Weight Gain During the Holidays- Myth or Reality?

by Meri Raffetto RD, LDN

Many people worry about holiday weight gain with all of the wonderful foods available this time of year. The question is do people really gain a lot of weight during the holidays? According to a study published in The New England Journal of Medicine, the average weight gain of the study’s participants from Thanksgiving to New Year’s was less than one pound. The weight increase is not significant like many people would think; however, what is important is that the participants did not reverse their slight weight gain during the following months. This goes to show how important it is to work on creating lifestyle changes and focusing on those changes after the holidays so the extra weight doesn’t continuously creep up. Stay on track after the holidays instead of slipping into old patterns.

created: 12/05

Source: Yanovski J. A., Yanovski S. Z., Sovik K. N., Nguyen T. T., O'Neil P. M., Sebring N. G.
A Prospective Study of Holiday Weight Gain. N Engl J Med 2000; 342:861-867, Mar 23, 2000.

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