Burn More Calories, Turn Off the TV

It's no secret that we are a television-obsessed culture. The average American spends almost 35 hours per week parked in front of the boob tube -- that's 65 days per year, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. Television addiction can not only create attention problems in adolescents, but it also -- and we know this one is a shocker -- feeds directly into the obesity epidemic.

Research has already shown that your figure and your TV habits have a close connection: The more TV you watch, the more you are likely to weigh. A recent study published in the December issue of the Archives of Internal Medicine seeks to further the point.

Researchers at the University of Vermont conducted a study of 36 adults who were either overweight or obese and watched at least three hours of television per day. Twenty of those individuals were given an electronic device that shut off the TV after they had watched half their normal amount of television. The remaining 16 were able to watch as much television as they wanted.

After three weeks, researchers found that those with the lock-out systems burned 119 more calories per day -- the equivalent to walking more than one mile -- while the control group burned 95 fewer calories. "Burning an additional 120 calories per day for the year would amount to 12 pounds of either weight gain prevention or weight loss," says study author Jennifer J. Otten, postdoctoral scholar at the Stanford University School of Medicine.

Additionally, those who watched less television reduced their calorie intake by 244 per day compared to the control group, which consumed 57 more calories than they burned each day. While subjects did not necessarily engage in physical activity when the TV went off, Otten reports that they did spend more time reading, sitting on the computer or doing deskwork -- all of which uses more energy than watching TV. "Many reported that they did walk more," says Otten. "One woman reorganized her photographs. Another spent more time playing with her kids on the floor or doing arts and crafts."

Whether or not cutting back on television time can result in weight loss still remains to be seen. However, Otten believes that, at the very least, watching 50 percent less TV can help stave off weight gain, which is something definitely worth considering.

Do you spend too much time in front of the TV? Consider putting yourself on a television diet.