HHS HealthBeat (August 22, 2008)

Weighty weekends

From the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, I’m Ira Dreyfuss with HHS HealthBeat.

Do good Monday through Friday on your diet, and what do you get?

The weekend, and that’s not good.

Susan Racette of Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis found that. She says most dieters have trouble losing weight on the weekends, when people don’t pay as much attention to what they eat.

These findings help explain why diets don’t always work like we want them to.

Racette says dieters should weigh themselves daily so they know how they are doing.

She also says dieters could plan ahead by packing their own food.

“If you’re going to be out running errands, or if you’re going to be at your child’s sports events, and you’re going to be at the field all day, it doesn’t have to be anything fancy but grabbing a few things on your way out the door to have some healthy, lower-calorie choices can be very helpful.”  (12 seconds)

The study in the journal Obesity was supported by the National Institutes of Health.

Learn more at hhs.gov.

HHS HealthBeat is a production of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.  I’m Ira Dreyfuss.

Last revised: August, 22 2008