New research suggests that your home environment may play a big role in whether or not you can successfully lose weight and maintain weight loss.
Suzanne Phelan, assistant professor of kinesiology at California Polytechnic State University, has published a study that compares people who are able to lose weight with people who are overweight or obese. Her findings were published in the Annals of Behavioral Medicine and seem to indicate that what you keep in your home can affect your chances of weight loss.
3 Home Factors That Affect Weight Loss
- Number of TVs in the home. The study showed that people who lost weight had fewer TVs in their home than people who didn’t lose weight.
- Exercise equipment in the home. People who were able to lose weight had more exercise equipment in their houses.
- Amount of high-fat foods in the home. The less high-fat food you keep at home, the more likely you are to lose weight.
In addition to taking a look at what to keep in and out of the home, the study also showed that people who lost weight were more likely to spend time thinking about what foods they ate, including portion size and calorie count.
Overall, the study seems to validate common sense thinking about weight loss. If you don’t have fatty foods available, you’re less likely to eat them. If you give yourself opportunities for physical activity rather than constant distraction, you’re more likely to exercise and consequently keep weight off.
