Watch Half As Much TV, Lose 12 Pounds Next Year

The abstract of a study published in the Archives of Internal Medicine puts it this way:"Reducing TV viewing in our sample produced a statistically significant increase in energy expenditure but no apparent change in energy intake after 3 weeks of intervention." The New York Times, reporting on the research, puts it this way: "Overweight adults who cut their viewing in half for three weeks used
about 120 more calories a day than a similar group of viewers, who
continued watching five hours a day on average." The paper points out that while 120 may not sound like a lot of calories, it's how many calories would be burned on a one-mile walk. And as a lead researcher points out, “If you add it up over time, it’s equivalent to walking eight miles
a week. Over a year, it might help prevent weight gain of 12 pounds.”

Read more in the New York Times.

Read more in the Archives of Internal Medicine.