This Little Word Helps You Lose Weight
Especially when we want to lose weight, it is often twice as difficult for us to do without. However, according to a study, one little word helps us to control ourselves.
Especially those who urgently want to lose a few kilos usually stumble from one temptation to the next in everyday life: In the bakery on the corner, thickly topped bread rolls beckon, the colleague brings cake for her birthday and in the evening the partner wants to order pizza. Without an iron will, at most a few tears will fall instead of pounds because you have already given in again.
Small word – Big help
But it doesn’t have to be – British researchers are now offering us a very easy way out of this misery. According to their study, just a little word can help us resist the greatest temptations: Just say no.
Okay, admittedly this sounds almost too easy – but it really works. How did the scientists figure it out? They divided 45 overweight people into three groups and gave them different tasks for eight weeks.
Group 1 participants filled out a questionnaire on their eating habits every four days. Group 2 was given the same instruction, but the subjects were also asked to say “no” to themselves aloud on typical occasions when they were tempted to overeat. For example, when there was an “all you can eat” buffet in a restaurant and they were thinking about having more, even though they were already full. Group 3 also got these two tasks. The participants also had to send a description or a photo of the temptation where they had said “no” to the researchers.
No, just no!
It is true that not all of the test persons held out – around 20 percent of the participants ended the study prematurely. But there is still good news: In all three groups, the number of moments when the remaining study participants succumbed to temptation was reduced. Group 1 had 4.2 fewer moments per week, Group 2 had 13.8 proud moments and Group 3 had 9.0 moments. Thus the no-sayers from group 2 had the greatest success.
Lose weight – but really now!
And what does that mean for us now? It’s very simple: the next time we stand at the cake buffet and consider whether the third piece of cheesecake really still has to be, it’s worth saying “no” out loud ourselves. Even if the people might look funny – we might be happy about the result afterwards!