Random: Hold Off Those Extra Pounds

Indulge in rich foods over the holiday season and you may wind up paying the price in extra pounds. While research shows that most people don’t gain as much weight as they fear they will over the holidays, many can’t seem to lose their holiday pounds afterward. The extra weight can build up over the years and contribute to obesity later in life. Why not make this the year you reverse the trend and stop gaining weight over the holidays?

Maintaining weight is a matter of balance—energy balance. If you take in more calories than you burn in physical activity, you store the extra energy around your body, mostly as fat, and gain weight. To maintain your weight, you need to balance the energy you take in with the energy you burn.

Genetics and other factors affect how your body uses the calories you consume. Still, the only way to gain weight is by taking in more calories than you burn. If you’re overweight, talk to your doctor about how to lose those extra pounds. Many NIH-funded researchers, including Yanovski’s team, are working to understand the complex causes of obesity and to develop better ways to combat it.

If you keep your weight in check for most of the year but have trouble during the holidays, Yanovski offers some advice that might help.

First, be active. In their study of holiday weight gain, Yanovski and his team noted that people who reported being much more active maintained their weight or even lost weight during the holidays. Those who reported being less active gained the most during this period. If you exercise regularly, keep it up over the holidays. If you’re not active now, get started and make a serious New Year’s resolution to stick with it. Add physical activity to your daily routine, such as taking the stairs instead of the elevator, or walk briskly in the mall. If a holiday party includes dancing, join in!