so I may just skim the damn thing myself. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-i-eat-3000-calories-daily-and-do-or-do-not-lose-weight-experiment-is-off/574098.md?page=2)