Think Positive to Lose Weight

By Sally Squires
The Washington Post

One of the best predictors of successful weight loss may have less to do with eating than with thinking.

A team of researchers from the University of Utrecht in the Netherlands reports that obese people who think they will be successful in weight loss shed significantly more pounds than their counterparts who are less certain of their ability to adhere to a weight-loss program. The results are the latest to underscore the importance of "self-efficacy" in fostering successful behavior change.

"Self-efficacy is your confidence that you can perform a particular behavior," explains Carlo C. DiClemente, chairman of psychology at the University of Maryland-Baltimore County and co-author of the book "Changing for Good".

First described by Stanford University psychologist Albert Bandura, "self-efficacy is a potent predictor of treatment outcome across dozens of health behaviors," notes John C. Norcross, professor of psychology at the University of Scranton. "In fact, it supports the age-old wisdom that if you think you can succeed, you will, and if you don't, you won't."

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