We've all seen those depressing news items about how much weight most Americans gain between Thanksgiving and New Year's -- previous estimates say between 5 to 10 pounds. Researchers at the National Institutes of Health set out to see if this is true, and came up with a surprise. Holiday weight gain is a fact, but it is usually less than a pound. The bad news is that for the 165 participants who were weighed again the following fall, the weight gains they had made during the holidays were maintained. So, even though folks didn't gain much weight, what they did gain stayed on.

The New England Journal of Medicine 2000;342:861-867
http://www.nejm.org/content/2000/0342/0012/0861.asp