Want to Lose Weight? Then Pay Attention!

Picture this: You're sitting in a movie theater, popcorn and soda in hand, chatting with friends and waiting for the show to start. Finally, the lights go down and you reach for the popcorn and you realize you're scraping the bottom of the barrel.

That's right — you managed to eat the whole thing while you weren't paying attention.

The good news is you're not alone. A new study of healthy-weight women revealed that even restrained eaters consumed significantly more calories when they were distracted than when they were alone without outside stimuli.

Researchers from Hospital Hotel-Dieu in Paris, France recruited 41 women, ages 26 to 55, to eat lunch once a week under four different conditions in a laboratory setting.

They were alone without distraction, alone while listening to recorded instruction on how to focus on the taste of their food, and alone while listening to a tape of a detective story.

And they ate lunch with three other women who were also participating in the study.

Despite reporting equal levels of hunger under all four conditions, they ate considerably more calories while listening to the detective story.

Researchers recommend that people who wish to maintain or lose weight avoid eating while watching TV, talking on the phone or listening to music, all activities capable of derailing even the best weight-loss efforts.

Want to Lose Weight? What's the secret?

Make your goal - lifestyle change. People who have successfully lost 20 or more pounds and kept that weight off for a year or more achieved their success by changing their physical activity and eating habits. The secrets to weight-loss success are not secrets, but the same advice you have been hearing for years: Eat less and exercise more. Rather than focusing on how much weight you lost this week, focus on how many days  you took a walk OR participated in StepForward's Fitness Training!