Have you lost weight in the lead up to Christmas?
The lead up to Christmas can be a panic about looking good in the party dress, but then we hit a wall and we indulge to our hearts content. New research reveals just how much weight we lose and put on over Christmas.
The average Briton will lose 3 pounds in preparation for the Christmas period, but then ends up putting on 6 pounds after festive overindulgence takes hold.
But what's surprising, the study revealed that those who did not diet before Christmas were less likely to experience weight gain over the festive season.
The main reason for losing weight in the run up to Christmas was to counteract the effects of the Christmas, whilst a third claimed they had done so to look good for Christmas parties.
General overindulgence was blamed the most for weight gain at Christmas, however half blamed too much alcohol and even 34% directly blamed all of the chocolate they'd eaten.
Sarah Bailey of UKMedix.com commented on the findings: “We all get a little twitchy at the thought of overindulgence’s effects on our bodies over the Christmas period, and we wanted to look at how people approach the festive season with this in mind. To see that so many lose weight in preparation was interesting and certainly telling about our attitudes towards expecting to overindulge, but it seems our hard work is wasted with many gaining more than they lose after Christmas is over!
“We recommend having a healthy attitude towards Christmas- with ‘everything in moderation’ a mantra for anyone who is concerned about Christmas’s effects on the waistline to follow. The festive season is all about enjoying yourself, but if you keep up an exercise routine and don’t go too far on the chocolate front, you should be able to keep the additional pounds at bay.”
So, if you're worrying about the weight you're going to gain at Christmas it's time to take charge. Especially when the survey also found that the average person holds onto that extra weight until April.
Tagged in Health Diet weight gain Weight loss