you should be putting on weight over the holidays

If you’re not gaining weight over the holidays that means one of 2 things:

• You’re not enjoying the holidays

• or, you eat and drink like it’s the holidays year-round (sounds kind of lit)

If you’re in the first camp, there’s a reason you’re the only one in the gym Christmas morning, go home. If you’re in the second camp, shoot me an email we should chill post-corona.

For the those of us actually enjoying the holdiays, there’s no reason to panic when you see a 5-10 pound bump in just a matter of days on the scale - most of it’s fake.

What do I mean by “fake”

Anytime you see sudden swings in weight in either direction you should immediately think “ok that’s not real”. As in, it’s unlikely you lost 5 lbs over night and it’s just as unlikely you gained 5 lbs overnight.

Losing weight takes good habits done consistently over time. The same is true for weight gain, it takes bad habits done consistently over time. Holidays are inherently short term, so no matter how gluttonous we can be it isn’t a big deal.

What can change in the short term is the amount of water your body retains, and that can be 5-8 lbs a day for the average person. (that’s also what leaves you feeling puffy after just a few Christmas cookies)

In reality, there’s 0 chance anyone reading this ate enough food over a week to put on 5 real pounds - that would take an excess of 17,500 calories, or 2500 EXTRA per day. But, all of us who indulge during the holidays hammered the 3 major paths to drastically increase our water retention.

3 major paths of water retention

Basically everything we consume during the holidays, but here’s a list:

• Carbohydrates

  • every gram of stored glycogen holds ~3g of water

• Salt

  • Excess salt leads to increased water retention.

  • **This can also be why you may crave salty foods when dehydrated, as it’ll help your body retain water.

• Alcohol

  • Alcohol dehydrates your body -> your body tries to hold on to more water

Sounds like a lovely holiday dinner; salty poultry followed up by a heavy dose of desserts all chased down with wine and/or egg nog.

So then what?

Exercise can help reduce some of the water retention through sweat, but don’t be one of those people who works out christmas or new years day - you don’t really have to do anything. The foods, drinks, and desserts we enjoy this time of year are unique to this time of year in both substance and quantity, so your body is going to react differently.

That means you’re going to feel puffier, bloated, and as though you set yourself back weeks - but you didn’t. When the dust settles and you get back to your normal routine, your gut will flush out the bloat, you’ll sweat out the extra water over a few days, and you’ll feel happier that you relaxed and enjoyed the end of a wild year.

For questions on this or how to hit the ground running in january, email ideen@vicesfitness.com