THE START of a new year is often a time when people also begin a new diet to try and lose weight.
As people return to the office and shake off a week of festivities, many find themselves seeking to lose a few pounds and feel healthier.
GettyWomen push the donut plate that is a mixture of trans fat. And choose to hold the apple. Don’t eat junk food. diet concept[/caption]
Despite early good intentions, it can be tricky to commit to a new lifestyle, with the temptations of snacks and other bad habits always around the corner.
Thankfully, researchers have found three scientifically proven hacks you can use to keep you on the right track this year.
1. Think fun
When it comes to eating healthy foods, research shows it’s better to focus on good taste rather than health benefits if you want to lose weight.
Prompting people to focus on the “fun” short-term benefits of healthy habits helped them stick to them, experts found.
Dr Kaitlin Woolley, of Cornell University, said: “Immediate rewards are stronger predictors of activity persistence than delayed rewards.
“Specifically, bringing immediate rewards into activity choice — for example, having participants choose the most enjoyable rather than the most useful exercise or the tastier rather than healthier bag of carrots—increases persistence and consumption.”
Her paper, published in the Journal of Consumer Research, looked at a range of studies about short- and long-term rewards.
Other research has also shown using food labels promoting healthy foods’ taste rather than health benefits increase how much was eaten of them at university dining halls.
And separate studies show thinking about fun is a better way of motivating people to exercise as well.
2. Think short-term
Similarly, it is better to think of short-term problems of unhealthy snacks than long term ones if you’re trying to avoid them.
For example, if you normally enjoy energy drinks but want to cut down, you’re more likely to be able to resist if you focus on immediate problems like the headaches they cause, rather than longer term effects on blood pressure.
A separate study, also published in the Journal of Consumer Research, looked at seven experiments of more than 4,000 people to see how people weighed consequences before making decisions.
One experiment asked people to say whether they would buy an energy drink after being shown two advertisements of its costs.
Just 46 per cent chose to have one after being shown an ad of the short term costs, including heart palpitations and anxiety.
For comparison, 62 per cent opted for one after being shown some of the long-term costs like diabetes and obesity.
Dr Paul Stillman, of San Diego State University, said: “These results identify a powerful but underutilised self-regulation strategy — emphasising short-term costs of unhealthy consumption.”
3. Think about rewards
Sticking to a diet can also be made easier by making sure you plan rewards for resisting temptation.
Research, published in the Journal of Consumer Research, found small, regular rewards are better than large, occasional ones for encouraging long-term commitment.
Writing in The Conversation, Dr Woolley suggested watching 20 minutes of guilty pleasure TV each day you work out, rather than ending the week with 80 minutes of telly for four sessions.
She said: “But there’s a twist: Rewarding yourself too early may backfire.
“It seems rewards are most effective when people have to work to unlock them, after which they become regular.
“In other words, putting in initial effort while not being rewarded, followed by small, continual perks, is the most effective way to structure rewards.”