If you think you'll quickly lose those unwanted pounds this holiday season, think again — a study in the New England Journal of Medicine shows that the weight you gain in the next three months can take over five months to lose.
Researchers in the study — with 3,000 participants weighing in — found that in the United States, weight rises around Thanksgiving and peaks around Christmas and the New Year. It isn't until after Easter (about five months later) that people get it under control. Weight patterns in Germany and Japan were analyzed as well, with similar results. In Germany, people gained most around the Christmas, New Year period and in Japan people weighed the most during Golden Week in April. Golden Week is Japan's holiday season. Each country also showed a peak in weight for New Year's.
"Everyone gains weight over the holidays; Americans, Germans, Japanese," says co-author Brian Wansink, who is director of the Cornell Food and Brand Lab. "Instead of making a New Year's Resolution, make an October resolution. It's easier to avoid holiday pounds altogether than to lose them after they happen."