Eating At Home Alone? Does It Help Weight Loss?

When it comes to weight loss, the key to success might not be what you eat, but instead where and with whom. Namely, you might want to eat at home alone instead of out with friends or at restaurants.

While that sounds like literally no fun at all, new research presented at an American Heart Association conference last week suggests that the chances of breaking your diet are about 60 percent when out with friends or at restaurants.

Researchers followed 150 people (90 percent women) for 12 months and found that the odds of overeating or breaking a diet were highest when participants were out with friends or at a restaurant, but they were lower when participants were at work or in a car. However, people were also likely to give up on their diets around 50 percent of the time when they were alone too.

There are a couple of possible reasons for this. Obviously, you have more control over what you eat when you cook your own food at home. And it’s easy to give into temptation when you're out with friends and you're the only one not enjoying burgers and beers.

The researchers are hoping this study can help experts provide guidance for patients who are struggling to permanently maintain their weight loss. In the meantime, if you’re struggling to lose weight, maybe embracing the homebody in you and staying in more will help. Of course, being alone too often has its own undesirable side effects, so be sure to maintain a healthy balance.

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