Can You Psych Yourself Slim?

"The tricks really do work; so much eating is simply unconsciously finishing what was placed on the plate."

The Psychological Side of Eating

"Behavioral modification has been a mainstay for weight loss for decades ever since B. F. Skinner conceptualized it," said Dr. Charles Clark, associate dean and professor of medicine at Indiana University School of Medicine.

As an example, Clark cites a 1993 study in the journal Annals of Internal Medicine titled "Evidence for Success of Behavior Modification in Weight Loss and Control."

In this study, researchers from Baylor College of Medicine in Houston, Texas, encouraged obese individuals to adopt certain habits — helpful "tricks" if you will — to aid them in achieving their weight loss goals. These measures included keeping food and exercise records, restricting the presence of unhealthy foods in the immediate environment, and treating themselves to rewards if exercise goals were met.

What the researchers found was that when combined with a low-calorie diet, these strategies helped obese participants lose weight — and nearly a third of them kept the weight off for years afterward, compared to only 5 percent of those who stuck to a low-calorie diet without adopting these healthy habits.

And psychological warfare against weight gain may indeed be needed to counter some of the existing cues in our environment that encourage us to eat more, says Dr. Darwin Deen, nutrition expert and professor of family and social medicine at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine in New York.

"We are being psyched all the time by advertising designed to change what and how much we eat," he said. "When we eat in restaurants, we are often given portions that are unreasonably large. Aren't we then psyching ourselves fat?"

"I don't think you can really 'fool' yourself, but any way that you can support your resolve to eat more sensibly/healthier is smart to do."