The No Diet Diet That Really Works

If you have ever wanted to get rid of a couple of inches around the waist line, you have probably tried some diet. You are also probably aware that well over 90% of the folks who go on a diet are not successful on a long-term basis. Whatever weight they might lose generally comes back within a short period of time.

Great news. There is a no-diet diet that really works. This came about from a set of experiments done by Professor Ben Fletcher at the University of Hertfordshire (you can learn more about Dr. Fletcher at www.nodietdietway.com.) He was working with groups of people and each day they had to pick a different option from contrasting behaviors. For example: lively/quiet, reactive/proactive, introvert/extrovert, passive/assertive, generous/stingy, shy/flirty, etc. So if a person were an introvert, one day they would choose to act as an extrovert. If a person were normally quiet, one day they could choose to be lively. Each day they had to choose an opposite behavior to their normal pattern and act in accordance with that new behavior. In addition at least twice weekly they would have to do something outside of their normal behavior.

Now here is the interesting part. He found that after four months, the subjects had lost an average of eleven pounds. They were not on a diet- simply taking part in a psychological experiment - but losing weight was a by-product of the experiment.

Why? Well the underlying principal is we are ruled by our habits. When we act in exact opposite to the way we have been acting, we force ourselves to consciously think about what we are doing. We stop acting like a robot and actually take control of our lives. Instead of reacting out of habit we are making conscious decisions about our lives. Instead of just eating out of habit, people were becoming more conscious about what, when and how much they ate.

Does this have implications for other areas of our lives? It certainly does. Professor Fletcher calls this FIT Science - Framework for Internal Transformation. It is a well known principle that if you want things to change, you need to change. But change is extremely difficult. We cannot bring about change through sheer willpower. We need to make a fundamental shift for change to be permanent. And the way to do it is with small steps. Trying to change major things in our lives will not work. It is too difficult. So we need to take small steps to change our internal habits. We do this by bringing small things into our conscious awareness - making conscious choices. If we can make conscious choices - decide between two opposing choices, we will eventually form new, better habits. We will lose the weight, get out of our comfort zone and start doing the things we should be doing.

While the participants in the experiment had the benefit of losing weight without being on a diet, the applications for other areas of our lives offer much greater potential benefits. Any time we attempt to change some major part of our lives, our fear of the unknown kicks in to keep us stuck in our comfort zone. We have this built in fear of change. Couple the fear of change with the power of habit and you will begin to understand why change is so difficult. But by becoming consciously aware of our choices in life, we can dramatically alter our lives by taking small steps not directly connected with the change we are seeking.

If you really wish to change your life, you need to become aware of the things you are doing. By choosing to concentrate on one small behavior and make different choices regarding that behavior, we can develop the habit of becoming consciously aware of the choices we make. The more we are aware of our choices, the better choices we will make. Better choices leads to a better life in all areas of our live