The One Pound Creep: How Holiday Weight Gain Adds Up Over Time
The number one does not sound very threatening. After all, it is about the smallest natural number you can imagine. One pound can’t hurt, can it?
Researchers found that over the holidays, the average person only puts on about one pound of fat. And that’s great news, right? I mean, with all the parties, and eggnog and Christmas cookies and vacations and missed workouts, you would expect the damage to be much worse, wouldn’t you?
Why That One Pound Rarely Goes Away
It's encouraging to think that with all the festivities stretching from Thanksgiving to New Year’s that you only pay the small price of one pound. Should be easy enough to recover from. Or so you’d think. Unfortunately, the same researchers found that most people never do lose that one extra pound. And compounded over time, the one-pound holiday creep accounts for the weight gain associated with unhealthy aging.
The math is fairly simple: If your habit of festive debauchery starts at age 20, by age 40, you have added 20 pounds of fat. Ouch! And by age 60 you are 40 pounds over-fat. Sound like anyone you know? That pound of fat adds up, year after year. Expanding your waistline and stealing your health. At that rate, diabetes seems inevitable.
I know that you have the best intentions of undoing the damages come the New Year. You and everyone else. But even if you manage to keep up your exercise regimen past February first when most of the other resolution-breakers fall off the fitness wagon, your hopes of out-training the holidays are poor. This is because your body is wired to maintain an equilibrium. The harder you train, the hungrier you will be. You body will prioritize refilling the fat cells that you emptied via exercise.
A Better Strategy: Proactive Moderation
Your best defence is to be proactive. Don’t let the holidays derail your health. This doesn’t mean Scrooging out of all holiday celebrations. It doesn’t even mean casting Grinchish sneers at the holiday spread. Just try to practice a modicum of moderation when it comes to indulgences and make an effort to maintain your exercise habits throughout the holidays in order to defend against that creeping waistline.
Recently, I have embraced the advice offered by a friend of mine. “Whenever I start getting overweight,” he told me, “I just stop eating for a day or two.” It sounded silly and extreme but, wouldn’t you know it, by his late 50s he still has abs to show for it despite his drinking and feasting. Now, I’m not endorsing gustatory extremes but, I am not averse to skipping a meal here or there when I feel I’ve overindulged or, more commonly, just truncating my eating window: Same number of meals within a shorter time frame.
I’m not suggesting that you deprive yourself of the joys of the season, but if you want to start the New Year in a body that you love, it may be worth considering moderating your holiday intake. If you feast one day, dial your consumption back the next. A little bit of hunger won’t hurt you. And whatever you do, keep on top of your fitness habits.
Let’s Beat the One Pound Creep Together
Empower is open through the holidays. I will be here in the gym Christmas and New Year’s morning so that we can work off the previous evenings’ indulgences together. Let’s start 2026 together strong and healthy and winning the battle of the one-pound creep!
