If you are trying to lose weight and keep it off, you are not alone. According to Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), about 17.1% of Americans are on a diet at any given time. But if you do not reach your weight loss goals or find the weight you have recently lost creeps back on, a surprising habit can stand between you and success.
A study published on May 24 in the journal Obesity observed 4,305 individuals who had lost an average of 54.5 pounds with the WW (formerly Weight Watchers) program and kept it off for an average of 3.3 years and maintained an average BMI after weight loss of 27.6 kg / m2. These individuals were compared with a group of weight stable individuals with obesity with an average BMI of 38.9 kg / m2.
In their findings, the Cal Poly researchers who conducted the study found that individuals who maintained their weight loss spent an average of three fewer hours sitting throughout the day and spent an hour less playing video games or using a computer outside of work hours than obese study subjects.
The study’s authors found that although obese people spent more time outside of work using a computer or playing video games, there was no significant difference in the number of televisions or other devices that could encourage sedentary behavior in members’ homes. of the two groups.
What the authors of the study found, however, was that individuals who maintained their weight loss spent an average of 1,835 calories through physical activity each week, while obese subjects whose weight was stable used an average of 785 physical activity-related calories each week. basic.
“This study does not suggest that just standing more than sitting will contribute to weight loss maintenance, but may suggest that less sitting that results in more movement is the key to weight loss maintenance,” John M. Jakicic, Ph.D., director of the Healthy Lifestyle Institute and the Physical Activity & Weight Management Research Center at the University of Pittsburgh, who was not part of the study’s research team, said in a statement issued by Cal Poly.
His recommendation, given the results? “Sit less and move more.”
For more, check out what happens to your body when you sit too much every day, science says.
