Why we gain extra weight over weekends

Ever heard of weight loss cycles in a week? If we believe new research, the week itself reveals why you lose weight on weekdays and gain extra kilos over weekends.

"On the weekends, people have more time to go out and eat," said Brian Wansink from Cornell University.

"Some indulging during weekends makes no harm but for successful weight loss, it is important to notice these rhythms and take steps to reverse the upward trends after the weekend," he explained.

The study, involving 80 adults in the age group of 25 to 62, found that slim people lose more weight during the weekdays.

The individuals were categorised according to relative weight changes in three categories - weight losers, weight gainers and weight maintainers.

These individuals were asked to weigh themselves after waking up before breakfast.

The main objective of the study was to observe whether weight fluctuation is dependent on the days of the week.

Weekly weight patterns were analysed across the three categories.

The results revealed a clear pattern in weekly weight fluctuation with higher weight after weekends and decreasing weight during the weekdays reaching the lowest point on Friday.

The researchers found a difference between weight losers and weight gainers in these fluctuation patterns.

Weight losers had stronger compensation pattern. Among them, the decrease started immediately after weekend and continued downward until Friday.

The weight gainers, on the other hand, had more variability between days and no clear decrease during weekdays.

The study was conducted in collaboration with researchers from the VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland and Tampere University of Technology.