In fact, some famous “overfeeding” experiments at the University of Vermont showed that healthy adults find it hard to overeat over the long haul. Force-feeding subjects caused weight gain at first. But then their weight leveled off. Why? Well, when you stuff your stomach with food, various hormones like leptin signal satiety, making it really tough to keep shoving food down your gullet. Some of the Vermont subjects disliked it so much that they dropped out on the study. The extra calories also led subjects to burn more calories. “Total energy expenditure in the subjects increased by 50
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