When choosing an effective weight-loss plan, most of us assume that we’ll be more likely to stick to the ones we make ourselves.
But according to a surprising new study, that simply isn’t true.
Researchers at the Durham VA Medical Center in North Carolina predicted that people who created their own diets would lose more weight than those who had no choice in the matter, but they were wrong.
To start the study, researchers surveyed 207 obese adults through a questionnaire, asking the participants to rate more than 70 different foods on a scale of “like extremely” or “dislike extremely.”
From there, the researchers were able to determine if their participants preferred low-carb or low-fat diets more.
After that, they were placed into either “choice” or “comparison” groups. Those in the first group were allowed to choose whether they wanted to go through with a low-carb or low-fat diet, while the participants in the second group had no choice in the matter.
At 12 weeks in, they were all given the opportunity to switch diets, but very few of them actually did, according to the researchers.
“We were surprised that people in the choice groups didn't lose more weight," lead study author Dr. William Yancy told The Huffington Post. "The presumption was that giving them the choice would help them stick to the diet better, therefore they’d lose more weight.”
Yancy believes that the participants who were allowed to choose their diet simply ate more because they actually liked the foods they were eating.
So, if you really do want to practice self-control around the foods you love, you might want to consider starting out with a diet made up of foods you don’t like very much.
What do you think about this study's findings? Tell us in the comments!
