Are holiday and weekend eating patterns affecting obesity rates?

Are holiday and weekend eating patterns affecting obesity rates?

Pile it on during weekend eating. I've heard the common complaint that people can't get their weight down because they eat too much on the weekends.

Eat less then?

Practical and effective advice to be sure. So why do so few do it (eat less)?

Habit and social norms. It's normal for us to chat up the upcoming weekend meal.. how big, juicy, tasty, filling etc. it's going to be. Boasting about how much indulging we're going to do.

Strike that. I'm not in the "we" anymore. Used to be. It was difficult to change the weekend overeating habit. Yes I did experience being criticized by friends and family for not going back for seconds at first, not so much anymore. "Eat, eat! It's not going to kill you!" (sic) "What.. like you gotta worry; you're not overweight" "You're skinny, you could afford a few pounds."

Most who cut back to reasonable eating will be cajoled by their peers to eat more. Weird.

But seriously folks.. The data is very strong; overeating on the weekends stymies the path to healthy weight. A person could sustain high blood pressure through being overweight because they can't get passed weekend overeating.

"But it's just this one time". Yeah, it's only for Thanksgiving, Christmas, Easter, Halloween, my birthday, my wife's, husbands, partners, brothers, sisters, cousins, friends, bosses birthday, company dinner, so and so's wedding, dog's birthday, club event, guy's/ girl's night out..

That's a lot of "one times".

Truth is overeating has been normalized, prioritized and prized. Healthy eating has been demonized, criticized and pushed aside. Healthy eating tastes better, is more satisfying, doesn't come with a guilt trip and will drop your blood pressure not raise it.

Let's be more supportive of ourselves and others making the right choice. Eat less, eat healthy, and enjoy :-)