Not too many TV's
In several areas of human life those interested in being more successful have always noticed what differentiates those who achieve success from those who do not.
If you were interested in losing weight and keeping that weight off you might be interested in what distinguished those that were able to decrease their weight by 10% and then keep it off over 5 years from those that could not.
A recent study looked at just that and found some interesting results. These can be summed up to the advice that you should look to avoid failure by putting temptation away from you and making it as easy as possible to be good. This type of tactic makes sure that even if you want to be bad it is somewhat easier to be good.
The study showed that success was related to the number of TV’s – the more you had the less your success. If you have ever slummed in front of a TV watching a great film while bad weather stormed outside you could see how this might be valid, though I am not sure why having 3 or 4 TV’s in the house makes a difference. The more exercise equipment you had available the more likely you were to lose weight. Also not buying high fat foods helped.
I would agree with all this except maybe the exercise equipment. Some people have lots of barely used equipment – like a modern sculpture collection gathering dust, but I suppose that having no equipment means you are even less likely to exercise.
I suppose in the future time on the internet and whether you have a WiiFit or not may be factors but we will see.
I would also suggest – just my idea not evidence based – that you try to do at least one group exercise activity a week. The rational -if you miss a few weeks you have a good chance of being sucked back by social pressure.
So find a new home for those extra TV’s or better still swap them for an exercise machine.
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We had three TVs and we are now down to one. We had given away one and then another one quit working. We are loving it because our two young children have discovered the concept of sharing.
Thanks for your comment. Less os more in our house too!! My wife organised an automatic program recorder so we always have something we want to watch when we want to watch it, I have stopped watching news and financial programs, and get that info from the web. Our son watches a few programs but we also explore youtube looking for anything that might interest him eg duck video of a ducks and duckling swimming or another of them trying to swim on ice. A couple of years after a neck injury I at last have the confidence to do some solid work outs and feeling as good as I have done in decades.