New Research Says You’ll Likely Gain Weight During the Holidays; Here Are 7 Tips to Avoid It at Thanksgiving

The holiday season is good for spending quality time with loved ones, taking a much-needed reprieve after a long year of work, and — perhaps most of all — indulging in festive foods that warm the soul. However, those fuzzy feelings can come with a cost to your waistline, as a recent study illustrates.

A systematic review published in Oct. 2023 in the journal Nutrients illustrated a strong correlation between holiday celebrations and yearly weight gain. The review, titled “Winter Holidays and Their Impact on Eating Behavior” (1) by Abdulan et al., asserts that, for some people, the holiday season can account for over 50 percent of total yearly weight gain.

“[Our] research indicates that [holiday weight] is often not lost as the seasons change. In fact, it can account for more than 50 percent of the total weight gained throughout the year,” the paper says. 

[Related: Does Crash Dieting Negatively Affect Muscle Gain?]

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Study Design & Findings

In scientific literature, systematic reviews are a form of meta-research. Reviews collect assorted scientific papers on a given subject and assess them for common findings. The Abdulan review pulled 10 contemporary papers with a total of 4,627 participants, all of which documented holiday weight gain and associated behaviors. Here’s what they found:

• The average American gains roughly one pound of weight during the holiday season (defined as the period between Thanksgiving and New Year’s Day).
• This weight is often not lost and can account for over half of all yearly weight gain.
• People habitually overeat during the holidays, often motivated by the intent to begin the new year as a “fresh start.”
• Subjects in the review gained twice as much weight during Christmas as Thanksgiving.
• Subjects with obesity had more difficulty shedding their holiday weight than normal-weight individuals.
• The authors believe the best way to manage weight gain is to incorporate small lifestyle changes during the holiday season.

7 Tips for Managing Holiday Weight Gain

While the study confirms that long-term weight gain is a multi-factor issue and not a result of one individual metric, such as excessive caloric consumption, it also offers a handful of evidence-based tips for managing weight during the holiday season. Below are seven tips for staying on top of your body weight during the holidays, according to the researchers: 

1. Opt for lighter “non-celebratory” meals if attending multiple festive gatherings or parties where you may consume more calories than usual.
2. Go for a cup of hot tea or coffee instead of a traditional dessert after dinner.
3. Monitor alcohol consumption closely. Alcohol contains seven calories per gram.
4. Go for “winter walks” with loved ones as a group activity instead of planning gatherings solely around meals.
5. When possible, eat salty snacks between meals rather than sweet ones to avoid spikes in blood sugar levels, which can influence appetite.
6. Avoid eating in front of the television or when otherwise distracted; try to save food for “just at the table,” where it is the primary source of stimulation.
7. Check the nutrition labels of food when holiday meal prepping to keep tabs on the calorie content of your groceries.

Of all of the preventative strategies observed in the review, the authors noted that “the [weight management] strategy with the highest applicability rate (100 percent) was choosing healthy snacks while traveling.”

Additionally, many of these tips involve simple behavioral adjustments rather than sweeping changes to exercise habits. Abdulan et al. discussed the mixed results of exercise prescriptions on managing holiday weight. They cite that some data shows positive effects of additional exercise. Still, there are caveats: “[exercise may not have] a protective role against accumulating extra pounds, especially among people with a BMI above the normal limit.”

[Related: 5 Science-Backed Thanksgiving Fitness Tips to Help You Maintain Your Gains]

This assessment aligns with other studies on the relationship between disordered eating habits and compulsory exercise behaviors. In short, viewing exercise as a transactional remedy for periodic overeating can lead to harmful mental and physical health outcomes. (2)

Instead, smaller and more reasonable adjustments to normal habits during the holidays may prove more effective long-term. Integrating physical activity into your holiday celebrations — the systematic review mentions brisk post-dinner walks or dancing on New Year’s Eve — is a solid strategy. 

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References

1. Abdulan IM, Popescu G, Maștaleru A, Oancea A, Costache AD, Cojocaru DC, Cumpăt CM, Ciuntu BM, Rusu B, Leon MM. Winter Holidays and Their Impact on Eating Behavior-A Systematic Review. Nutrients. 2023 Sep 28;15(19):4201. doi: 10.3390/nu15194201. PMID: 37836485; PMCID: PMC10574044.
2. Holland LA, Brown TA, Keel PK. Defining Features of Unhealthy Exercise Associated with Disordered Eating and Eating Disorder Diagnoses. Psychol Sport Exerc. 2014 Jan 1;15(1):10.1016/j.psychsport.2013.10.005. doi: 10.1016/j.psychsport.2013.10.005. PMID: 24391457; PMCID: PMC3876288.

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