Overeating After Exercise: Does It Hinder Weight Loss?

Question
Hello, I've been on a diet for awhile, and i'm eating about 1400 calories a day and burning off (roughly) around 700 a day. Sometimes, I overeat and it's hard to stop myself from loading up on calories. My question is, say I ate 700 calories more than I normally eat; would it matter at all since I've burned off 700 through exercise? Can that cause weight gain?

Answer
Andrea, I think it depends on if you have eaten all those calories at once and the type of food you have eaten. If you eat say 700 extra calories of a carbohydrate food like cake or cookies, the body stores that very easily as fat. Yes, you can burn it back off later if you really exercise, but again it has already been stored as fat. If you eat 700 extra calories of a protein food like chicken breast, the body will use that protein for first rebuilding your muscles, then what is left might be stored as fat. The body has a harder time storing fats and proteins as bodyfat. The body easily stores overeaten carbohydrate foods as fat. So if you are going to overeat, choose your foods wisely and spread it out over the day. Laura Kraemer,Slimkids.com