Scientists examining surveys of health and drug use have found that people who smoke pot regularly are less likely to be obese—a shocking rejection of a series of experiments I performed over the course of my junior year of college.

And! Stay focused, stoners! Not only are pot smokers less likely to be obese—the more often that survey responders smoked pot, the less likely they were to be obese:

The survey showed that about 22 to 25 percent of people who don't smoke pot were obese, while 16 to 17 percent of cannabis users were obese.

Obesity was less common among users who smoked pot more frequently. For instance, the [National Epidemiologic Survey on Alcohol and Related Conditions, a survey taken in the U.S.] showed about 14 percent of participants who used cannabis three days a week or more were obese, the researchers said. Between 0.7 and 1.8 percent of the sample smoked marijuana this frequently.

Scientists are unsure why stoners are less obese on average ("I would be surprised that cannabis use is associated with a higher rate of physical activity," says study researcher Yann Le Strat), but I wouldn't worry about that, so much as, smoking as much pot as possible in order to lose weight.

[LiveScience; image via Shutterstock]