Strategies to manage weight during the holiday season among US adults: A descriptive study from the National Weight Control Registry

Abstract

Background: Holidays are challenging for weight control and are consistently associated with weight gain. Managing holiday weight gain may be especially difficult for individuals with higher body weight or a history of overweight/obesity. The current study evaluated how individuals with a history of successful weight loss plan for the holiday season and how the use of weight control strategies was associated with weight change.Methods: A subgroup of participants in the National Weight Control Registry (NWCR) were asked to complete a survey before (November) and after the holidays (January). At pre-holiday, participants reported height, weight, and weight goals for the holiday season (lose, maintain, minimize gains, or gain), and selected the top three weight control strategies they planned to use (from a list of 18). Post-holiday, participants reported weight and how often (frequently, infrequently, or not at all) they used each of the 18 strategies throughout the holidays.Results: Individuals who completed both surveys were included in the analysis (n ¼ 683; 69% female, 93% white, 54.6 years [SD: 13.2], 26.9 kg/m 2 [SD: 5.5]). Pre-holiday, 64% of participants were currently trying to lose weight. Only 35% of the sample wanted to continue losing weight during the holiday season. The most common strategies individuals planned to use during the holiday season were evidence based (maintaining exercise, monitoring portions, tracking foods, and self-weighing). Participants gained 0.66 kg (SD: 1.85) from pre-to post-holiday and reported using an average of 12/18 strategies. A greater number of strategies were associated with less weight gain (F[1, 670] ¼ 4.28, p ¼ 0.04). Daily self-weighing (p ¼ 0.03) and prioritizing food choices (p ¼ 0.02) were individually associated with less weight gain. Discussion: Participants in the NWCR entered the holiday season with a variety of goals for their weight and used many different strategies to control their weight.Having a wider range of strategies may be helpful to navigate the challenges to weight control during the holidays.This is an open access article under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs License, which permits use and distribution in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited, the use is non-commercial and no modifications or adaptations are made.

Association between the month of starting a weight management program and weight change in people at high risk of type 2 diabetes: A prospective cohort study

“…Such strategies may include making participants aware of the potential challenges associated with starting in months other than January, asking people to commit to New Year‐like resolutions, additional contact with participants, implementation of behavior change techniques around holiday food, and additional efforts to reengage people who may lapse over the holiday period. For example, two strategies associated with less weight gain during holidays are regular weighing and choosing specific foods worth eating versus skipping [22]. This is also supported by a randomized trial of a brief behavioral intervention focusing on weight tracking and provision of physical activity calorie equivalent information that prevented weight gain by 0.5 kg compared with the control group over the Christmas period [23].…”

Winter Holidays and Their Impact on Eating Behavior—A Systematic Review

“…Thus, those who aimed to maintain/lose weight approached 12/18 strategies, those who tried to limit the accumulation of extra kilograms 11/18, and those who had no objective nine/18 strategies. So, it seems that the prevention of obesity during this period depends not only on the number of strategies we have at hand and can easily approach, but also on the degree of involvement of people in this endeavor [14].…”

Fat-Proofing Halloween, Thanksgiving, and Christmas: Exploring Behavioral Solutions to Holiday Weight Gain

“…One might feel disgust or anger at oneself for overeating in the moment, but the weight gained over the six week period is long lasting and has implications of greater health risks overall. Being able to avoid these health risks and self loathing would be a step in the right direction towards healthier living all year round [19]. This paper aims to take these traps and tips and apply many of them in a new way, to these meals that are overly indulgent and occur relatively infrequently.…”