your Change thinking, change your weight

Taking a psychological approach to healthy weight management, rather than a purely nutritional one, may help you reach your goals sooner

- Eve Boggenpoel

If you're trying to eat more healthily, discovering that 95 per cent of diets don't work can make for sobering reading.

Counting calories may lead to a temporary drop on the scales but chances are you'll gain weight once you come off the diet, or your body will adapt to the perceived threat of reduced food intake by slowing your metabolism, increasing hunger hormone ghrelin and reducing satiety hormone leptin. But all is not lost - adopting a weight-loss plan that includes your mind as well as your body has been shown to have lasting results. Here’s how...

MIND OVER MUNCHING

One reason we need to take a psychological approach to weight loss is that our thoughts often drive our eating habits, as new research by digital health company Numan reports (numan.com). In a nationwide study of 2,000 people, nearly nine-out-of-10 Brits say they are tempted to eat despite not being physically hungry, with 43 per cent reporting that thoughts of food are on their mind 'all the time'.

Coined 'food noise' by researchers, these persistent, intrusive thoughts about food can feel really intense and, importantly, affect decisions about what you then eat.

'For people trying to lose weight, high levels of food noise can make it much harder to ignore cravings, stick to healthier choices, and create and maintain an environment that supports weight loss,' says Zoe Griffiths, obesity management expert and vice president of behavioural medicine at Numan.