As a fitness and nutrition coach, a lot of what I do revolves around change. First of all, many people start working with me because they want to make a change: they want to lose weight, move better, become stronger. As a coach, it’s on me to help them in that process, keeping them on a sustainable path toward their goal. Everyone is different, but everyone is also the same. It would be really helpful to know: what actually helps people change?
Fortunately for me (and coaches like me), help is out there. A recent review in Nature Reviews Psychology ranked the effectiveness of different types of behavior change strategies. (Past studies had only looked at how strategies compared to a control group, i.e. how effective they were compared with doing nothing.) The study looked at both the individual level – what a single person can do or influence on their own – and the societal level – the person’s environment, and its role in shaping individual change.
On the individual side, things that you would think would matter – like knowledge, beliefs and skills – had a negligible or small effect on change. On the societal side, social support and monitors or reminders had only a small effect (thanks for nothing, FitBit!)
What did make a difference? Habits, and access.
Learning and knowledge is great, but knowing is not the same as doing. Emphasize habits and taking action over knowledge. Building strategic, sustainable habits – like including protein in every meal, or having an action plan in place when you’re triggered into emotional eating - is the better method to help you make the changes you want.
Across all the studies, providing access to the thing researchers wanted people to do was the most effective intervention. Want to eat more whole foods? Keep your fridge stocked with them for easy access. Want to be more consistent in your workouts? Join the gym closest to your house or office. Make “wanted” behaviors more obvious and accessible, and unwanted behaviors more inconvenient.
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