We all have our little habits. Our lives are regulated according to a daily routine that works well until we can no longer close our pants. Here’s how your evening activities could be the cause of your weight gain.
- Dinner is your biggest meal of the day
In North America, evening meals tend to be the most important meal of the day. And that could well be the cause of the extra pounds. Filling yourself up with calories that the body does not have the time to burn can lead to weight gain. You will feel more energized throughout the day, and your body will have the time to spend the calories instead of storing them during your sleep. In this study, overweight women who took such a 12-week lunch (followed by 500 calories at dinner and 200 at dinner) lost twice as much weight and centimeters in waist circumference as the second group, Followed by an inverse diet: 200 calories at lunch, 500 at dinner and 700 at dinner.
- You do not brush your teeth after supper and you gain weight
You tend to nibble in the evening by boredom or by habit, or in front of the TV? Eating out of boredom can quickly turn into a calorie intake compared to a full meal. Brushing your teeth immediately after supper is a good way to not snack. “Many people will eat cake and high-calorie foods in the evening when they are no longer hungry. If they have brushed their teeth, they hold back so that they do not have to start again. If you nibble without thinking in the evening, brush your teeth and floss after the meal. This could limit your tendency to overweight, and you will have one less thing to do before you go to bed.
- You do not occupy your hands enough
If you follow Dr. Huang’s walking tips after supper and go back in front of the TV, be aware that while your brain is being sought, your hands can handle things to eat. “Occupy your hands with a cushion or a glass of water,” suggests Dr. Huang. Is not that enough? Think knitting, coloring for adults, or puzzles. Discover the scientific reasons for the positive effects of coloring.
- You do not sit down to supper
You often take your dinners in front of the television and know better the plot than the contents of your plate: you risk gaining weight. A team from the University of Birmingham in the UK has evaluated hundreds of studies to find out the impact of attention and memory on a diet. In each of these studies, the first group ate in front of the television, and the other stood far from the screen. The researchers came to two conclusions that they published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition in 2013: a lack of attention to food can make you eat more, while a good concentration on the meal help to diminish the appetite. In fact, if you are not aware of what you are swallowing, the brain is not able to properly analyze the situation. If you do not remember eating, you will be more tempted to get food later in the evening.
You check your emails
Your mania for checking office emails late into the night reminds you inexorably of your schedules, inquiries, complaints, or requests from your supervisor. It can have a direct influence on your weight. Stress causes you to nibble and stress hormones, then promote weight gain. The body will indeed make reserves of fat (especially abdominal) to ensure its survival when it goes wrong. Excess cortisol also slows metabolism and allows the storage of reserves. A survey by the American Psychological Association found that nearly a quarter of Americans rated their stress at an alarming 8 out of 10.
- You consume too much alcohol
It’s nice to unwind with a glass of wine or a beer in the evening. However, if one glass does not wait for the other, you could end up with a “beer belly.” “Alcohol in the evening results in extra calorie intake in the form of sugars that end up in abdominal fat,” says Lisa Cohn, dietician and consultant for the miVIP Surgery Centers network of medical clinics. “People consume on average 300 to 500 calories per-sweetened alcoholic beverage and 120 to 200 calories per glass of 340 ml beer. Alcohol contains seven calories per gram and is metabolized rapidly and then broken down into fat stores. Add these calories to the chips bag, and you will see the impact on the tower of your waist.
