Are You Conditioned to Lose at Weight Loss?

You might recall from your 7th grade science class the lessons learned from Ivan Pavlov. If that name sounds familiar, then you’ve probably heard of the term, “Pavlov’s dogs.’ That’s because Pavlov worked with a bunch of pooches to study the canine digestive system. Soon, the scientist noticed that the dogs began to salivate in anticipation of being fed, even before the food itself was visible.

Now, if you have any experience in obedience training with dogs (kids and spouses don’t count, in this scenario), then you know that an intelligent dog will learn to associate a sound, hand signal or gesture with a specific event fairly quickly, if the timing of each are choreographed correctly and consistently. So, our good friend Ivan hit on the idea that he could train the dogs to drool at the presentation of another event other than food. Ergo, he introduced the bell in his experiments, at the sound of which the dogs salivated, just as they did when expecting to be fed. This may not sound very remarkable, but it lead to the development of the theory behind ‘Pavlov’s dogs,’ or, as it’s better known in psychology circles, ‘classical conditioning.’

What can you learn from Pavlov’s dogs? You may be affected by classical conditioning yourself. That is, you may have learned to associate an event, action, or emotion with food. You may not actually drool (hopefully), but your brain is sending the message to make you run to the fridge or cookie jar based on past experience--i.e., conditioning.

So, what rings your bell? Giving some thought to what may set off unhealthy snacking and eating habits might help you to recondition your brain to respond differently. For instance, going for a walk, calling up a friend, or brewing a cup of relaxing tea is a better way to cope with the triggers that, left unchecked, can sabotage your weight loss plan.