Five Weird Things That Are Making Us Fat

We diet and we diet and we diet. We exercise until we can't breathe. We are hungry. We are tired. We are still overweight. Why? Here are five weird things that are making us fat. 

1. Your Handbag - Do you lug around a tote with all of your worldly possessions? Me too. Cosmetic doctor Michael Prager does laser fat removal and he always looks at where his patients carry that fat so they can measure post surgery fat loss. Dr. Prager said he noticed more body fat on one side of his patients bodies so he did a little study and he says the results showed that the only thing the women had in common was their ridiculously large handbags. So, I guess the moral of this story is edit, pare down and carry a smaller bag.

2. Fake Tan - For years we always thought that a fake tan would make us look more toned. I know I always feel better when I'm rockin' a bronze glow but it could actually make us fatter. Scientists found that the chemicals in the spray tan contain phtalates that make us more likely to gain weight and twice as likely to develop diabetes.

3. Multitasking - I'm a multitasking master and as we all know, multitasking is a part of life. New research has discovered that constantly making radical switches between chores tires out the part of the brain that regulates self-control. If you're boiling noodles then help your kid with their homework then answer a work email on your iPhone, then go back to boiling noodles, they all require different parts of the brain and zaps the energy needed to say, "Giant chocolate cake? I'll take two, please." That's why I've started to tape a "Do Not Disturb" sign to my forehead.

4. Leggings - I saw this and thought, "Crap. Those are my go to fat pants." Well, turns out that leggings do what your muscles are supposed to do. Physiologist Sammy Margo says that leggings that are too tight hold in the muscles in your thighs, butt and abs, so when we put on our shorts in the summer time, we're a lot flabbier than we should be because the muscles in those areas turn off.

5. High Heels - Now I'm really hosed. Apparently, personal trainer Dax Moy says the way that high heels make us stand causes our pelvis to tilt and in turn our stomach muscles spill forward. That gives us a pot belly which is mistaken for a fat stomach. Well, there's our excuse! "I'm not fat. My shoes caused my abs to spill forward. Yeah...That's what it is."