Snacking While Gaming Can Hurt Weight Loss

[droid]

Eating too much and exercising too little will result in poor health. That is not what the study is about. What do you think most people do while they are eating, marathons or something? The study is about eating while sitting at a table compared to eating while sitting at a table playing solitaire. They only measure the quantity of food eaten and the satiation afterwards and do not directly measure weight gain.

How full you feel is almost independent of how full your stomach is. Another experiment had two groups eat soup until full. Subjects in one group each had a self filling bowl so no matter how much they ate the bowl remained full. Subjects in the other group got as many normal non-refilling bowls as desired. Those in the group with self filling bowls ate about twice as much [http://scienceblogs.com/cognitivedaily/2009/06/self-refilling_bowls_an_idea_w.php], and did not feel any more full than the control group. So this study gets about the same results, just in a situation more likely to happen in real life.

You eat with your eyes and not your stomach, so being distracted while eating makes you feel less full. Which could indirectly lead to eating more. I am sure similar results could come from watching TV or any other engaging activity, so you don't need to defend gaming.

 

[adderseal]

Unless I'm missing some glaring point, is this not completely obvious? Eating lots equals excess weight. It's very simple.


EDIT: Actually, now I think about it this is the second or third article from the news team that basically says: If you eat lots and sit on your arse all day you will get fat. Oh really? Well fuck me.

Yes, you and all the others are missing basic reading comprehension. I'm baffled by how many people apparently didn't read the article. Where does it say anything about sitting around, overeating, or lack of exercise? The entire point of the article is "you feel less full and tend to eat more if you're doing something else while you eat," not "you get fat by eating a lot."

Holy crap people, learn how to bloody read.

Unless I'm missing some glaring point

You are. As the article and several people in this thread have said, the point is that not paying attention to your food while eating will mean it satisfies you less and make you more likely to eat more later. It's not just "eat food, play games, get fat". The other article you mentioned (I'm presuming it's this one [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/106924-News-Flash-Sitting-on-Your-Ass-All-Day-Isnt-Healthy]) was about a study that said that sitting down too much is bad for you, even if you are fairly physically active otherwise. As in, it's not the lack of exercise that's bad for you, it's the sitting down. And it was about risk of heart attack and other causes of death. It said nothing about weight gain.

Whoops-a-diddly. My bad, guys. Sorry Mr.Funk.

EDIT: Haha, you may want to make your answers a sticky. I swear 90% of people here have said the same thing as me.

EDIT EDIT: 'A new study by the School of Experimental Psychology at the University of Bristol's nutrition and behavior unit suggests that eating while playing games is a good way to pack on the pounds.'

I think that's what threw people.

 

[Elburzito]

Oh yeah! My mother once mentioned that eating in front of the television isn't good for your weight. I guess it would have a similar effect with gaming.

 

[Faladorian]

Wasted research hours. If you're adding calories and not burning them off they pool up. Who didn't know that?

 

[Mikeyfell]

wow... snacking while gaming could hurt weight loss
guess what shooting your self in the foot could hurt your foot!!

 

[Ubermetalhed]

I'd think intensive gaming does cost a lot of energy, so then I could imagine feeling more hungry and eating more ... but this effect with solitaire surprises me.

I'll keep this in mind in the future.

Do this many people really lack basic reading comprehension? Escapist forums, this is not a very good showing. JFC.

Indeed, such fail. They used an actual control group, and still people miss the point entirely.

It is still extremely obvious or it is to me. When people eat small snacks regardless of activity you tend to feel more hungry and less full and so tend to want more junk and consequently it can lead to weight gain. It is better to eat more well rounded portions at regular intervals. This isn't something that requires a study to prove, its general knowledge. So they are still being completely daft in discovering this.

 

[DPunch4]

Also in headlines today: Cancer can be hazardous to your health!

My fast metabolism will save me! (at least for 2-5 more years...)

 

[AngloDoom]

Thank you, science?

 

[OtherSideofSky]

This is probably an interesting discovery for someone in the scientific community, but eating while gaming is aesthetically appalling, so I really care what happens to people who do it (although this makes me feel a touch vindicated and slightly superior). Anyone who wants to lose weight shouldn't be snacking in the first place, anyway. I'm not surprised that the solitaire players had trouble remembering what and how much they had eaten, but the fact that they felt less full afterwards surprised me (and is probably very interesting to someone with a degree in biology or psychology or maybe both, but it pretty much just bewilders me).

 

[BehattedWanderer]

Reading between the lines, here, it seems that gaming uses more energy than not? They have a secondary need for snacks, which to me says more energy was burned?

Or, alternatively, that snacks are awesome.

 

[theriddlen]

I eat like that for years. And... I'm thin and healthy.

u jelly fatfags?

 

[fingerbang143]

"start sarcasm" Never would have guessed!!! "end sarcasm"

 

[Stormwaltz]

(leaving)

 

[somersetal]

so thats the oxford definition of obvious

 

[Ravek]

It is still extremely obvious or it is to me. When people eat small snacks regardless of activity you tend to feel more hungry and less full and so tend to want more junk and consequently it can lead to weight gain. It is better to eat more well rounded portions at regular intervals. This isn't something that requires a study to prove, its general knowledge. So they are still being completely daft in discovering this.

Yes, that is obvious. But it's not about snacks being bad for you. It's about snacks while gaming being worse for you than snacks while not gaming, and that is far from apparent!

 

[HotFezz8]

no. shit. sherlock.

the only suprising thing bout this post was that someone thought he needed to share it.

 

[Naturality]

Well duh.

 

[MasterChief892039]

*snip*

Wow.

I mean... wow.

Do this many people really lack basic reading comprehension? Escapist forums, this is not a very good showing. JFC.

I read the article and I realized before posting that it was about the difference between snacking while distracted and focusing on the food you eat - that doesn't mean it wasn't an incredibly stupid experiment with really predictable, and (hopefully) common sense results. I also find it annoying that they put a video game-related spin on it when it could have easily applied to anything that takes your attention away from the food you're eating (eating while watching TV, while on the phone, while reading a magazine, while walking, eating just to have something in your hand, etc).

Lighten up and stop being a know-it-all twat.