Bet you could have guessed the outcome of a new survey by Obesimed (it’s a weight loss treatment sold in pharmacies and yes, it’s new) regarding where holiday-makers gain the most weight. Go on, have a go. The company quizzed 2,000 Brits about where they went on holiday as well as how much weight they’d put on when they arrived back home. No? Can’t take a stab at it?
Well you’ll kick yourself because you may be thinking the obvious answer may not be the correct one. But it is. Apparently, Brits who jet off to the US on average come back 8lb heavier than when they left. Yes, that’s 8lb. More than half a stone. And that’s just in two weeks away from home. Blimey.
Large portions, all-you-can-eat buffets and constant snacking were all blamed for holiday weight-gain. Apparently, we binge eat when we go away. And those legendary US portions are just too hard to resist.
So let’s see where else has been blamed for the fact that many holiday-makers can’t actually squeeze into their holiday clothes by the time their holiday ends (no, really, that does happen). In second place was the Caribbean (well, all those inclusive resorts are just ripe for a binge-fest, aren’t they?), then France in third and Italy in fourth place. Lagging at number five is Greece.
“A large chunk of holiday-makers do little else but lounge around the pool and use their two-week break as an excuse to indulge and let themselves go,” says Obesimed’s Peter Seddon.
You don’t say.
According to the survey, six out of 10 people regularly gain weight on holiday, with the overall average amount of holiday weight gain being 5lb. But don’t blame foreign food. Brits who holiday at home can pile on up to 7lb in weight too.
Apparently we get depressed about all those extra pounds, with two thirds of those surveyed admitting the rapid weight gain gets them down. Part of that could be because it takes us six weeks on average to lose the weight we gained on a two-week break. Then one in six of us only keeps the weight off for three weeks before falling off the diet wagon again.
So what’s the solution? To not take holidays? Hmm, perhaps that’s not such a bad idea…