Snacking strategy

Heidi Grant Halvorson

How are you supposed to summon up the willpower to resist the diet-busting delectables that your co-workers insist on scattering about the workplace like landmines?

In fact, it’s likely even harder to resist treats when you’re at the office: research has shown that when you are using a lot of self-control to perform other tasks — something each of us routinely does while handling the stresses and challenges of work — there isn’t much left over for resisting that slice of cake or pizza. If you have any hope of reaching 2014 in your current trouser size, you need a strategy… If you leave this up to willpower alone, you will not succeed.

It’s just the nature of willpower that no matter how much you start out with, its strength will ebb and flow as a function of the demands you put on it… Decide, in advance, exactly how much snacking you will allow yourself at work that day, or at the holiday party.

Studies show that when people plan out what they will do when temptation arises (e.g., “I will have no more than two cookies and nothing else”), they are two-to-three times more likely to achieve their goals.

Decide what you will do instead of eating… And savour. Savouring is a way of increasing and prolonging our positive experiences. Avoid eating anything in one bite — you get all the calories, but only a fraction of the taste.

From “A Three-Pronged Strategy for Avoiding Office Weight Gain”