Nono, you don't know me IRL, but I'm really not stirred up. I'm sorry about the other thread, lol, don't take it seriously. Its just I'm reading this book called "Generation Me" and I'm trying to see how much of it is true (interesting book BTW, esp if you are going to be a teacher--also for parents a must-read). You were very accomodating, thank you & I mean it.

Anyway, to answer your question (keep in mind I come at this from a scientists view--a fitness person or dietician might know more): when you eat excess carbs (sugar, whatever, they are all the same to me) they get stored in a compressed form in your body called glycogen that is stored in your muscles & liver as a ready source of fuel (it takes a lot more energy to release fat as a fuel than glycogen). In order to stay soluble in storage, glycogen needs to be stored with water molecules attached--I think the number is 4 for every glycogen molecule (but DON'T quote me on that BD!). So, the weight gain from pigging out on bread & crackers is a combination of glycogen & the water that is associated with it. Which, I think, is why the old Atkins diet worked so well--you mostly lost water & glycogen in that first month or so. If you were a huge guy, it wasn't unheard of to drop 20 lbs.

But fat is an entirely different molecule, that gets stored in little fat cells in your body. They literally look like clear little oil drops under a microscope. Gross. The pathways to store fat are completely different from the ones to store sugar/carbs/glycogen.

Here endeth the lesson (Monty Python). I need to go look at a porn thread of something to clear my head, lol.