Lose weight: Feasting is allowed on weekends

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American researchers discovered that not only does sleeping and wakefulness follow a certain rhythm, everyone also has a weight cycle. This rhythm differs in slim and overweight people. According to the scientists, the working days are decisive for losing weight.

The study by Dr. Brian Wansink and colleagues from Cornell University attended 80 people between the ages of 25 and 62.They recorded their weight every morning before breakfast for between 15 and 330 days. The scientists then divided the subjects into three groups: participants who lost weight overall during the trial period, people who gained weight, and those who maintained a constant weight.

Constant weight up and down

The result: people who did not gain weight had a clear weight cycle over the week. While they put on weight slightly on the weekend, they compensated for that with the start of the new week on Monday. The weight loss then continued continuously through Friday. Then this cycle began again.

No cycle in people with weight problems

This was not so clear in the group that increased during the observation period. The subjects gained more weight on the weekend than during the week, but on the working days the weight fluctuated without a clear downward trend.

Strict Diets Versus Natural Weight Cycle

Wansink and colleagues believe discovering the weight cycle can help them lose weight. Because now we know that the working days are decisive for this. "It is completely normal and unproblematic to gain weight on the weekend," says Wansink. Weight is easier to control in the long run if you don't follow strict diets. Short-term feasting is allowed on the weekend. "If you want to lose weight, you should concentrate on taking countermeasures during the week and achieving the normal cycle in which you lose weight again by Friday." (Ab)

Source: Wansink B. et al .: Weight ryhthms: Weight increases during weekends and decreases during weekdays, Obesity Facts, 2013

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