Eating Out - Can it create strange outcomes?

Have you had a really annoying experience where a single meal changed your weight dramatically?

Maybe the meal weighed a few hundred grammes, but the weight gain was a few times that?

Have you said to yourself, What in the name of God is going on? 

For context, my days are very similar in terms of quantity and quality of food. 

Therefore, if I act out of context, I can reasonably conclude that a specific event caused a change in outcome.

Recently I had dinner with a friend, which included a handful of Chinese greens and one dim sum. The following morning, my weight had increased by a kilogramme.

It made no sense. My total intake was a few morsels. Which got me thinking. Can a specific food type or meal cause a disproportionate change in the body?

If you take my sample of one, clearly yes. However, the question is: why?

The appearance of food can be very misleading. I have written in the past that a single peanut has eight calories. 

So one possibility was that the food appeared small in size but packed calories. Fat, perhaps hidden in the stir fry. Ketchup hiding in the sauce. 

Perhaps they had ground peanuts in the sauce to enhance the taste. Perhaps corn flour to make the sauce thick. 

None of these would be visible. But they would all add calories. A lot of calories. 

Eating fermented food has been another fascinating experience. In India, we eat fermented crepes called dosa.

Without fail, Dosa, especially at a restaurant, increases my weight disproportionately. Baking soda and sodium could be possible culprits.

So, food does have a disproportionate effect on weight.

Don't get disheartened when it happens. Often, it's simply water retention. Often, the weight will pass in a few days. 

But if you allowed the weight change to demotivate you, you would have lost the opportunity to meet your goals. 

PS: I am not asking you to avoid Chinese greens or Dosa. Both are fine. It is how you make it that matters.

Reach out to me on twitter @rbawri Instagram @riteshbawriofficial and YouTube at www.youtube.com/breatheagain