Sorry to depress you right before the holidays -- you know, the merriest time of the year which also, not coincidentally, happens to be the plumpest for many of us...
All that sitting around after pigging out on turkey is guaranteed to show up on your posterior, according to recent research by Tel Aviv University.
That's right: couch potatoes get big bums. Sitting on your backside for long periods of time apparently puts pressure on the preadipocyte cells, leading the body to produce 50 percent more fat than usual.
Published in the American Journal of Physiology, the study warned that regular exercise wasn't enough to ward off the pounds if you spend a long time sitting down.
Fear not, the news isn't all glum. Another study, by UCSF, published online in the Journal of Obesity, claims the secret to weight loss is all about stress reduction and mindful eating, not dieting.
"You're training the mind to notice, but to not automatically react based on habitual patterns -- to not reach for a candy bar in response to feeling anger, for example," said UCSF researcher Jennifer Daubenmier. "If you can first recognize what you are feeling before you act, you have a greater chance of making a wiser decision."
The least stressed women in the study also reported the biggest loss of deep belly fat. Maybe not so easy to achieve a Zen-like state with the in-laws around. So this holiday season, whatever you do, just keep visualizing a flat tummy, take a deep breath and smile.
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