I want you to know something. Reports of your holiday weight gain have been greatly exaggerated. Media stories often suggest that the average person GAINS… 7 to 10 pounds between Thanksgiving and Christmas. People I know say they gain, on average, about five pounds during the holidays.
But several studies now show that the average weight gain during the winter holidays is just one pound. Yes, I said, ONE POUND. That’s if you eat normally and don’t indulge.
The sad part is this. Most people don’t ever lose the pound of weight they put on during the holidays. That’s the big problem that no weight loss clinic or professional office talks about. Since the average weight gain during adulthood is about one to two pounds a year, (I know that doesn’t sound like much, but think about this.
If you can lose one to two pounds a year, how many pounds lighter will you be in 10 years?)
Midlife weight gain can be somewhat explained by your holiday eating.
Here’s an example.
If you’re 30 and you’re gaining 1-2 pounds every holiday season, by the time you’re forty, you’ve put on about 20 pounds. By the time you’re 60 years old, that is an additional40-80 pounds.
For people who are already overweight, the holiday weight news I just shared means more weight gain for them. Although the average gain is only one pound, people who are already overweight tend to gain MORE… than the one – two pounds per year. One study found that OVERWEIGHT people gained five pounds or more during the holidays.
And we start packing on that extra pound of holiday weight early in life. Researchers studied holiday weight gain among college students during the Thanksgiving break. The students were weighed the day before Thanksgiving, then weighed again about two weeks later. The average weight gain for the 94 students was about one pound. Students who were of normal weight gained about a half a pound during the period. Students who were overweight, meaning their body mass index was 25 or more, gained about two pounds.
Thanksgiving marks the beginning of a “high risk” time for any person overweight, so if you’re overweight, talk to me about getting on the weight loss program. The holiday season doesn’t represent one day of overeating.
You have this period that extends through the New Year where there’s MORE alcohol, MORE snacks, MORE finger foods and MORE appetizers that are “energy” dense. Be careful what you eat, eat more veggies and drink lots more pH water, and you’ll cut down on those holiday pounds.