For some people, the scariest gift this holiday season isn’t an ugly sweater. Instead, the worst thing many adults will find under the Christmas tree this season is the extra pounds that Santa Claus is sure to bring to tens of millions of Americans each year.
Whether you were good or bad in 2022, naughty or good to Santa, chances are 2023 will be a little heavier than the year before. And if no steps are taken to prevent or reverse this yearly trend, these holiday leftovers can slowly transition from a few extra pounds to more serious health problems.
Weight Gain on the Holidays: A Bird’s Eye View
In 2000, New England Journal of Medicine1 (NEJM) appeared to modify conventional holiday wisdom. By directly measuring the weight of 195 study participants before vacation (fall), during vacation, after vacation (January to March), and the following September, the researchers found that Americans normally He dispelled verbal beliefs that he gained five pounds over the holidays. The data from this study are did The amount was closer to 1 lb (0.48 kg to be exact) than 5 lbs on average, as a result of supporting the existence of the holiday season weight gain phenomenon.
But perhaps the most important public health impact had nothing to do with the magnitude of holiday weight gain. There was no post-holiday weight loss. Because the researchers had the foresight to re-evaluate the participants’ weights the following fall, they were able to capture potentially important relationships. tended to be repetitive. From this perspective, the “obesity epidemic” in the United States may be the result of slow and consistent weight gain, rather than sporadic spikes in most adults.
Source: Thomas Rutledge
Weight Gain on the Holidays: A View from the Ground Up
If a pound of weight gain seems negligible, consider two detailed perspectives on holiday weight gain to get a better picture of this relationship.
first, NEJM The researchers performed a secondary analysis using the data to investigate holiday weight gain patterns among subgroups of participants. These efforts have yielded practical results that are often obscured by the overall research results highlighted in media headlines.
For example, one result of a secondary analysis looked at weight gain patterns based on pre-holiday weight status and is summarized in the chart below. Rather than uniformly distributed events, we observed that the incidence of significant weight gain (defined as an increase of 5 pounds or more) occurred at a 2- to 4-fold higher rate. People with body mass index values fall into the overweight (BMI = 25-29.9) and obese (BMI = 30+) categories more than people in her normal BMI range.
Source: Thomas Rutledge
of NEJM The researchers also examined holiday weight gain in relation to reported physical activity levels. This analysis allowed us to better understand our findings and practical implications.
Specifically, holiday weight gain in this study was inversely related to physical activity levels during the vacation period. Holiday weight gain in this sample occurred predominantly among those who reported being “much less active” or “somewhat less active” than usual during the holiday season. In contrast, those who reported being “somewhat active” or “much more active” gained little or even lost weight during their vacation.
Second, the findings of holiday weight gain were published in a 2008 paper. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology2 (Japanese Communist Party). This prospective study included pre- and post-vacation weights from participants in the National Weight Control Registry (NWCR; the NWCR is comprised of adults in the United States who maintain significant weight loss) and normal-weight adults as controls. (BMI of 18.5 and 24.9).
There were two important practical results from this study. The first is the observed “average 1 pound weight gain on holidays” noted above. NEJM The paper was both accurate and misleading. Japanese Communist Party sample.
in the Japanese Communist Party According to the paper, 60–90% of participants in both groups actually maintained their weight (that is, did not gain weight from November to February) or lost weight during the holidays. A subset of the group (28.3% of NWCR participants and 10.6% of control group participants) gained weight. Thus, rather than having a small weight gain effect for all, this study showed that some participants were particularly susceptible to weight gain while on vacation.
Second, this study found that despite both a history of weight loss and weight loss maintenance and a greater stated intent to prevent holiday weight gain, the NWCR group more You may gain weight during your vacation compared to normal weight participants. It’s easy to criticize this latter finding as unfair, but the neutral insight is worth it. Adults with a history of weight loss, including those who have successfully maintained weight loss over many years, may be at increased risk of holiday weight gain, and additional vacation time to prevent or reverse this effect. Pre- or post-holiday engagements.
Takeaway
- Holiday weight gain is a real phenomenon, but it is unevenly distributed. Instead, some of the best studies of holiday weight gain have found that even those with high BMI (that is, those who meet criteria for overweight and obesity) and those with a history of successful weight loss are at risk. People in these high-risk categories are most likely to also benefit from pre-holiday weight gain prevention or post-holiday weight loss strategies.
- Holiday weight gain is primarily driven by modifiable environment, lifestyle, and culture (for example, in countries such as Germany and Japan, major holidays are also associated with weight gain).3) cause. For this reason, efforts to improve diet and physical activity patterns over the holidays may moderate weight gain during this period or promote a reversal of post-holiday weight gain. Recall that a subset of physically active people may even lose weight while on vacation.
- Even if you have mild to moderate holiday weight gain, it doesn’t have to be a big deal. , whether weight gain persists after vacation and may become a long-term trend that may eventually manifest in metabolic disease.
As a result, the most science-based health advice for holiday weight gain is: b) Don’t overreact or get discouraged when you gain weight. c) When the vacation is over, act quickly and strategically to resume a healthy lifestyle and reverse any weight gained during the vacation.
