We all know that celebrating the holidays with friends, family, and a few extra calories often causes us to end the year with a couple of extra pounds hugging our waist line. However, a new study found that even with increased calorie consumption and weight gain, exercise helps prevent the effects of that weight gain that are harmful to your health.
Exercise Counteracts the Effects of Short–Term Overeating
In a study published in The Journal of Physiology, researchers investigated whether daily exercise could counteract the effects of short-term overeating.
The study looked at 26 active men ages 25-27 and randomly assigned them to two groups. One group consumed 50% more calories than normal and restricted their physical activity to below 4,000 steps per day. The second group consumed about 75% more calories than normal, but ran 45 minutes on the treadmill each day at 70% of maximum oxygen intake. This allowed both groups to have the same net daily energy surplus, despite the differences in activity.
At the beginning and the end of each week, all volunteers were given oral glucose tests, fasting blood samples, and had small samples taken of their abdominal fat. After just one week, the differences in the two groups were prominent.
The inactive group showed significant decline in blood sugar control, and their fat cells showed increased genes linked to disrupted nutritional balance and poor metabolism, and fewer genes linked to healthy metabolism.
The active group, however, fared much better. Their blood sugar levels remained stable and their fat cells showed much less “undesirable” changes in gene expression, even after nearly doubling their calories.
As a senior author on the study noted, “A critical feature of our experiment is that we matched the energy surplus between groups – so the exercise group consumed even more energy and were still better off at the end of the week.”
What should you do over the holidays?
As the research suggests, increased activity can help counteract the added calories brought on by our over consumption of eggnog and candy canes during the holidays.
While many of us can’t necessarily run 45 minutes on the treadmill every day, try going for a walk with the family after a meal, or take advantage of that Wii Sport game your nephew got for Christmas and be active with a few games of virtual tennis or basketball.
How do you incorporate exercise into the holidays? Is it a family affair? Or do you have to fit in a workout between holiday events?
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