Weight Loss Woes

Dear Alexa,

Between Thanksgiving turkey and holiday eggnog, stepping onto my scale can be a scary experience. I am usually pretty good about eating my fruits and vegetables, but hot cocoa with cookies is just too tempting. At the same time, I really need to be able to squeeze into my New Year’s Eve dress. How do I keep my diet over the holidays?

Sincerely,

Famished Felicity

Dear Felicity,

Balancing tasty holiday treats with weight loss is a constant challenge for me too! Often, my sweet tooth is stronger than my desire to look fabulously fit. Luckily, behavioral economics has the answer to our weight woes.

Temptation bundling is a behavioral economics idea that combines what you love to do with what you need to do. For example, let’s say that you love the luxury of a pedicure but really need to catch up on your emails. Enjoying that pedicure when reading email is temptation bundling because you are combining a “want to” with a “should do.” Research at Penn and Harvard has proven that people who use temptation bundling are about 51% more successful at their disliked activity than those who do not.

So ask yourself what you love to do. If it’s rocking out to the latest pop hits, then when you run for several miles, turn up the tunes on your ipod. Similarly, if you love to cook, just tweak the recipes. Or, if dancing is your thing, get your muffin top off with zumba.

It may seem impossibly difficult to keep pushing through your diet. But as we approach the holidays, stick through the pain by combining it with what you love. Be ready to fit into that holiday party dress because you’ve made today’s work a little more fun.

Sincerely,

Alexa

Notes:

Temptation bundling statistic came from An Evaluation of Temptation Bundling.

Based on friends’ frustrations. Felicity’s question was not specifically submitted to Alexa.