Making a Halloween Resolution (instead of a New Years One)

Halloween is like Thanksgiving for candy bars.

We were talking about Halloween Trick or Treating last night, and people were talking about what they were going to do with all of the left over candy that they bought, or which their kids bring home.  Nobody planned on throwing it out.  They would all eventually eat it.  Probably pretty quickly. 

This reminds me of a study we did for the New England Journal of Medicine that showed that every year Americans start gaining more weight from today and for the next two months.  The key take-away is that we shouldn't wait until January 1st to make a resolution to lose weight.  We should make a Halloween resolution to not gain weight. 

Below are some nice details related about the study.  The Blue line is the Americans, and you can see that just before November starts, the average weight of Americans grows higher and higher until just after January, when it drops again.

Labor Day, Halloween, Thanksgiving . . . the summer is almost over but the indulgent holiday season is near. This study we conducted found that many of us spend months getting rid of that excess weight gained during the holiday season. The study showed that according to yearly national weight patterns, it takes American’s nearly  between Thanksgiving and Easter. 

We also found  in a similar study that the weight of Americans begin rising around Thanksgiving, and peak around Christmas and the New Year. It isn’t until after Easter, about a 5 month period, that weight patterns even out.  

We also analyzed yearly weight patterns in Germany and Japan. Similar to the US, those in Germany weighted the most around Christmas/New-Year period and those in Japan weight the most during Golden Week in April – a major Japanese holiday. Each country also showed a peak in weight for New Years. 

Everyone gains weight over the holiday -- starting on Halloween  Instead of making a New Year’s Resolution, the best time to make a resolution to keep the pounds off this holiday season might be now.