Research and Perspective on Holiday Season Weight Gain

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The reason I exercise is for the quality of life I enjoy.
––Kenneth H. Cooper

Should you worry about holiday season weight gain?

When it comes to the festive season, the online fitness community seems to be divided into two camps: the Fearmongers and the Relaxers.

The Fearmongers will recommend you diet and exercise your way through Christmas, as if eating Christmas pudding is going to give you the plague or, worse, some weight gain. (Gasp!)

The Relaxers will tell you that it’s only a couple of days a year, so you can relax and have some higher-calorie food without blowing a gasket.

In this article, I’m going to cover some scientific research on weight gain over the winter holidays, its impact on the your fitness goals, and my own perspective, having coached others since 2019.

What does research suggest?

A narrative review by Díaz-Zavala looked into several studies on weight changes from the end of November to the first or second week of January, a period of time the authors termed the “holiday season”.

The participants in the reviewed studies fell into one of the following categories:

• Not trying to lose weight;
• Actively trying to lose weight;
• Participating in weight-maintenance programs;
• Members of the National Weight Control Registry, which you can usually join if you’ve lost at least 30 lbs and maintained this loss for a year or longer;
• “Motivated self-monitoring people”, who were weighing themselves regularly and keeping track of scale trends.

 
On average, the participants gained 0.4 to 0.9 kg (0.9 to 2 lbs). Moreover, participants who were either overweight or had obesity gained more weight than participants who had a “normal” bodyweight based on the BMI scale.

At first, this may seem like quite the dire outcome.

Whether you’re trying to be mindful of weight gain or not, you end up… gaining it anyway? Even when you’re making an active effort towards weight loss?!

Well, that sucks.

Or maybe not.

Did all the participants maintain this weight gain?

Only two of the 15 reviewed studies followed up with the participants to find out whether their “holiday weight gain” was maintained afterwards. While this isn’t a lot of evidence, it can provide some perspective nonetheless.

In one study, in which the participants did not have to be interested in fitness to enrol, not only was the weight gain maintained… It also appeared to represent more than 50% of the weight gain over the course of the whole year.

However, only 15% of these participants reported they were actively trying to lose weight over the period of time this particular study assessed.

In the other study, in which all participants were the above-mentioned “motivated self-monitoring” people, the weight gain was quickly reversed. In addition, the participants lost weight on average for the rest of the year.

What does this mean?

In my view, what this review suggests is that the best approach to prevent or reverse any weight gain that may occur during the holiday season is to be either:
 

• Working towards long-term health-promoting habits, or
• Already maintaining pre-existing habits.

If you’re reading this, you’re clearly keen on your fitness, so chances are that you fall into one of these two categories!

Moreover, it’s important to remember that research employs averages.

At an individual level, you most certainly have the potential not to gain any weight over the holidays if that isn’t a goal of yours right now. This has been the case for a lot of my clients over the years, so it can be the same for you, too.
 
If you want a little guidance to help you navigate the holiday season with more confidence, you’ve come to the right website! I’ve written nearly an article a year to help you do exactly that:
 

• “Dieting Strategies for Social Events” suggests a method that involves tracking calories and macros, and one that doesn’t.
• “How to Enjoy the Holidays Without Fitness Guilt” focuses on the importance of honest communication and boundary-setting with your loved ones.
• “3 Methods to Crush the Winter Holidays” provides three different strategies to suit three different types of person: those who struggle with enjoying the holidays for fear of losing fitness; those who want a break from tracking calories, but still want some accountability; and those who want to continue tracking calories and macros.
• “5 Tips to Ace Fitness Without Tracking Calories This Christmas” does what it says on the tin.

Having said that, if you were to be like one of the average participants in the reviewed studies and gain some weight over this holiday season, there’s no need to panic.

Keep working on your health-promoting habits for the majority of the year, and you will be able to lose it again and continue progressing towards your fitness goals.

What are the most successful habits to prevent or reverse weight gain?

In no particular order, these are the habits I’ve found to be most effective through reading research and working with my clients:
 

• Move your body every day, whether you’re doing cardio, resistance training, or getting 8000 to 10,000 steps;
• Weigh yourself regularly and track trends, or use another tool (clothes, pictures, measurements) in order to monitor any changes in body composition over time;
• Focus on a calorie- or portion-controlled high-protein, high-fibre diet, including only a small amount of highly palatable, highly processed foods like cookies, ice-cream, fries, etc.;
• Create a support system comprising people who actively look to stay or get healthier, so that you can have a positive influence on each other: partners, friends, relatives, and ideally a coach;
• Do something with your life that generates a sense of purpose and fulfilment. This helps you better regulate your emotions, which results in better consistency with nutrition and exercise, and a lower likelihood of issues like binge-eating or eating because of stress, boredom, or emotions.

Conclusion
 
The real problem isn’t the holiday season. It’s that some people focus too much on whether or not they put on a kilo over Christmas, and not enough on what they do the rest of the time.
 
What yields long-term results is the average of your behaviours over time, not a single meal or workout.

Even so, while no one needs to be afraid of the holiday season––as the Fearmongers in the fitness community may make it out to be––this time of year can still have negative consequences on your long-term health if you’re not mindful of your health-promoting habits.

Therefore, my recommendation is to focus on a lifestyle change, not a short-term diet to “fix” whatever you’re eating this Christmas.
 
Thanks for reading. May you make the best gains.
 
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