Thinking about HOW to exercise works better than thinking about WHY you should exercise.

A recent study by Laura L. Ten Eyck, PhD, Dana P. Gresky, PhD, and Charles G. Lord, PhD, involved 61 college students who did not exercise on a regular basis or exercised inconsistently. Researchers asked students to think about either the reasons why they should increase the performance of a target cardiovascular exercise they had previously selected, such as to be healthier or lose weight or to list actions they could take to increase exercise performance, such a joining a gym or working out with a friend.

Over an eight week period, students who brought to mind a list of actions they could take to increase exercise performance showed an increase in exercise and improved cardiovascular fitness. However, students who repeatedly brought to mind the reasons why they should do the target exercise did not increase time spent exercising.

Conclusion: if you want to lose some weight by increasing your level of exercise – particularly if you are prone to couch potatoing, think about HOW specifically you can increase your level of exercise rather than WHY you should.

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Replacing that cake tray with a small basket of fruit could shave many pounds off your waistline.

“Our homes are filled with hidden eating traps,” said Brian Wansink, PhD, a consumer psychologist, in an address given at the American Psychological Association’s 119th Annual Convention.

“Most of us have too much chaos going on in our lives to consciously focus on every bite we eat, and then ask ourselves if we’re full. The secret is to change your environment so it works for you rather than against you.”

“People don’t think that something as simple as the size of a bowl would influence how much an informed person eats.”

Eating out a smaller bowl or off a smaller dish is likely to make you feel full sooner and importantly, make you eat less. Eating less is a well-known and fairly obvious way to lose weight. Wansink identified several myths associated with eating than can easily be addressed by simple changes in environment. One myth identified by Wansink, is that people know when they are full and stop before they overeat. His Lab at Cornell University completely debunked this myth with several studies.

Basically, if you want to lose weight and do so easily, you might try the following:

• Seriously shrink the size of your bowls and plates. Oddly, a smaller plate of food tends to make people feel full sooner than big plates of the same amount of food does.
• Remove unhealthy foods from prominence. For example, removing a large cake from the counter and placing it behind something or out of sight can help.
• Place healthy foods in prominent places – preferably at eye-level or where you most often look. Replacing the cake tray with an apple tray might do this trick nicely.
• Eat in the kitchen instead of in bed or on the couch in front of the TV.

“These simple strategies are far more likely to succeed than willpower alone. It’s easier to change your environment than to change your mind.”

Source Address: “Modifying the Food Environment: From Mindless Eating to Mindlessly Eating Better,” Brian Wansink, PhD