Small Easy Changes In Our Eating Behaviour Can Lead to Significant And Gradual Weight Loss

Researchers at the Cornell University recently carried out an online eating and weight loss survey called the National Mindless Eating Challenge (NMEC) which focused on the effect of simple behaviour changes on weight loss. This survey was planned based on the principles that were outlined in an earlier research carried out by Dr. Brian Wansinki of the Food and Brand Lab which had shown if we make consistent changes in our eating habits, we will be able to experience sustainable weight loss.

The people that signed up for this NMEC program were asked a series of questions state of health, background, and eating goals. These participants were given specific individualised tips which were designed according to the individual answers of the participants; the tips were designed based on the research recommendations in the book titled “Mindless Eating: Why We Eat More Than We Think” by Dr Brian Wansink.

Each participant was a given a checklist to download which he or she should use to track his or her adherence to the tips and they were also sent regular e-mail reminders to keep them on track. Each participant was also expected to send in a follow up survey at the end of each month.

At the end of the survey which had 2,503 participants, the number of participants that concluded at least one follow up survey was 504. 83% of the participants had weight loss as their goal; 10% wanted to eat healthier; 5% wanted to maintain weight, and 2% wanted to help their family eat better. Also, over the duration of this survey, 42% of the participants lost weight while 27% maintained their weight. 

The participants that experienced higher rates of weight loss were those that made changes consistently; those participants that were able to adhere to the tips in the program for at least 25 days per month recorded an average weight loss of 2 pounds per month. Also, those that were able to complete a minimum of two follow up surveys shed off an average of 1.0% of their initial weight. The common hurdles that prevented participants from making consistent changes included excess activity, forgetting, tips that were personally unsuitable to the individual participant, and special circumstances like vacations and emotional eating.

The results of this survey reveal that if we can make small but consistent changes in our daily eating behaviours, we will be able to lose weight gradually and we will be able to develop healthier eating habits. So, if you want to lose weight you have to find an initial set of relevant and doable eating habits that you can start out with to get a hang of the general principle before you come up with your own good habits that you can make use of for longer periods.

According to the results of this survey, the following tips were voted for by the NMEC  participants as being the most effective:

-Do not keep unhealthy food in your kitchen.

-Do not eat directly from a package; make sure you portion out the food onto a dish

-Eat hot breakfast meal within one hour after you get up from bed.

-Do not go for more than 3-4 hours without putting something small in your mouth to eat

-Eat slowly and put down your eating utensils between bites to lower your pace of eating.