15 Ways to Avoid Holiday Weight Gain

Is it possible to celebrate the season without packing on pounds? You bet! We found 10 simple strategies for preventing holiday weight gain (plus a painless way to actually knock off weight).

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When You Skip Sleep, You Eat 300+ More Calories the Next Day

Have you ever noticed that the less you sleep, the more hungry you feel the next day? Research suggests that this is indeed true. But you might not realize how many extra calories you’re taking in (spoiler: it's more than you'd think).

In a new study published in the European Journal of Clinical Nutrition, researchers set out to put a number on those surplus calories consumed by the tired and weary. In recent years, adequate sleep has emerged as a third pillar, along with exercise and healthy eating, as a way to help control weight. Previous studies have linked a lack of sleep with obesity and even type 2 diabetes; but this is one of the first times researchers have calculated the caloric effect of insufficient Z’s.

To do so, they pooled results from 11 previous studies that looked at “partial sleep deprivation” and calorie consumption. Partial sleep deprivation “means that people were sleep deprived for part of the night but not for a full night,” author Gerda Pot, PhD, explained in an email. “Partial sleep deprivation could affect sleep quantity and/or quality.”

In all, the studies included 172 people ages 18 to 50, both male and female, who were either normal weight, overweight, or obese. All of the studies included control groups of people who did get enough sleep—7 to 12 hours in bed at night. People in the sleep deprived groups logged between 3½ to 5½ hours in bed.

RELATED: 30 Sleep Hacks for Your Most Restful Night Ever

The researchers found that the sleep deprived consumed an average of 385 calories extra per day, about the equivalent of four and a half slices of bread, says Pot, who is a visiting lecturer in the Diabetes & Nutritional Sciences Division at King's College London, and also an associate professor at Vrije University Amsterdam. (To put 385 calories into context, it’s close to a fifth of the energy needs of a moderately active 30-year-old woman.)

“Moreover, people proportionally consumed more fat and less protein,” Pot added. Carbohydrate consumption stayed roughly the same.

Other researchers have speculated that a lack of sleep might affect hormones related to hunger, such as leptin and ghrelin. But Pot and her co-authors believe the explanation may be “hedonic,” meaning the tired overeat because they’re seeking pleasure.

Sharon Zarabi, RD, director of the bariatric program at Lenox Hill Hospital in New York City, shares the same suspicion. The urge to binge may be “because they are more jittery and can't satisfy their anxiety with eating,” Zarabi (who was not involved with the study) wrote in an email to Health.

RELATED: How to Stop Overeating Once and For All

Sadly, the researchers also found that staying up later doesn’t actually burn extra calories, suggesting that not getting enough sleep over the long term could be a recipe for weight gain. But none of the studies included in this review lasted more than two weeks, making it impossible to know if those extra calories add extra pounds as well.

The authors are now doing a study with people who regularly don’t get enough sleep to see if that is the case. “We need to do more research into sleep as a possible remediable risk factor for obesity and possibly other cardio-metabolic diseases like diabetes, especially in today’s society in which trends are showing that people sleep less,” Pot said.

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How to Stop Overeating Once and For All

Inhaling your food in a near trance not only takes the joy out of meals, it also triggers overeating. Here's how to be more mindful in every dining situation—and finally correct the "zombie eating" habit that could be causing you to gain weight.

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8 Metabolism Secrets That Help You Blast Calories

Discover how to torch more calories every day and boost your metabolism in this complete guide to your body's fat-burning engine.

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I Recently Lost Weight—And I’m Tired of People Talking About It

Q: I recently lost a lot of weight, but I'm getting sick of hearing constant comments about how much better I look. Is that weird?

You mean you want to run to the grocery store without someone stopping you and saying, "Wow, you've lost a lot of weight!"? That makes perfect sense. Many people who have shed pounds find the incessant remarks about their body to be intrusive or even feel like pressure to keep up the results. You want to get on with your life and make the new you the new normal in everybody's eyes.

