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Today’s Health Upgrade
Number you won’t forget
Weekly wisdom
Stop searching for meaning (and do this instead)
Health
Number You Won’t Forget 76%
How Much Weight Do You Really Gain During The Holidays?
Most people enter the end of November terrified of what the next six weeks will do to the scale. The parties, the travel, the leftovers: it all feels like a recipe for packing on a few too many extra pounds.
The amount you gain is not as much as you’ve been told. And, at the same time, it’s more eye-opening:
Whether you are aware of it or not, research suggests the amount of weight you gain at the end of the year has a significant influence on your overall health.
Researchers found that the average person gains about one pound during the holidays, but that pound usually never comes off.
Researchers tracked adults for a full year, weighing them every 6 to 8 weeks to see when their weight actually changes. The big surprise? Between Thanksgiving and New Year’s, on average, people gained just one pound. That’s it. Not five pounds, not ten pounds, but here’s the catch:
That small increase accounted for 76% of their total annual weight gain, and almost no one lost it in the spring or summer.
The study followed participants through September, and the “holiday pound” remained months later. That’s why this research became a landmark.
If you’ve ever wondered how adults gain 10, 20, or even 40 pounds over the years, the answer is right here. One pound a year adds up. And most of it happens in just six weeks.
So what causes that holiday bump? The researchers found no single culprit: not stress, not the number of parties, not even travel. But those who stayed more physically active and kept hunger in check gained the least. People also overestimated their holiday gain by 300%, which explains why January panic feels so real.
The good news is how simple the solution is: Prevent one pound. That’s it.
Keep activity consistent. Tune into true hunger. Enjoy the celebrations, just without writing off the whole season. Here are a few practical ways to stay on track.
If you need help, we want to pay you back for staying healthy throughout the holiday season and help turn your health goals into a reality.
This week only, join The Pump Club App, and we’ll give you 50% back on our annual plan when you complete the 90-day foundation.
Think about that for a second. You’re not just saving money; you’re making a commitment to yourself, and we’re matching it. Because when you show up, we want to reward that discipline.
Most people wait for the new year to start over. But the truth is, real progress begins when you decide that you’re worth betting on now, not “later.”
The Pump Club app gives you everything you need to stay consistent through the toughest six weeks of the year:
Effective, research-backed workout plans, matched to your experience and designed for the equipment you have available
Nutrition guidance you can actually follow
Live weekly coaching calls
And a community that won’t let you quit
And now, we’ve also added a new “short on time” Foundation program for those who only have 30 to 45 minutes to exercise.
Don’t wait till January. Bet on yourself. Build momentum. And finish the year stronger than you started — and get 50% back of your annual Pump Club membership.
Holiday weight gain isn’t fate; it’s a tiny, predictable bump. Manage that one pound, and you protect your future self for decades.
Mindset
Weekly Wisdom
We all have a version of ourselves we talk about becoming. The person who finally gets consistent. The person who launches the project. The person who eats better, lifts heavier, sleeps earlier, and shows up fully. It feels good to imagine that future version—so good that sometimes the imagining replaces the doing.
That’s the trap Henry Ford is warning you about: the fantasy of later.
Later is safer. Later requires no risk. Later keeps your identity intact because you never have to test whether you can actually be the person you say you want to be.
But reputations — especially the one you hold with yourself — aren’t built on intentions. They’re built on evidence.
Tiny, unglamorous, immediate evidence. When you act today, you’re not just checking a box. You’re casting a vote for the kind of person you are. And unlike promises, actions compound.
If you’re tired of feeling stuck between who you are and who you want to become, here’s the shift: stop forecasting your potential and start proving it. Not with grand gestures, but with one undeniable action you take today. Momentum doesn’t come from planning your future self. It comes from giving your present self something real to stand on.
Turn Wisdom Into Action
Before the day ends, choose one thing you’ve been “planning to do” and reduce it to a micro-action. Then do it. Don’t optimize it. Don’t expand it. Just complete it or commit to it.
Each finished action is a brick in the reputation you’re trying to build, and one brick beats a thousand promises.
Better Questions, Better Solutions
Why You Should Stop Searching For Meaning (And Do This Instead)
The purpose you’re searching for might already be hiding in plain sight.
Old Question: What’s my life purpose?
Better Question: How can I make whatever I’m currently doing more meaningful?
Most people think purpose is something you stumble into: an epiphany, a calling, a lightning bolt that suddenly makes everything clear. But meaning rarely arrives fully formed. It grows out of how you engage with what’s already in front of you.
When you shift from searching for purpose to creating meaning, you turn every situation — jobs, projects, challenges, relationships — into raw material for purpose-building.
Psychologists have spent decades examining how people experience purpose and meaning. The Meaning Maintenance Model, developed at the University of British Columbia, established that humans have a fundamental need to perceive events through coherent mental frameworks that organize their understanding of the world. When these meaning frameworks are threatened — through experiences like rejection, uncertainty, or confronting mortality — people compensate by reaffirming meaning in other areas of their lives, even unrelated ones.
But how do people actually develop meaning in the first place? Studies found that meaning emerges through two distinct pathways: detection (noticing meaning that seems inherently present) and construction (actively building meaning from experiences).
Interestingly, positive everyday experiences tend to feel meaningful through detection (we simply recognize the meaning already there), while negative or challenging experiences more often require active construction to find meaning.
One study even found that simply engaging in routine behaviors — following familiar patterns throughout the day — was associated with higher momentary feelings of meaning. And another found that engaging in meaningful discussion and reflection about your aspirations led to both increased purpose and improved psychological well-being.
Meaning isn't necessarily something you find after a dramatic search. For many people, it emerges from noticing the little things in daily life, maintaining positive routines, and gradually connecting personal goals to something larger than themselves.
If you’re searching for purpose, it’s built through behaviors, not breakthroughs. Even small acts like helping a coworker, improving a process, learning a skill, or contributing in a way that aligns with your values can significantly increase meaning at work and in daily life.
Waiting to “find your purpose” keeps you stuck. But focusing on what you can shape right now builds purpose like a muscle. Because meaning doesn’t begin when conditions are perfect; it begins when you decide to create it.
And that’s it for this week. Thank you for being a part of the positive corner of the internet, and we hope you all have a fantastic weekend!
-Arnold, Adam, and Daniel
Better Today
Take any of these tips from today’s email and put them into action:
1. 76% of Annual Weight Gain Happens in the Last Six Weeks of the Year
A year-long study found the average person gains just one pound between Thanksgiving and New Year's — but that single pound accounts for 76% of total annual weight gain and almost never comes off. Researchers found no single culprit, but participants who maintained physical activity and monitored hunger gained the least, while most people overestimated their holiday weight gain by 300%.
2. Why Your Future Self Is Keeping You Stuck
Behavioral research shows that identity and reputation are built through repeated actions, not intentions — each completed behavior functions as a "vote" for the person you're becoming. Imagining a better future version of yourself feels productive, but often replaces the doing; momentum comes from micro-actions today, not hopes and dreams for tomorrow.
3. Stop Searching for Your Life's Purpose. Build It Instead
Researchers found that humans develop meaning through two pathways: detection (recognizing meaning already present) and construction (actively building it from experiences). Studies show that routine behaviors, meaningful discussions about aspirations, and value-aligned actions significantly increase feelings of purpose, suggesting meaning is built through daily behaviors, not dramatic breakthroughs.
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Publisher: Arnold Schwarzenegger
Editors-in-chief: Adam Bornstein and Daniel Ketchell
