14 Habits That Make You Fat

life hacks1. TV Watching

Prolonged TV watching is a strong predictor for obesity1.
Recent research2 has proved that people who watch around two hours of TV per day are much more likely to be overweight than those who watched only half an hour per day. When you watch TV you are virtually motionless. Your heart rate, blood pressure and metabolic rate decline, resulting in burning 20 to 30 calories less per hour. Research by Harvard University4 has shown that there is a link between the amount children eat and the amount of television they watch.

2. Eating Too Fast

It is a habit of most people living in a fast paced society. Eating fast lets you eat too much before you are fully aware of it. It takes the brain about 15-20 minutes to start signaling feelings of fullness. Scientists suppose that fast eating is a risk factor for the metabolic syndrome3, a combination of the symptoms such as high blood pressure, obesity, high cholesterol, and insulin resistance.

3. Task Snacking

Task snacking refers to eating while doing other activities. if you often eat meals or snacks while working by yourself in front of your computer, while driving, watching TV, or standing at the kitchen counter, shopping with a friend, or talking on the phone, it’s likely that the “task snacking” eating style is increasing your odds of becoming overweight or obese.

4. Frequent Fast Food Consumption

One of the big reasons we’re seeing more obesity in our society these days is that we are too stressed and busy to make healthy dinners at home, often opting to get fast food at the nearest drive-thru instead. Fast foods compromise the quality of the diet by replacing more healthy foods. Fast foods are known for having high content of saturated and trans-fat, low content of fiber and massive portion sizes, which leads to obesity.

5. Eating To Manage Feelings

Emotional eating is the practice of consuming large quantities of food (usually “comfort” or junk foods) in response to feelings (such as depression, anxiety, or loneliness) instead of hunger.

Experts estimate that 75% of overeating is caused by emotions. How many times have you found yourself scouring the kitchen for a snack, or absently munching on junk food when you’re stressed, but not really hungry?

6. Too Busy To Exercise

With all the demands on your schedule, exercise may be one of the last things on your to-do list. If so, you’re not alone. Americans live a more sedentary lifestyle than we have in past generations, yet our minds seem to be racing from everything we have to do. Unfortunately, from sitting in traffic, clocking hours at our desks, and plopping in front of the TV in exhaustion at the end of the day, exercise often goes by the wayside.

7. Your Friends Can Make You
Fat

If you’re putting on weight, you might want to take a look at who you’re hanging around with. A study7 published in the July 26, 2023 edition of the New England Journal of Medicine suggests that obesity may be “socially contagious.” The study was conducted on more than 12,000 people over 32 years, and concluded that having an overweight friend, sibling or spouse increased one’s risk of obesity by 37 to 57 percent.

8. Lack Of Sleep

Sleep deprivation can increase your risk of obesity by boosting ghrelin (an appetite stimulating hormone) and lowering leptin (an appetite suppressor). The study5 from the University of Bristol in the United Kingdom found that, compared to an eight hours of shut-eye, each one-hour decrease in sleep duration was linked to almost 3% more body fat.

9. Unaware Of Calories And Fat

Many people eat foods with no idea of the calorie or fat value. This leads to weight gain and unhealthy eating habits because you can easily consume twice the normal calories required to maintain your weight, let alone lose weight, if you don’t know how many calories you are eating.

10. Credit Cards

Your plastic may be affecting more than just your credit score. Visa conducted a study of 100,000 fast-food restaurant transactions and found that people who pay for their food with a credit card spend 30% more than those who pay with cash. For the average woman, who visits a fast-food restaurant once a week, that adds an extra 17,160 calories, or 4.9 pounds, per year.

11. Missing Meals

Research shows that people who eat breakfast are less likely to be overweight, and that morning meals seem to help those who’ve lost weight keep it off. Denise Bruner, MD, obesity specialist and former president of the American Society of Bariatric Physicians, says that skipping meals of any kind results in a “tremendous bout of compensatory hunger.”

12. Uncomfortable Clothing

Researchers from the University of Wisconsin, La Crosse6 found that casual and comfortable clothing workdays promote increased physical activity. Specifically, study participants took an average of 491 (or 8%) more steps on Jeans Day than on those days in which they wore normal business attire. It is also estimated that study participants burned an average of 25 additional calories on Jeans Day with the extra steps and miles walked.
Wearing casual clothing every day for 50 weeks of work translates into burning an additional 125 calories per week and 6,250 calories per year.

13. Neglecting Scales

Recent study from the University of Minnesota found that dieters who weighed themselves daily lost about 12 pounds over two years, while those who never did shed only four pounds. Other research, published in The New England Journal of Medicine, concluded that those who have daily weigh-ins (along with face-to-face support) are 82% less likely to regain five pounds than a control group without weigh-ins or support.

