Weight Loss and Weekend Splurges

By Jane Farrell

If you want to lose weight, eating well during the week may be more important than avoiding weekend splurges.

Researchers from Cornell University, in collaboration with researchers from the VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland and Tampere University of Technology, examined the impact that the seven-days-a-week human cycle has on weight.

The study of 80 adults found that people who lost weight during the week had higher “compensation patterns” than those who gained weight. In other words, the weight losers ate sensibly during the week. Their decreased consumption of food began on Monday and reached its lowest point on Friday. On the other hand, weight gainers’ food intake fluctuated from day to day and showed no clear decrease.

In 59 percent of cases, weight losers reached their maximum weight on Sunday and Monday; in 60 percent of the cases they hit their minimum on Friday or Saturday. Among those who ultimately gained weight, minimum and maximum weights were evenly distributed over the week.

Based on these results, the researchers said, weight variations between weekdays and weekends should be considered normal instead of weight gain, and that dieters should notice these rhythms if they want to lose weight successfully.

The findings were published in the journal Obesity Facts.