Experiments: why we create them and how you can get the most out of your Constant Health journey!
Research has repeatedly shown us there is no universal formula when it comes to long term weight management.
Yes, the laws of thermodynamics apply universally: consuming fewer calories than our body needs results in weight loss. However, when it comes to the most effective and sustainable ways to consume and burn calories, everyone is different.
There are lots of variables that influence our behaviour including: our environment, time, experience, mood, and even our biology! Together we will isolate the variables we can control and create experiments engineered to make behaviour change easier leading you to lasting habits for the future.
## Let’s take a look at an example of an experiment
Put simply a behavioural experiment is a tool that allows you to test the impact of a new behaviour to determine if it supports your hypothesis.
A step by step guide to creating a experiment:
- Identify a goal: Weight loss.
- Identify the challenge: Buying unplanned chips during the grocery shop leading to more temptation to snack on these when watching TV.
- Experiment: I will experiment with completing a click and collect grocery order.
- Hypothesis: Shopping online and collecting my order will make it easier for me to stick to my grocery list and stop the unplanned purchase of chips.
- Procedure:
- write my grocery list on Wednesday after work,
- go online and add the items to my digital shopping cart.
- schedule my order for collection on Sunday
- Materials required:
- Grocery list
- My laptop to place the order
- A calendar reminder to remind me to place the order on Wednesday, and another one for Sunday morning to collect my groceries.
- Results: I did not buy chips at the grocery store, which meant I didn’t eat them as unplanned snacks this week. It was less challenging to add chips to my grocery cart than usual but I was still tempted as the offers appeared on my screen, this was made worse as I was hungry when placing the order.
- Conclusion: Using click and collect reduced impulse buys at the grocery store, reducing unplanned snacking which will help with my weight loss goal!
- How will I use these findings/do I need to revise and repeat the experiment: Next week I will change my reminder to go off after supper to see if this makes the online shop easier.
Behaviour change is more than will power!
Experimenting with new strategies helps to reduce reliance on will power. Rather than white knuckling it through difficult challenges, experiments can help you to find the right tools to make these obstacles easier to navigate and overcome. So why not give it a try and see how experiments can help you achieve your goals!