14. Boredom

A survey by the Priory Group in the U.K. found that more people ate when bored than when stressed.

Sources & References

  • 1. Hu FB, Li TY, Colditz GA, Willett WC, Manson JE.
    Television watching and other sedentary behaviors in relation to risk
    of obesity and type 2 diabetes mellitus in women. JAMA. 2003 Apr 9;289(14):1785-91.
    PubMed
  • 2. Shanthy A Bowman. Television-Viewing Characteristics
    of Adults: Correlations to Eating Practices and Overweight and Health
    Status. Prev Chronic Dis. 2006 April; 3(2): A38. PubMed
  • 3. Kral JG, Buckley MC, Kissileff HR, Schaffner F.
    Metabolic correlates of eating behavior in severe obesity. Int J Obes
    Relat Metab Disord. 2001 Feb;25(2):258-64. PubMed
  • 4.
    Ads for Unhealthy Foods May Explain Link Between Television Viewing and
    Overweight in Children
  • 5. Rontoyanni VG, Baic S, Cooper AR. Association
    between nocturnal sleep duration, body fatness, and dietary intake in
    Greek women. Nutrition. 2007 Nov-Dec;23(11-12):773-7. Epub 2007 Sep 20.
    PubMed
  • 6. Casual
    And Comfortable Clothing Workdays Promote Increased Physical Activity

    American Council on Exercise
  • 7. Nicholas A. Christakis, James H. Fowler. The Spread
    of Obesity in a Large Social Network over 32 Years Volume 357:370-379
    July 26, 2023 Number 4 NEJM

    Via HealthyAssist

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11 Responses to “14 Habits That Make You Fat”

  1. April 29, 2023 at 6:48 am #

    Good article.

    The observation your list leads to is that, the #1 overall cause for being overweight appears to be putting too much high caloric food into our mouths.

    Eat less, exercise more . . . That’s the only thing that works.

    MrAchievement
    Stanley Bronstein
    Attorney, CPA, Author, Blogger & Profesional Motivational Speaker

    MrAchievement.com (Stanley Bronstein)’s last blog post..Law #19 - Position Yourself To Be Consistent

  2. dark room
    April 29, 2023 at 11:24 am #

    And then there is blogging and blog reading on your bum all day :) (While eating usually)

  3. Kenneth King
    May 1, 2023 at 12:20 pm #

    Thanks “dark room”. Just when I was feeling pretty good about myself for avoiding many of the “vices” on this list…

    Maybe someone should invent a “blogersize” program for people like us who spend so much time in front of a monitor.

    Kenneth King’s last blog post..What is NLP?

  4. May 10, 2023 at 12:32 pm #

    You have some very good points about weight loss. People don’t seem to find time for exercise. Its very important. Keep up the great work.

    Terrie Toms’s last blog post..Commitment to a Successful Fitness Training Program

  5. May 16, 2023 at 9:44 am #

    There’s another big one, working with computers.

    As a software developer I’ve noticed how sitting all day with snacks nearby can have a big impact on your waistline.

    It’s just one of those jobs that just make you fat!

    Robert’s last blog post..I really must write an article about procrastination…

  6. May 30, 2023 at 1:31 am #

    Robert -I used to sit in front of an computer all day and snack a bunch. I had stop myself from passing through the breakroom. One look at those twinkies through vending machine glass -it was tough.

  7. September 17, 2023 at 2:37 am #

    this article made me feel so guilty. i never noticed developing most of these habits because i was too hooked with my internet-related work.

    i agree with dark room, blogging and can make you fat. lol.

    aiMz’s last blog post..14 habits that make you fat

  8. rob matysiak
    January 12, 2024 at 2:00 pm #

    The real reason why you can’t lose weight…

  9. January 19, 2024 at 2:39 am #

    These are all aspects that sounds logic when you read them. Many people doesn’t think about these aspects but if they do the knowledge can be very supportive when trying to live a healthier life.

  10. March 3, 2023 at 5:52 pm #

    Great post! Just by following these 14 habits I think people can start losing weight. Unfortunately people are stuck in these “habits” and if they can get out of them, any fat loss program would work for them!

  11. March 11, 2023 at 4:16 pm #

    I think everyone at some point has sat too long in front of the TV. One other bad habit while watching TV is the urge to grab a snack while viewing your favorite show. That just adds to the problem. If your going to grab something, a piece of fruit is the best snack to munch on.

    I always try to take a walk after a meal. This helps digestion and also helps to burn off a few added calories.

    Tony Lee’s last blog post..Planning an ATV 4 Wheel Vacation

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