This is how much weight you could gain during the holiday season

December sees Americans gorge on fatty foods, indulgent sweets and high-calorie alcohol as they attend festive get togethers and holiday gatherings. 

But all of that overindulging leads to poor health outcomes that last well past New Year's resolutions.  

The month of December features holiday office parties and large family dinners with high-calorie foods and drinks like ham, pies and spiked eggnog - and unwrapping presents Christmas morning doesn't burn many calories. 

Because of this, people can expect to gain one pound of fat during the holiday season. 

Dr Jesse Bracamonte, a physician from the Mayo Clinic in Arizona, said: 'The average person gains about half a pound to one pound during the holiday season.'

While that may not seem like much at first, Dr Bracamonte cautioned it can add up over time because most people will never lose the extra weight. 

Dr Bracamonte told Inside Edition: 'It puts us at risk of problems such as diabetes, heart disease, hypertension, sometimes inflammatory problems such as even some cancers.' 

To gain one pound of fat, a person needs to consume an extra 3,500 calories. 

While consuming too many calories is the main culprit, it isn't the only reason you may pack on pounds in December.

Holidays also come with stress and lack of sleep, both of which impact weight gain.

According to a 2022 study, people who had less than six and a half hours of sleep per night ate on average 250 more calories during the the day. 

Getting enough sleep is vital because it regulates the production of two hormones - ghrelin and leptin - which create a balance of appetite and fullness.

A lack of sleep can cause an imbalance in the body, which increases ghrelin levels and decreases leptin levels, leaving you feeling hungrier throughout the day.

To avoid the weight gain, Dr Bracamonte recommended eating off a smaller plate rather than doing the 'eat and peck' method. 

The eat and peck method involves eating a full meal, followed by continuous grazing. 

The doctor added: 'You tend to eat more calories with that. Having a smaller plate may help to limit those calories.'

While research is limited, Dr Bracamonte isn't the first to highlight holiday-season weight gain. 

A separate 2015 study published in the New England Journal of Medicine found the average holiday weight gain was a little less than a pound.

Vanessa King, a registered dietitian nutritionist and spokesperson for the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics, told WebMD: 'Studies have also found that people who are already overweight and obese gain more weight than those who are at a healthy weight, and when considering average weight gain over a year, holiday weight is the major contributor to annual excess weight gain.'

In the US, nearly 42 percent of adults are considered obese — having a body mass index (BMI) of 30 or above, or roughly the equivalent of someone who is 5’9” weighing 203 or more lbs.

Being obese is tied to dozens of poor medical outcomes, including heart disease, diabetes, high blood pressure and kidney disease.

And there is evidence linking obesity to a higher risk of suffering from strokes, severe respiratory infections and 12 different cancers. 

The obesity epidemic in the US is estimated to cost the country's healthcare system more than $173billion per year.