WASHINGTON — Overweight servers may be the reason why you’re ordering more food, according to a recent study published in the journal Environment and Behavior.

After observing 497 interactions between servers and diners at 60 different restaurants, researchers at Cornell University and Friedrich Schiller University in Germany found the weight of a server influences how much diners order.

Diners who were served by heavy waiters with high body mass indexes ordered more food and drinks than those who were served by waiters with low body mass indexes, researchers say.

According to the researchers, diners were four times more likely to order desserts, and ordered 17 percent more alcoholic drinks.

To lessen a waiter’s influence, researchers recommend deciding what to, and what not to order, before the waiter arrives.