The Average Holiday Weight Gain is… Not Very Much

We’ve all heard our friends and co-workers complain about how much weight they gained over the holiday. They’ll claim it must have been at least 5 pounds and now their jeans don’t fit. In fact, it is commonly asserted that the average American gains 5 lbs over the Holidays. But does that hold any truth? Does anyone really gain so much over such a short span? Let’s take a look at what actually happens, and what puts you at risk for a greater-than-average weight gain.

Is that even possible? You’ll probably be relieved to hear that, no, it is very unlikely you will gain3–5 pounds from one day of indulging. As it turns out the average holiday weight gain — over the entire holiday season, not just Christmas day — is only 0.37 kg, or just under 1 lb in U.S. adults¹. Whats interesting is that there seems to be a few factors that predict who is likely to gain more weight in the holiday season

So how did we get this statistic? The study mentioned above took 195 participants spanning the ages of 19–85 and followed them from September to March. Sex, Race, and BMI of participants is displayed above.