Can Eating Alone Help You Lose Weight?

With all the fad diets available today, it’s really hard to choose one to follow for your weight loss journey. It’s also overwhelming to see all the contradictory reports about this and that diet. So when you are struggling to find the eating plan that’s right for you, why not try the simple trick of eating alone for weight loss?

Apparently, researchers have identified an easy way to lose weight and reach your fitness goal, and it’s as simple as eating alone. This trick is said to effectively help you control your eating habits and reach your weight loss goal in the long run.

Researchers found that people tend to eat more food when dining with their family and friends. According to them, people’s food choices are easily influenced by the other people eating with them. This way it’s easy for you to ditch your fitness goal and just eat whatever you want.

In their study, the researchers evaluated 42 existing studies focused on social dining. Upon review, they found that people who preferred to eat with others had increased their consumption of food. They were also likely to overeat in social gatherings.

The researchers indicated that this tendency to overeat was only present when one is surrounded by his or her loved ones. However, this is not the case when one is attending a social gathering with strangers. In this setting, one would feel obligated to eat a small meal to make a positive impression in front of strangers.

The researchers have dubbed the phenomenon in which one would tend to eat more food in social gatherings as “social facilitation.” And as per their study, the best way to avoid this is by eating alone.

It is easy to indulge in mindless eating when you are accompanied by your loved ones. Hence, experts advise that if you really want to achieve your weight loss goal, it is better to eat alone. Doing so minimizes the chances of overeating and lets you focus on your fitness goal.