Could habits hold the key to weight loss maintenance? A narrative review

Abstract

Despite the significance placed on lifestyle interventions for obesity management, most weight loss is followed by weight regain. Psychological concepts of habitual behaviour and automaticity have been suggested as plausible explanations for this overwhelming lack of long-term weight loss success. Interventions that focus on changing an individual's behaviour are not usually successful at changing an individual's habits because they do not incorporate the strategies required to break unhealthy habits and/or form new healthy habits. A narrative review was conducted and describes the theory behind habit formation in relation to weight regain. The review evaluated the effectiveness of using habits as tools to maintain weight loss. Three specific habit-based weight loss programmes are described: '10 Top Tips', 'Do Something Different' and 'Transforming Your Life'. Participants in these interventions achieved significant weight loss compared to a control group or other conventional interventions. Habit-based interventions show promising results in sustaining behaviour change. Weight loss maintenance may benefit from incorporating habit-focused strategies and should be investigated further.

On the Use of PLA-PHB Blends for Sustainable Food Packaging Applications

“…Industrialization, urbanization, economic development and market globalization have led to worldwide changes in lifestyle and nutritional habits [ 1 , 2 ]. In fact, nowadays, most the food consumed is sold packaged not only to contain the food, but also to protect it during the whole production chain; that is, from the production to the place of sale or consumption.…”

Habit-based interventions for weight loss maintenance in adults with overweight and obesity: a randomized controlled trial

“…Psychological studies show that habitual behaviors strongly influence health outcomes [8][9][10] . Habit-based interventions may therefore be effective -focused either on forming new healthy habits, breaking old unhealthy habits, or a combination of both 11 . Interventions which offer advice on lifestyle change whilst engaging automatic behaviors (including efficiency, lack of awareness, unintentionality and uncontrollability 12 ) may offer more benefit 4 because automatic behaviors do not require selfcontrol or willpower and strengthen with repetition 11 .…”

“…Habit-based interventions may therefore be effective -focused either on forming new healthy habits, breaking old unhealthy habits, or a combination of both 11 . Interventions which offer advice on lifestyle change whilst engaging automatic behaviors (including efficiency, lack of awareness, unintentionality and uncontrollability 12 ) may offer more benefit 4 because automatic behaviors do not require selfcontrol or willpower and strengthen with repetition 11 . Furthermore, breaking old habits by re-structuring daily routines and engaging in novel behaviors, increases an individual's mindful behaviors through conscious, deliberative thought 13 .…”

Automatic and Controlled Processing: Implications for Eating Behavior

“…Targeting behavioral automaticities and habits as key factors in weight-loss programs and obesity prevention campaigns might be more effective than fostering self-control. Promising results of habit-based weight-loss programs support this notion [60].…”