The Psychology Of Weight Loss: Learn 6 Tricks To Lose Weight

When it comes to losing a few pounds, sometimes it's no use just choosing the diet of the moment and doing some kind of physical activity. To treat obesity you need to understand it more deeply, even because some people spend their entire lives on a diet and simply cannot lose weight.

Weight gain has to do with each person's metabolism and genetic heritage. This is why there are people who eat a lot and not get fat: they are people who probably have the fastest metabolism and come from a family with more thin people.

Recent research indicates that the number of calories consumed by the world's people has risen sharply since the 1980s. The value of calories spent, however, remains roughly the same. That is: we are accumulating more and more.

Most of the tips you will learn today were given by Brian Wansink, who is a researcher who studies how we eat. This guy has written books about our biggest food mistakes and is one of those responsible for working out a food plan for the White House guys.

Wansink talks about the moment we feel satisfied over a meal. At the time of eating, 100 calories or less end up making no difference, after all is a very small amount, right? If you don't know much about it, click here to see how much food is equivalent to 200 calories.

Going back to Wansink's reasoning, this 100-calorie question is easy to understand: it makes no difference at all. The problem is that over the course of a year, eating 100 calories more than recommended will cause you to put on 5kg. By contrast: eating 100 calories less can end up reducing 5 kg of your weight in the same period.

For this account to make more sense, the ideal is to know how much energy your body spends per day. Although the nutritional values ​​of foods are based on a 2, 500-calorie diet, this value is not universal. To find out how many calories your body spends per day, look for a dietitian and ask for an exam called bioimpedance.

Next, check out a series of Wansink tips published by Time magazine. They are great for those looking to face the balance with the help of some psychological tricks:

1 - Take snacks and the like from your field of view

You don't have to radicalize and throw all of your closet "bullshit" in the trash can - even because too many radical measures tend not to be lasting. The ideal is to leave that chocolate stored in the kitchen cabinet, not on the table, where you always see it.

Wansink explains that what is not in sight ends up not arousing our desire: "If the candy jar is on your table, you constantly have to heroically decide whether to resist the chocolate that has been looking at you all day, " he explains.

The researcher studied the relationship of thin people and overweight people in a buffet full of treats. Guess what: thin people sit away from the tables with delicacies, while overweight people end up choosing a place next to the buffet, which puts them all the time in that flirt with food.

This relationship is so true that Wansink claims that by arriving at a home and repairing what foods are on display, he can already imagine the weight of the residents. And there is even a statistic for this: People who have fruit on display, in fruit or something, usually weigh 3.5 pounds less than those who have a jar of candy and candy on the table.

2 - Change what you can

It's no use hiding your snacks in a safe and being without food. It's really good to stipulate which foods are allowed. Also, use smaller plates and, after serving, eat away from pans and platters full of food. This tip has to do with the study explained in the previous item, about the buffet.

According to Wansink, having candy on the desk is a terrible business. He explains that those who have a chocolate chip within reach weighs on average 7 kg more than those who do not have this kind of snack available during office hours.

Behavioral economist Dan Ariely has revealed the results of a very interesting move taken by Google in his New York office. The employees there had access to M & M's, which were deposited in refractories. When the candy was placed in dispensers, 3 million fewer colored balls were consumed in a month. Just the fact of “hindering” product access has already reduced consumption.

3 - Plan better and avoid pitfalls

In the buffet experiment, Wansink noticed that 71% of skinny people checked out all their food choices before they even got a plate. So they already had an idea of ​​what to choose and ended up taking less food. The heavier people, on the other hand, did not look at the menu before serving themselves and ended up making larger dishes with a little of everything.

Another valuable and simple tip is: Never go to the hungry market. The point is not even how much food you end up buying, but the quality. “When we are hungry, we buy foods that are convenient enough to eat at that time, ” explains the researcher: “We don't buy broccoli or tilapia; we buy carbs in little boxes. ”

Another habit that should be overlooked is eating while watching TV. Wansink has already found that this kind of distraction makes people eat more without even realizing it. Look how curious: if a person watches TV for an hour, he eats 28% more popcorn than one who watches TV for half an hour.

And it's no use you doing everything right and not learning, once and for all, to read food labels. They indicate if the product contains added sugar, preservatives and the like, and tell the amount of calories in each portion of the product, which is critical for those who want to lose weight: know what you eat and the calories of that.

If you are an impulsive person, it is time to try to change the situation. Studies show that impulsives weigh on average 10 kg more than people who do not eat on impulse.

4 - Go slow

Remember the buffet guys? Another difference between the participants: the thinner ones chewed at least 15 times each bite. That number dropped to 12 among overweight people. The tip, then, is to chew well and calmly. This will even improve your digestion and make you feel sated faster.

A survey brought together a group of women to assess this issue of chewing time. First, they were supposed to eat quickly, and within nine minutes they ate an average of 646 calories. When told to eat slower and chew each bite 20 times, they consumed 579 calories in 29 minutes.

The feeling of satiety comes after 20 minutes, so it is important to eat slowly to feel "full" without overdoing it. How much time do you spend eating lunch? The truth is that the same amount of food can make you feel satisfied or hungry enough to make another dish. It all depends on the time you spend eating.

5 - Don't worry so much about variety

And back to the buffet experiment. If you also have a feeling that the secret is to take a little of everything, then you know it's not right out there. Taking a little of everything means eating a lot. Doubt? So pay attention to an experiment by Dr. Barbara Rolls.

Barbara's team selected a group of people to participate in a yogurt tasting. Those who tried three different flavors ate 23% more than those who experienced only one flavor.

6 - Eating alone can help

When it comes to decreasing the amount of food you put on your plate, there is one very bizarre factor that can influence this process: company. Recent research has shown that when you have lunch with someone, you end up eating 35% more than you would if you had lunch alone. Bizarre, right?

Apparently, the bigger the wheel of friends who have lunch together, the bigger their plate. If you have lunch with three other people, you will end up eating an average of 75% more than if you were without company. Now, if seven people go out to lunch with you, your plate will be almost double what it would be if you were having lunch alone. Who would say...

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So, what did you think of these tips? Do they make sense to you? Tell us in the comments!

* Posted on 11/20/2014