Ever since I was a little boy I’ve heard a million reasons why I should watch less television; it’ll rot your brain, it’ll kill you and even it will make me cross-eyed. Of course I never listened to any of those reasons, because honestly they all sounded like old wives tales. Then I heard that watching television could be hurting my weight loss efforts and my ears pricked up a little.

{Watching TV like this is a recipe for weight gain!}

Keep reading to find out if your TV is making you fat and how you can make it stop!

Television & Obesity

There are plenty of non-scientific reasons that people believe watching TV makes you fat, first among them is your television viewing behavior. But there are legitimate reasons that TV has been linked to obesity.

According to the Journal of the American Medical Association, every 2 hours spent in front of the TV increases your risk of becoming obese by 23% as well as 14% increase in the risk of diabetes. Most people believe statistics such as these don’t include them because they get exercise regularly, but nothing could be further from the truth.

In fact all people who engage in prolonged television watching (2 hours or more at a time) are at risk for obesity and obesity related illnesses regardless of physical activity levels. This means that for all of us, TV can be contributing to weight gain.

But how? The things we do or don’t do while watching television is mostly responsible for this association.

If you love nothing more than spending your evening watching the primetime line-up on your favorite network, then it is up to you find ways to make television less detrimental to your efforts to lose or maintain weight loss. Below we’ve come up with 5 tips that will allow you to watch TV without sacrificing precious calories burned.

Workout While You Watch

One of these best ways to watch television without worrying too much about getting fat is to workout while you watch television. Many mega-gyms all over the world have banks of televisions to keep you entertained while you burn fat, so why not take that notion home with you?

Grab your weights or portable elliptical and push that sofa back so that you can create your calorie deficit while enjoying a block of TV programming. This will help eliminate many of the negative behaviors associated with prolonged television watching such as overeating, junk food consumption and the decrease in your metabolic rate.

Think of it this way; to combat the decline in natural calorie burning all you have to do is warm up, workout, cool down and stretch while you watch primetime TV. That’s just about 2 hours of programming and rather than consuming calories you’ve actually burned plenty!

No Bags In Front of the TV

The biggest culprit for the link between watching TV and obesity is mindless snacking in front of the television. Many studies have shown that we eat more food while watching television than when not watching TV. Why?

Because TV is distracting and rather than counting how many potato chips or Reese’s Pieces you’re eating, you’re focused on the action on TV. In fact some studies indicate that we eat more during meals if we’ve eaten a snack during television time because most of us simply cannot recall what or how much we ate earlier in the day.

To combat this, do your weight loss a favor and measure out a proper serving size in the kitchen and bring only that with you to snack while you watch television. Don’t bring large bags of junk food with you into the TV room because chances are good you’ll eat the entire bag. Stick to this rule and you can worry less about CSI making you fat.

Fast Forward

Even if you have nerves of steel the enticing presentation of junk food and high calorie drinks during commercials can be simply irresistible. The more you watch commercials with these high-calorie and high fat foods & drinks, the more crave them. The inevitable conclusion is that you march into the kitchen and grab a big bag of something that won’t help you lose weight.

{Avoid temptation by zipping right by these enticing advertisements.}

So, fast forward through commercials whenever possible. Digital video recorders (DVR) are widely available and totally worth the cost if it means you can stop being tempted during commercial breaks by expert junk food marketers.

Listen

Not all television requires you to sit there with the blue lights dancing across your face. Some television only requires that you listen, which is the perfect time to do other activities that can help you burn a few additional calories.

Turn on MSNBC, BBC World News or your local news station and clean the house, clean the dishes or cook dinner. This way you can still get in a little television time without just sitting there while your metabolic rate slows down.

Buy Snack Fruits

Study after study tells us that the junk we eat while watching TV is mostly responsible for the link between extended periods of watching TV and obesity. One of the best things you can do to change this fate is to make smarter snack choices, in general but especially when you watch TV.

Next time you make your shopping list, be sure to add plenty of fruits, especially fruits that make good snacks. Raisins, grapes, berries and melons are sweet, bite-size and low in calories. This lets you enjoy a snack, a healthy snack, that won’t increase your risk of obesity and obesity related illnesses.

Time Apart

As great as some television programming can be, let’s all admit here and now that much if it is complete crap. Agreed?

Now that we have settled that its time to talk about taking a break from watching TV, especially for extended periods of time. Choose a day, any day like Friday when programming is the worst, and do something other than watch television. Fire up some tunes while you make a deliciously healthy meal that will make you proud, or call an old friend and catch up for awhile.

The point is that if you want to watch TV and not suffer the inevitable link to obesity, find other things to do that don’t include always sitting down in front of the television.

For some of us, getting rid of junk food is difficult but it doesn’t have to be. Read our review of Eat Stop Eat by Brad Pilon and see how intermittent fasting can help you stop craving junk.