A disturbing research into people’s holiday eating habits revealed that control had better be exercised during the holiday season! The findings say that once Christmas is over, most people find they have grown heavier by something like 2lb, and what’s more, they are likely to keep them for all their lives.
So, in 10 years people put on 20lbs and stay like this, it goes for men more than for women.
This holiday extra weight seems to be utterly impervious to exercise, say American scientists at Texas Tech University; it just won’t go. According to the report in Health Day, the research on about 150 men and women aged from 18 to 65 showed an average holiday weight gain of 2lb.
About half of the people participating in the research were into sports while the rest said they did not exercise regularly or at all.
Those of them who were obese when they started on the experiment turned out to gain weight much faster and showed the greatest fat increase.
The scientists were astonished to note that no amount of later exercising could do anything to set off this particular kind of weight gain. They confess to be baffled by the fact and underscore that though workouts do not seem to be able to counteract the consequences of holiday overeating, they should be beneficial anyway.
Texas Tech University’s assistant professor of nutritional sciences, Dr Jamie Cooper, pointed out that while people may treat one or two extra lb with negligenсe, they forget that they will keep them for the rest of their lives and so grow excessive weight gradually. 20 lbs in ten years – which you won’t be able to shake off – is a tough proposition.
In Dr Cooper’s opinion, the singular ineffectiveness of workouts in dropping the holiday pounds can be caused by gross overeating – people gobble so much food that normal physical activity is unable to burn it all.
She calculated for the Health Day that a 30-minute run that covers three miles will burn 300 calories – the amount that is contained in just one piece of pumpkin pie without topping. So you can imagine how much more you can consume at one sitting than you can burn during a strenuous workout.
Moreover, workouts tend to whet the appetite, so people don’t notice that they actually consume more food than they would have done without physical strain.
Dr Cooper advices moderation as the best way to avoid slow weight gain on holidays.
