Today is Halloween. October 31st. As a dietitian this is essentially like Armageddon. Starting today and leading up until January one is when most folks really fall off the wagon. Aside from witnessing it firsthand in my profession, I have other proof that it occurs. I have friends who are commercial airline pilots who tell me that they calculate the average weight of passengers to be 10 lbs heavier over the holidays than at other times during the year. Weights and balances are critical to the safety of a plane in flight. Heck, the phenomenon is so prevalent that studies have been conducted on it! Although, the research shows that my aviation comrades are miscalculating slightly. It seems that most of us don’t put on 10 lbs each year. It’s more like 2-3 lbs. That’s the good news. The bad news? We don’t take it back off.
So here we go again. Let’s run the numbers. For each decade that we make it through, many of us will be 20-30 lbs heavier on average! Think about that for a minute. No, seriously stop reading and think about it. 

Crazy, right? This is why during this time of year I preach “Maintain Don’t Gain”. And I think this is reasonable. I mean c’mon. Halloween, Thanksgiving (probably mulitple ones), and Christmas paired with cold weather, lack of motivation, shorter days, etc. It’s no wonder we pack on a few. I used to be of the mindset of “It’s Thanksgiving for crying outloud, enjoy it!” Well that has since changed. And the reason is that it can become a slippery slope in a hurry. First it’s Thanksgiving, then it’s another Thanksgiving at another family members’ house, then it’s the leftovers, then it’s leftover Halloween candy, then it’s…. you see what I mean? Same thing for exercise by the way. I actually had this conversation with my mom the other day. My dad had a deep chest cold and wasnt feeling great, but went swimming at the pool anyways. He admitted that he didn’t go as fast or as far as usual, but he still went. This left my mom perplexed. “Why didn’t he just take a day off?” was her statement to me. I smiled, nodded, and simply said “because he had to”.

Take home message here is to stay the course. 8 weeks may not seem like much, but damage can be done… potentially irreversable damage if you believe the studies. Hey, you can do anything for 8 weeks so why not make it eating healthy and exercising when others aren’t? Get a head start on ’em and enjoy the gym while it’s empty! Trust me, it won’t be come January 2nd. Been there, worked that.

Quick note: If you run into me and I seem a bit pudgier than usual, it’s on purpose. I’m actually going the opposite direction of what I just spent the past 15 minutes typing about. I’m attempting to put some weight on my skinny frame. There is a method to the madness. Maybe I’ll detail it in my next blog.