Women who keep a diary are more likely to lose weight than those who don't, according to a joint, all-women study from Stanford University and Canada's Renison University College at the University of Waterloo. In the study, researchers asked half of participants to write for 15 minutes about the things that are important to them, like family, relationships, and music. The other half were told to write about why something they don't care about might be important to someone else.
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Researchers checked in on the women over the next four months, and the women who wrote about things that were important to them lost an average of 3.4 pounds. The women who wrote about things that weren't important to them actually gained 2.7 pounds.
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What's the connection? Scientists theorized that we tend to feel good about ourselves when we take time to mull over something we value. As a result, we're less likely to try to lift our mood by eating fattening foods.
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Our advice: Take time to jot down your thoughts when you get home from work-that's usually when most of us have the urge to snack. Odds are, you'll skip the pre-dinner nosh.
What are your strategies for losing weight in the new year?
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