Will Donuts Make You Fat?
Will Donuts Make You Fat?
No, eating a donut will not make you fat. A medium donut has roughly 200 calories. As long as you have energy balance in your favor and you are consuming lesser calories than you expend, eating a donut will not make you fat.
What Makes You Fat?
Consistently eating more calories than you burn makes you put on fat in the long run.
For example, if you know you maintain weight at 2000 calories, consistently eating 1500 calories would make you lose weight and consistently eating 2500 calories would make you gain weight, irrespective of what exact foods you’re eating.
This means that you can get fat eating zero carb foods if you’re consuming more calories than you burn and it means that you can lose weight eating donuts if you’re consuming lesser calories than you burn.
Thus, the first step is to calculate how many calories you need to be eating to lose weight.
You can use the calculator linked in this post.
Once that’s done, it’s a good idea to understand the number of calories in different types of food.
The last thing you’d want is to suppress your cravings of a 200 calorie donut by gulping down a 500 calorie milkshake.
Donuts: A Calorie Comparison
These numbers aren’t exact and aren’t set in stone.
The types of ingredients and the quantities used can lead to very different numbers.
A fruit salad predominantly made up of berries is going to come in at lower calories and a pizza stuffed with cheese is going be a lot higher than the number in the table above.
The point here is not to learn these numbers.
It is to understand the importance of the caloric density of the foods you eat.
Thanks to the Internet, you’re one click away from finding out the number of calories in the food you eat.
As I mentioned earlier, this is the difference between the person who struggles to diet and the person who fits dieting into their lifestyle.
Clearly, we can see how suppressing your cravings for a donut and telling yourself that you’ll just have a caffe latte instead since you’re on a diet is not always going to be a good decision, given that they essentially have the same caloric value and that suppressing cravings could lead to building up of resistance that derails you in the future.
But this doesn’t give us all the answers.
We are still left with a very important question:
Does this mean eating a 200 calorie donut is the same thing as eating a 200 calorie protein bar or a 200 calorie fruit salad?
Is Eating A Donut The Same As Consuming Anything Else With An Equivalent Caloric Value?
Of course not.
While you could get the same results for your transformation in terms of losing fat, there’s a lot more than goes inside the body.
So, to say that eating a donut is the same as eating a healthier option of the same number of calories would be wrong.
A donut lacks micronutrients and in most cases will not lead to satiety.
Thus, while you can achieve your fat loss goals visually even if your diet is heavily dependent on something like donuts, it will be very hard for you to stay fit and healthy in the long run if you don’t provide your body with the necessary nutrients.
This brings us to the golden question:
Should you eat a donut if you’re dieting?
Should You Eat A Donut?
If you like donuts, go ahead and have them.
Remember - Balance is key.
On one hand, you will have health freaks tell you that sugar and fat are going to kill you.
On the other hand, you’ll have flexible dieters tell you that you can get ripped on a donut and protein shake diet.
As long as you don’t have any pre-existing medical conditions, the answer lies somewhere in the middle.
Obsessing about your health and restricting yourself from the food you crave will make you miserable, and so will eating a diet primarily based on foods that hold very little micronutrient value.
The best way to go about your diet is to first allocate a portion of your calorie budget to hit your macronutrient and micronutrient needs, and then indulge in treats with what you have leftover.
For example, an individual on a 2000 calorie diet with a protein target of 150g/day and fat target of 60g/day should make hitting these numbers along with a sufficient fruit and vegetable intake their priority before they start indulging in treats.
Once this individual hits these numbers along with enough fruits and vegetables, they’ll notice that they have another 500 or so calories to play with.
Whether you want to use these up for carbs or split them with a food you crave on any given day is up to you.
Now, if this individual craves a donut, there is no harm in eating one (or even two).
In this case, the individual satisfies his/her craving, which allows him/her to adhere to the diet in the long run.
At the same time, the individual has fueled his/her body with the necessary macro and micronutrients.
As I stated above, it just comes down to balance.
When you understand the underlying principles, getting lean becomes a lot easier.
Before you start incorporating all the foods you can think of into your diet, use the calculator linked in this post to get an idea of your calorie and macronutrient targets.
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