RELATED: Holiday Weight Gain Is Real, Study Says—And It Starts in October

Just try to remember that the people who care about you are only commenting because they think you'll appreciate it. You can speak up—just be polite about it. Let folks know that while you understand they mean well, you're hoping to take your focus off weight, body, and dieting. Try saying, "Thank you for the compliment. I'm feeling good and ready to put it behind me and move on to my next chapter." It's better to say something now—if you constantly bite your tongue, your resentment may build up, and eventually you'll let someone have it.

 

 

Gail Saltz, MD, is a psychiatrist and television commentator in New York City who specializes in health, sex, and relationships.

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Weight Loss Success Story: "I Lost 211 Pounds"

Emily Liedtke, 40, 5'2", from Beaverton, Ore.
Before: 340 lb., size 26
After: 129 lb., size 2
Total pounds lost: 211 lb.
Total sizes lost: 12

I was an active kid who played tennis, danced, and skied competitively, but I still found myself overweight at a young age. I remained heavy well into my 30s, despite trying everything from restricting calories to taking diet pills; these methods failed because I would just stuff myself later. Fast-forward to 2014, when I was bedridden with a back injury. My weight shot up to 340 pounds, and my blood pressure also became sky-high, which resulted in a mini stroke. My doctor warned me that if I didn’t do something to change my unhealthy ways, it could cost me my life.

RELATED: Best Superfoods for Weight Loss

Chasing pavements

I heeded his warning, but instead of undergoing a complete overhaul, I started small, with walking. At first, I could only make it to the mailbox, and each step left me breathless and with nagging back pain. But I kept at it. Slowly, I worked my way up to walking three miles six days a week. Diet-wise, I cut out fast food and began using different-size plates to help control my portions. By February 2015, I was down 80 pounds and feeling much more confident. 

Fighting for fit

To avoid a plateau, I joined a gym and started working with a trainer twice a week. I also revamped my eating habits once again, this time making sure to have meals that fueled exercise, such as grilled chicken and steamed broccoli or eggs with avocado. I lost another 20 pounds and gained muscle definition in my legs. Next, I signed up for my gym’s weight-loss competition and shed 37 pounds and 15 percent of my body fat. I also nabbed the $1,000 first-place prize. These days, I’ve made it my job to be fit: I’ve gotten back to my dancing roots by becoming a barre instructor. And at 129 pounds, I’m at a weight that’s best for me. 

RELATED: Your Slim and Strong Walking Workout

How Emily keeps it off

Aim for 15: When I’m dreading a workout, I tell myself to try to make it through the first 15 minutes. After that point, I almost always feel more energized and want to keep going. 

Find a unique reward: Instead of celebrating with food when I hit a goal, I treat myself to something healthy, such as a hike with my husband or a massage. 

Change your vocab: I used to tell myself that I “couldn’t” have something, which made me crave it even more. Now I say I “don’t” engage in an unhealthy habit. It’s a little trick that makes the behavior seem less like a choice and more like part of my lifestyle. 

Nail down your emotion: I created my own mood emojis to help monitor how I feel after every workout and meal. This lets me keep tabs on what’s working for me and what’s not.

Emily's wearing: Shop Avocado Traveller Short Sleeve Jacket ($124; shopavocado.com); Strappy Active Tank ($36; shopavocado.com); X-Strap Sports Bra ($38; shopavocado.com); and Athletic Tight ($56; shopavocado.com).

 

As told to Lindsay Murray

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Eating Mindfully Could Help You Stay Slim, New Clinical Trial Suggests

FRIDAY, Sept. 30, 2016 (HealthDay News) — A weight-loss therapy that focuses on personal values and "mindful" decision-making may help people shed more pounds, a new clinical trial suggests.

Over one year, people who received the therapy lost more than 13 percent of their initial weight, on average.

To put that into perspective, current behavioral therapies typically help people drop 5 percent to 8 percent of their starting weight, the study authors said.

Researchers call the new approach acceptance-based behavioral therapy, or ABT.

