When it comes to nutrition and health, most of us have a pretty good idea of what we should be doing – the challenge is actually doing it. We all know the advice about eat less inappropriate food and exercise more but why is that so difficult to put into practice and why do so many ‘diets’ fail?
There are many inter-relating factors, some conscious and others unconscious, that can influence what we eat and drink and how active we are (one study identified 108 factors!).
Being overweight or obese increases your risk of developing certain serious health conditions such as heart disease, Type 2 diabetes and some cancers and it can decrease your overall quality of life.
So, why does all the available weight loss advice seem to work only sometimes and only for some people?
Is personalising your weight loss the answer?
Research is uncovering how individual responses to different diets vary hugely. One key finding from research of 10,000 people who lost weight and kept it off was that no two people lost weight in quite the same way.
It’s no surprise to us at Behaviour Works that the diet that works best for you is probably not the diet that works best for your neighbour. So why do we continue to imitate what others are doing when this usually leads to short term change (which is good) but is unlikely to be maintained in the long term?
Science continues to point towards personalisation as the key to weight loss with researchers suggesting that you should understand where you are struggling and then adjust your behaviours.
You need to understand what the factors are for you in your situation.
Rena Wing, a professor of psychiatry and human behaviour at Brown University runs the National Weight Control Registry (NWCR) that tracks people who successfully lose weight and keep it off. She reports that “the one commonality is that they had to make changes in their everyday behaviours”. Another similarity was that successful weight losers tended to be motivated by something other than a slimmer waist, such as a health scare or the desire to live a longer life or to be able to spend more time with loved ones.
Most experts agree that encouraging people to think about their own health goals rather than a number on the scale can produce better results.
At Behaviour Works we use our multi award-winning approach based on psychological science to give you the tools to empower yourself so that you can make personalised long-term change in your life.
Our ‘Making Change Program’ is available online and is an easy to follow, step by step personalised process that helps you to make the change you want in your life happen by showing you how to:
Clarify what you want to change
Identify your wishes
Focus on what behaviours you need to make your wish happen
Prioritise what will have the biggest impact for you
Commit to change
Understand where to focus your time and energy
Take achievable actions that are tailored to you.
So, before you start on another diet, or copy what your neighbour is doing, why not empower yourself with the tools to make change happen. These tools can be reused time and time again whatever life throws at you and whatever you want to change.
If this article has resonated with you but you don’t know where to start click the link to view the Step 1 ‘clarify’ video of the Making Change Happen programme for free - http://www.behaviourworks.co.uk/offer.
Best wishes
Eleanor
Share your ‘weight loss wishes’ in the comments below.
Behaviour Works aim is simple. To help make change happen in your personal, family or working life. Every week we help people across the world with their own change journey with our online training. Check us out at Behaviour Works.
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