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October 13, 2023

Terms like “ideal weight” can be incredibly misleading—a healthy weight looks different for everyone, and weight is hardly the most important indicator of health. Plus, it’s simply a concept that should be treated with nuance and empathy. 

But the process of losing weight (should you want to for any health-related reasons) doesn’t have to include fad diets and super strict workout regimens like mainstream trends often imply. Plus, those often come with negative mental and physical side effects–not worth it.

However, according to Harvard psychology professor and mindfulness pioneer Ellen Langer, Ph.D., your mindset alone may play a role in healthy weight loss. Below, what research says about this interesting combination, and what this means for the conversation surrounding weight loss. 

In a study led by Langer, a group of researchers took 84 female room attendants working in seven different hotels. 

They told one group of participants that their work tasks (cleaning hotel rooms) were, in fact, considered exercise and satisfied general active lifestyle requirements. 

The other group (the control group) was not given this information, thus assuming their day job did not count as exercise, and the only exercise that counted was post-work hour movement—something neither of the two groups participated in regularly, due to their busy schedules. 

Once the experiment was over and the research team ensured nothing had changed during the experiment (related to nutrition, lifestyle factors, hours spent working, etc.), researchers could determine if the mindset made a difference. 

“By now seeing their work as exercise, there was a significant decrease in weight,” Langer recounts. “There was a change in waist-to-hip ratio, body mass index, and their blood pressure came down—we assume all because of the change of their mindset.” 

Pretty impressive, right? Now, to be fair, this is only one study, and the reason behind this finding needs to be confirmed through additional experiments. 

But still, it’s a topic worth discussing. As we mentioned earlier, the conversation around healthy, sustainable weight loss doesn’t need to center around stress-inducing diet and exercise changes.

Instead, perhaps we should have more conversations about mindset, how to create sustainable changes, finding movement that you enjoy, metabolism-boosting tools, and finding pleasure in preparing healthier meals. This is just one piece of the puzzle.