Behind every public figure's appearance lies a personal health and beauty regimen. This series examines the diets, workouts, treatments, and fashion and lifestyle choices of people in the spotlight.
Many people are startled to see the number on the scale jump after eating more than usual during a holiday. Broadcaster Park Ji-yun is no exception — she recently shared footage of herself throwing herself into an intense workout after the Chuseok holiday.
Park posted a workout video on her SNS with the caption, "The price I'm paying for what I ate during Chuseok is absolutely terrifying." In the clip, she is seen training in HYROX, a high-intensity format that combines running with functional strength exercises.
A gain of 1 to 2 kilograms immediately after a holiday does not mean all of it is body fat. Eating more carbohydrates and salty foods than usual increases the body's glycogen stores and water retention, and the weight of undigested food still in the gastrointestinal tract adds to the total — all of which can push the scale up quickly.
However, if caloric intake consistently exceeded expenditure throughout the holiday, some actual body fat may have accumulated as well. To bring weight back down after a holiday, the most important step is restoring normal eating and activity patterns rather than crash-dieting or suddenly ramping up exercise over the course of a few days.
Not all of that 1–2 kg gained in a few days is fat
When carbohydrates are consumed, a portion is stored as glycogen in the muscles and liver — and glycogen storage draws water along with it.
Research on "carbohydrate loading," in which carbohydrate intake is sharply increased, has shown that body weight can rise by roughly 1 to 1.5 kilograms over a few days, with a significant share of that increase attributable to changes in body water rather than fat mass. Some studies found little change in actual fat levels.
A similar effect can occur during a short holiday period when people eat more rice, rice cakes, savory pancakes, japchae, desserts and other foods than usual. When sodium intake also rises — through soups, stews, seasoned dishes and fried foods — the body retains more water, causing puffiness in the face and extremities and pushing weight higher.
Larger meal volumes also increase the weight of undigested food and intestinal contents. These effects tend to subside over several days once normal eating and activity resume.
A common belief holds that "weight gained quickly must be lost within two weeks" or that "glycogen turns into fat after two weeks," but the body's metabolism does not operate on such fixed deadlines.
Excessive carbohydrate intake increases carbohydrate oxidation in the body while reducing fat oxidation. If the surplus continues, the process of synthesizing new fat can also accelerate. Studies in humans have confirmed that excessive carbohydrate consumption increases fat synthesis. What does not happen is a sudden, wholesale conversion of stored glycogen into fat once a specific point in time is reached.
What matters more than any "two-week" deadline is how quickly a person returns to their normal lifestyle patterns after the holiday ends.
HYROX: the workout Park Ji-yun chose — alternating running and strength training
The HYROX workout Park shared is a high-intensity format that combines running with functional strength exercises.
An official HYROX race consists of eight alternating rounds of a 1-kilometer run and one functional exercise station, covering 8 kilometers of running in total. The strength stations include the SkiErg, sled push and pull, burpee broad jumps, rowing, farmer's carry, sandbag lunges and wall balls.
Rather than repeating a single movement, the format demands cardiovascular endurance, muscular strength and muscular endurance simultaneously. Because strength exercises follow immediately after running has elevated the heart rate — and running resumes again afterward — the overall intensity is considerable.
"Concurrent training" — performing both strength and endurance work together — can improve both fitness qualities at once. Reviews of studies in healthy adults have found that combining strength and endurance training can produce gains in both cardiorespiratory fitness and muscular strength, though the magnitude of benefit varies depending on a person's training history, sex and program design.
Workouts like HYROX that chain multiple movements together tend to burn a relatively high number of calories per hour. They can be a useful way to increase activity levels after a holiday, but approaching them with the mindset of "burning off everything I ate in one session" is best avoided.
For people who do not exercise regularly, suddenly repeating running intervals and heavy lifting can place significant stress on the knees, ankles and lower back. Those who are not accustomed to this type of training are better off starting with shorter distances, slower paces and lighter loads on the sled or weights, then gradually increasing intensity.
Starving yourself to lose holiday weight fast? Your workouts will suffer
Some people respond to post-holiday weight gain by eating only one meal a day or cutting out carbohydrates entirely. The number on the scale may drop quickly, but much of that decline is likely to reflect losses in water and glycogen rather than fat. Carbohydrates are a primary fuel source for high-intensity efforts like HYROX, which combines running with demanding strength work. Severely restricting carbohydrate intake while training hard can cause fatigue to set in faster and reduce the quality of each session.
The better approach to diet is simply to return to pre-holiday portion sizes. Rather than eliminating rice, noodles or bread entirely, moderate the amount eaten at each meal and get an appropriate amount of carbohydrates from whole grains and mixed grains. Eating enough protein — from lean meats, fish, eggs, tofu and similar foods — helps preserve muscle mass while losing weight.
It is also important to cut back on calorie-dense, low-satiety foods such as savory pancakes, fried foods, snacks, alcohol and sugary drinks. After a holiday period of high sodium intake, eating adequate vegetables and fruit and drinking plenty of water helps reduce puffiness and restore a normal eating rhythm.
The foundation of weight loss is creating a sustained state in which energy expenditure exceeds energy intake over a period of time. Returning to normal meal sizes and gradually rebuilding daily activity — walking and regular exercise — has a greater impact on weight management than one or two intense workout sessions.
The sudden weight gain right after a holiday is a mixture of water, glycogen, intestinal contents and body fat. If weight drops quickly after a few days of normalizing food intake, reducing sodium and resuming exercise, much of the gain was likely temporary.
Getting back into an exercise routine after the holiday can support weight management. What matters most is not panicking over a short-term increase on the scale and trying to compensate through extreme restriction or exercise, but returning to the normal eating and activity patterns that can be sustained over time.
rainbow@heraldcorp.com