The study authors said ABT addresses some of the biggest obstacles in keeping extra pounds off—including the difficulty of resisting temptation.

"The standard advice on weight loss only works if people are able to stick with it," said Evan Forman, who helped develop ABT. He's a professor of psychology at Drexel University in Philadelphia.

There is nothing new about using behavioral therapy to help people lose weight.

But, Forman said, the standard approaches don't address the "main issue."

"People are biologically driven to eat, especially foods that are rewarding and taste good," he said.

Through most of human history, when food was scarce, that was an asset, Forman pointed out. Now, when so many people are surrounded by calorie-laden temptations every day, the biological drive to eat can be a problem.

"It takes special skills to resist those temptations," Forman said. "It's hard to turn down pleasure and reward. But those skills can be learned."

ABT aims to teach people those skills.

The new clinical trial put the approach to the test by comparing it with standard behavioral therapy, which only encourages reducing calories and increasing exercise.

Forman's team recruited 190 overweight or obese adults and randomly assigned them to either ABT or standard treatment. People in both groups went to 25 group sessions over one year, meeting with therapists with expertise in weight loss.

Both groups received help with diet changes and exercise, "problem solving," and dealing with food cravings.

But ABT had added components.

For one, Forman said, people chose a goal based on their "personal values"—rather than aiming for a certain number on the bathroom scale.

A person might, for example, choose the goal of being a healthy, active grandmother.

"We emphasize the point, 'Why does this matter?' " Forman said. "We get at the bigger idea of what people want in life, and how is weight related to that?"

Beyond that, ABT encourages people to accept the fact that weight loss is hard and they will inevitably feel deprived, have cravings, or find it unpleasant to opt for an apple over a brownie.

"They can say, 'Of course, that's how my brain is working,' " Forman said. Then, rather than trying to fix their thinking, they can focus on what they can change: their behavior.

How do you learn to choose the apple when your brain really wants the brownie? Patience and practice, according to Forman.

"It sounds weird, but you can literally practice tossing a piece of brownie in the trash and eating the apple instead," he said.

Another aspect of the therapy is training in "mindful" decision-making.

"So many of the decisions we make around eating have no explicit thought process behind them," Forman said.

During ABT, people learn to notice how "cues" from their environment—from TV to the presence of tempting food to sheer boredom—influence their decisions to eat.

In this new trial, the approach appeared to work better than standard therapy: After a year, ABT patients had lost a little over 13 percent of their starting weight, compared to just under 10 percent for people in the comparison group.

The ABT group also fared better when it came to keeping the pounds off: 64 percent had maintained at least a 10 percent weight loss at the one-year mark, compared with 49 percent of the standard-therapy group.

Dr. Steven Heymsfield is a spokesman for the Obesity Society and a professor at Pennington Biomedical Research Center, in Baton Rouge, La.

He had praise for the ABT approach.

"It recognizes the underlying biological drive to eat, and provides people with a powerful counterweight to that," said Heymsfield, who wasn't involved in the research.

Losing weight is not just about "willpower," Heymsfield said. People have to overcome strong biological impulses -- and that takes strong motivation, he said.

It makes sense that focusing on important personal values (such as being a healthy grandma) can work better than a "superficial goal" of fitting into smaller jeans, Heymsfield said.

Still, he pointed to some big remaining questions about ABT: Does the weight loss hold up over time? And does the therapy have to be ongoing?

Practically speaking, it's not clear whether ABT can be disseminated widely.

In this study, it was given by Ph.D.-level professionals, Heymsfield pointed out.

"So can this program 'transport' well?" he asked. "Can it be incorporated into a Watch Watchers or Jenny Craig program?"

Forman agreed that practical barriers have to be addressed. He also said it's possible that after the initial therapy sessions, people could have once-a-year "booster" sessions—or even get help through mobile apps—to make the approach more feasible.

The study is published in the October issue of the journal Obesity.

More information

The U.S. National Institutes of Health has advice on healthy weight loss.

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