Spending more than a few hours per week on the computer surfing the Internet may be adding inches to your waistline. Adults who spend three or more hours per week online are more likely to be overweight or obese, according to a study in the Journal of Medical Internet Research.

More than 2,500 adults from Adelaide, Australia, participated in a study correlating leisure-time computer use with body weight. Participants filled out a questionnaire, reporting web usage (excluding work-time computer use) and other low-energy leisure activities.

Participants were divided into sub-groups based on how much time they spent on the Internet—no use, low use (less than 3 hours per week), or high use (greater than 3 hours per week).

“Adults with high leisure-time Internet and computer use were more likely to be overweight or obese even if they were highly active in their leisure time, as compared to participants who did not use the Internet or computer,” study authors write.

The average time spent on the Internet was 125.3 minutes per week. Participants with high use were 1.46 times more likely to be overweight and 2.52 times as likely to be obese. They were also 2.5 times more likely to do other low-energy activities, such as watching television, for five or more hours per day.

“These findings suggest that, apart from nutritional and physical activity interventions, it may also be necessary to decrease time spent in sedentary behaviors, such as leisure-time Internet and computer use, in order to reduce the prevalence of overweight and obesity,” the authors write.

Although the results of the study are suggestive, study authors explain that there were limitations that may have affected the outcomes.

“The strong associations of leisure-time Internet and computer use with overweight and obesity may in part be explained by the association of leisure-time Internet and computer use with other leisure-time sedentary behaviors."

Further investigation on leisure-time computer use will provide more information on the effects of internet usage on health and weight.