The holidays are here, which means seasonal weight gain will be close behind. Or in front.
Or both behind and in front. Some people are more gifted at even distribution than others.
I’m one who tends to gain a few pounds around the holidays. The worst part is, I count 50 holidays on the calendar.
I celebrate them all.
What’s more, I have a bad habit of forgetting that I was going to limit calories until after dessert. Isn’t that the way it always goes?
A research project claims that holiday weight gain is nearly a universal occurrence. Findings were based on studies in Germany, the U.S. and Japan.
Three countries hardly seem like the universe, but I suppose they deemed the findings universal because they monitored people in three different countries, on three different continents. And they all put on weight around the holidays. Americans gained an average 1.3 pounds, Germans, 1.8 pounds, and the Japanese, 1.1 pounds.
Having German ancestors, I can’t help but wonder if that puts me at risk of double jeopardy — a 1.3 gain for being American, plus a 1.8 gain for the German heritage.
I do know that Germans do amazing things with butter, flour and sugar, and beef, gravy and potatoes.
Oh, go ahead. Put me down for the full 3.1 pounds.
Those numbers aren’t terrible on a large scale (pun intended). Most people lose half the weight immediately after the holidays, some lose it later in the year and others … well, others buy the next size up.
The truth is, our bodies need food so that we can store fat in order to survive eight hours of sleep until we wake up and start eating again.
A couple of years ago Stove Top Stuffing offered Thanksgiving Dinner pants: stretch pants that grew as you grew. I call those kinds of pants my workout pants; it gives the whole concept of overeating a more uplifting psychological connotation.
Stove Top took relaxed fit to a new dimension. The pants were like a maroon parachute gathered at the waist with a wide band.
The pants sold faster than you could say “pass the potatoes,” and Stove Top has not offered them since. Perhaps Stove Top feared the pants would be a reminder of the calories in stuffing and thus be a detriment to sales.
If you tend to gain a few pounds at the holidays, remember this — helping clean up after a big meal for one hour can burn 100 calories, and light house cleaning for one hour can burn 150 calories.
If you’ve cleaned up at your place and are still feeling stuffed, you’re welcome to come over and help clean up at ours.
I’ll save you a piece of pie.
