Enjoy Your Weekend Binge, Weight Loss Happens During Weekdays: Study

Weekend binging is not as harmful to our body as we thought, claims a new study conducted at Cornell University.

We feel guilty on Mondays after all that heavy eating and drinking during the weekend. But the study says that weight loss usually happens during weekdays. And this cycle of weight loss and then weight gain over the weekend together helps in long-term weight loss.

The new findings show that "weight loss occurs during the weekdays," Brian Wansink, PhD, the study's lead researcher and author of Slim By Design, told the Huffington Post. "It's less important what happens during the weekends."

Two groups of 80 people were formed as part of the study - one that of Americans and the other of Finnish people - and then their weight was recorded every day before breakfast. The readings were recorded for around a year.

Wansink found that for majority of the participants, the highest weight gain was on Sunday and Monday, immediately after the weekend. But people who aimed at long-term weight loss, followed a systematic pattern during the weekdays and worked to bring down their weights by Friday. Thus, the weekend overeating did not affect them much.

"The weekend is very unpredictable," said Wansink. "It has unusual meals, it has unusual time schedules, it has unusual celebrations." He says it is important to understand how our body reacts to the kind of food we eat so that we can make adjustments accordingly. Those who gained weight didn't give much heed to the weekdays when they could have shed weight to compensate for the weight gained during weekend.

Experts say by following three simple steps we can implement a healthy weight loss programme and also not take too much tension during the week. We should control the potion we consume, eat every 4-5 hours to keep a check on the appetite and include protein and fibre in every meal to feel full and also consume only few calories.

Source: Medindia