Research confirms: Eating chocolate cake is more effective in losing weight

Are you kidding me? Eat chocolate cake to lose weight? It’s true! European research has found that instead of strictly controlling your diet and trying hard not to eat, it is better to make a smart diet plan and occasionally give yourself a little sweetness as a reward. This will actually have a better weight loss effect!

The British Daily Mail reported that researchers have found that systematically arranging a "sweets day" and allowing oneself to eat some of one's favorite snacks can soothe the mood, increase motivation to work hard to lose weight, and make people more willing to control their diet in the long term to achieve weight loss goals!

Planning a good meal day in advance is more beneficial for weight loss

However, this happy "sweets day" cannot happen often, and it must be planned in advance. If you allow yourself to have a "sweets day" at any time, it will become a disaster. Not only will all previous efforts be wasted, but you will also be filled with guilt after eating and drinking too much, and as a result you may very well give up the entire weight loss plan.

Tilburg University in the Netherlands and the Catholic University of Portugal conducted a joint study in which 36 men and women who were concerned about their weight were divided into two groups. The first group consumed 1,500 calories a day for two consecutive weeks and had to strictly adhere to it every day without slacking off; the second group could only consume 1,300 calories a day, but had a "food day" every weekend, where they could eat whatever they wanted, with a total calorie intake of up to 2,700 calories.

The study found that when the first group of people occasionally ate something they shouldn't have, their motivation to stick to the diet plan would be reduced, and their daily mood would also affect their willingness to abide by the plan. In contrast, people in the second group would not eat recklessly just because they were in a bad mood. They were more able to maintain a positive mood and were willing to continue to follow the plan and control their diet.

Occasionally relax and eat delicious food to improve self-control

The researchers also used a psychological tool to measure the subjects' ability to self-regulate, such as testing whether they "needed some fun to make themselves feel better." The results showed that the people in the first group had poor self-management ability during the diet control period, while the people in the second group knew better how to resist the temptation of delicious food.

What’s more, even when the second group had the opportunity to binge eat once a week, it did not have a negative impact on their weight. The study has been published in the Journal of Consumer Psychology.

It seems that giving yourself the opportunity to relax occasionally can actually give you more motivation to control your diet and make losing weight less difficult. In the long run, this trick is more helpful for losing weight.