There are bundles of weight loss programs out there to opt to obtain a healthy lifestyle and these programs must have the key to peeling pounds. Among the famous programs, Noom tends to be the most popular and claims that interactive psychology the crucial point to helping people lose weight for good. It also adds those who failed to lose weight in the past.
Interactive psychology aims to know why we behave the way we do and examine patterns in our actions and behaviors. Using it to aid weight loss means accepting the many factors that influence weight gain, such as easy access to unhealthy foods. This can help us make changes to avert this from happening.
Though one study has looked at Noom’s effectiveness when it comes to weight loss, it’s quite difficult to say whether it’s more fruitful than other similar programs in aiding weight loss. But we do know from a wide body of research that many interactive psychology techniques can be used to help people successfully lose weight.
-
Aim setting
Many weight loss programs start by asking people to set an aim. And research shows that generating this “intention” actually motivates you to change your behavior.
And this is true no matter if you aim to lose a certain amount of weight, eat healthier, or exercise more. But since physical activity on its own is improbable to cause a significant amount of weight loss, a combination of goals may be most effective in charge people motivated and helping them reach their aims.
But how many aims should a person set? One study found that frequent goal setting means that you’re more likely to devise changes, which ultimately means you’re more likely to lose weight. However, there’s no actual evidence of the exact number of aims to be set.
Previously it was thought that aims had to be specific — for example, aiming to lose one pound a week until you’ve lost 20 pounds altogether. But more recent research advises this may not true — with data showing goal setting is effective even if the goals are vaguely defined (such as aiming to be more active, rather than aiming to run for ten minutes every day).
The jury is also still out on whether goals should be large or small. But one review that looked at aim setting for behavior change settled that aim setting was effective when goals were challenging, set publicly, and was a group goal. While only 6% of the studies in this review were about weight loss specifically, other research has found that people who have large aims (such as losing 20 kilograms in three months) lose more weight than those with smaller aims (such as losing 5 kilograms in the same time frame). The same has been found for goals relating to physical activity — showing how important setting aims is.
-
Self-monitoring
Calculating your weight and what you eat — known as “self-monitoring” — is one of the most effective strategies from the field of interactive psychology for weight loss. It’s also comprised in most weight management programs. Self-monitoring works by making you more conscious of what you’re eating and drinking, and what is happening to your weight. In turn, this can help you avoid overdosing on indulgent, unhealthy foods.
People that are successful at losing weight — and keeping it off — weigh themselves regularly. Research shows weighing yourself at least once per week leads to the greatest success — with one study even suggesting weighing daily.
Recording what you eat takes more time than weighing yourself, but it’s as important and is proven to work.
The hoax here is finding an easy way to do this so that you can sustain it. While filling out food diaries works, people can often feel like they don’t have time or are too tired at the end of the day to do so. A concession could be to record what you eat when you first begin trying to lose weight, then weigh yourself to keep on target. If your weight goes back up, go back to recording what you eat.
There are concerns that pursuing weight and diet — particularly with weight — can create obsessiveness and lead to eating disorders. However, other research has shown self-monitoring has no bad effects. Overall, self-monitoring may not work for some people but is proven to be helpful for many.
-
Social support
The third plan is to get feedback and support from friends, family, or supervised programs. The reason social support helps is that it creates a sense of accountability.
Research has shown that people who join weight loss programs with a friend or family member are more likely to stick with it and lose more weight. There appears to be no particular person that’s better for motivation — the important thing is that supporters are engaged.
Since most weight loss programs that use these strategies from behavioral psychology work, the key is to find a program that you like and stick to them. If a program or app isn’t your thing, then set an aim, measure your progress, and ask someone in your social circle to help.
