The science of behavior change

If there was one thing to know about diets and weight, it’s this: Extremely restrictive diets that lead to rapid weight loss likely won’t work in the long-term. That’s because they leave your choices to sheer willpower — and when you’re constantly turning down the cookies for your coworker’s birthday and opting for a side salad instead of fries, you can burn through that willpower pretty quickly.

Behavior change, on the other hand, plays the long game. The foundation of all Weight Watchers programs, it focuses on how habits are formed and tweaks them over time in order to help you make meaningful, sustainable changes in your life. And behavior change principles can be used to support lifestyle changes: improving how you eat, exercise, and even reduce stress to benefit your immediate and long-term weight health. Even with newer options, like the Weight Watchers GLP-1 Success Program, behavior change remains critical to improving mental and physical health while you’re losing weight (and after you reach your goal). 

Here, experts share why behavior change is so effective, what goes into it, and how you can harness its techniques to change your own life for the better.

Behavior change is, as the name suggests, all about changing behaviors. It’s the process of modifying habits, routines, and decision-making patterns in order to reach a given goal. Maybe you want to lose weight, lower your blood sugar, or maintain strong bones. You need a blueprint for reaching those goals, and that’s where behavior change comes in.

It’s “about focusing on the specific actions and creating habits that help you reach those goals,” says Jennifer Denkin, Ph.D., a board-certified psychologist and behavioral medicine specialist. Those actions might include the foods you choose, how often you exercise, how you manage stress, how much sleep you get, and other aspects of your daily routine. If your goal is to eat less red meat, for instance, your first step may be cooking vegetarian meals two or three times a week. Or, if you want more energy in the mornings, you could move your phone charger out of your bedroom. “Once you identify the behaviors you'd like to change, it's easier to create a realistic plan and track your progress over time,” Denkin says.

To be successful at behavior change, you need to do some planning. And while that might sound like homework — and, okay, it kind of is — mapping your plan out ahead of time can make these changes feel easier in practice and, over time, help them become second nature. Here’s what it entails.

Step 1: Start with a good goal

“In my work, I've seen how rigid, unrealistic goals can inadvertently set people up for frustration,” says Bloom. She recommends focusing on process-oriented goals, meaning specific behaviors (like walking for 15 minutes three times a week), instead of outcome-focused goals that are tough to control, like reaching a certain number on a sale. 

Also, make sure it’s something that’s actually realistic for your routine and schedule — and give it time. “One of the biggest challenges is expecting results too quickly,” says Denkin. “When progress doesn't happen as fast as we'd like, it's easy to feel discouraged and give up.” She recommends setting goals that are realistic, specific, and achievable. For example, if you want to build muscle, set a starting goal of lifting weights 10 minutes a day, twice a week, for three weeks. It’s clear and approachable, and then you can build on that habit from there.

Step 2: Begin tracking your habits

Arguably the biggest component of behavior change is tracking, or self-monitoring. “In weight management, this often means keeping a food log, but you can also track things like exercise, sleep, water intake, or stress levels — really, anything that affects your health and well-being,” says Denkin. Weight Watchers makes this easy with the WW app, which lets you track food, activity, sleep, and more.

It might sound tedious, but tracking is a matter of awareness. “It’s difficult to change something when we’re not aware of our current patterns,” says Lindsey Parnarouskis, Ph.D., manager of clinical research and behavioral science at Weight Watchers. “The act of pausing to document our actions trains our brains to slow down and become more aware of our behavior in the moment.” Over time, that can help interrupt the habits that keep us on autopilot. Proof it works? Weight Watchers members who track their food at least five days a week lose 7% more weight at six months than those who track less than three days a week.*

Step 3: Set up a support system

If you’ve ever had a gym buddy or a colleague who loves walking meetings, then you know the power of your peers when it comes to creating a habit. “An app can track your progress, but it can't say, ‘I know exactly how you feel, I was there last week’,” says Bloom. Peer support provides community, emotional validation, a shared identity, and a fresh perspective — and, importantly, helps remove the isolation you might feel when you’re on a health journey, she says.

They can also help you choose the better choice over the easier choice when motivation wanes. 

“A buddy or coach can remind you why you started and provide encouragement and accountability during moments of low motivation,” says Parnarouskis. This is why members find Weight Watchers Workshops and the in-app social network Connect so powerful. They help you feel surrounded by supportive people who are going after the same goals you are. Don’t have access to Workshops? Upgrade to Core+ to experience over 100 different types of Workshops, virtual or in-person, every week.

Step 4: Keep an eye on your progress

Similar to tracking your habits, taking a step back and seeing how far you’ve come can help make behavior change permanent. “When people can identify successes in developing new habits, they are better able to build momentum and stay motivated over time,” says Denkin.

On that note, though, it’s helpful to be flexible in your idea of success. “For instance, if you planned to eat a salad for lunch but ended up having pizza with coworkers, that doesn't mean you've failed,” she says. “Maybe you ate a smaller portion than usual. Maybe you added vegetables. Maybe you made a conscious choice to enjoy a meal with friends and then returned to your healthy habits afterward.” It’s still progress — and therefore it counts.

This is a great time to look at non-scale victories as well. “This can help you focus on what’s within your control instead of just your weight,” says Parnarouskis. “For instance, the AI Body Scanner in the WW app can help you see that you’re increasing muscle mass and decreasing body fat percentage while the Weight Health Score for members in WW’s All-In Mode shows you how consistent you are with healthy habits.”

Here’s a closer look at what makes behavior change so effective.

• It keeps life from getting in the way: Behavior change accounts for all the different variables that can trip us up when we’re trying to achieve a goal. Motivation plays a big role in working towards a goal, sure — you might really want to exercise every morning — but there are a ton of other factors that go into it. And “simply knowing what to do often isn’t enough,” says Erika Bloom, Ph.D., director of behavior science at Weight Watchers. “Our daily behavior is driven by a complex mix of deeply ingrained habits, emotional states, other people, our environment, and what we expect to happen after we complete an action — that is, the immediate consequences or rewards of the action.” Without behavior change, all these things can work against you to maintain the status quo, like hitting snooze or scrolling on your phone instead of going for a jog.

• It focuses on tiny changes that are easy to maintain: Instead of strict changes that can’t last in the long run, like swearing off all added sugar cold-turkey, small changes “keep our cognitive load and discomfort to a more manageable level,” says Bloom. But importantly, she notes, they also build our self-efficacy, which is our belief in our ability to succeed. “When you start a small habit that fits into your life, like including a serving of vegetables in the family dinner or taking a 10-minute walk during a work break, that success builds our confidence,” she says. “Eventually, the new habit begins to feel easy and automatic, which makes us feel ready to add another small change.” Over time, those small changes compound, adding up to a bigger, more impactful change that you can actually maintain over time.

• It keeps you tuned into your habits and goals: Behavior change emphasizes awareness of what you’re doing and how often. “The goal isn't perfection — it's simply to gather information and learn from it,” says Denkin. “The more aware you are of your habits, the easier it becomes to make changes that stick.”

As effective as it might be, behavior change isn’t necessarily easy. “Most people who have made a permanent change will tell you they had to try many times before it really stuck,” says Parnarouskis. “Falling off and coming back is a normal part of the process.” If you’ve tried sticking with a workout routine and had it upended by vacation, or your veggie-heavy diet was derailed during a stressful period in your life, get right back to it when things settle down. 

It can also help to incorporate one or more of these tips to make the next time go a little easier.

Think about what went wrong in the past

If a past habit hasn’t quite become permanent, that’s okay. “Maybe you didn’t sustain the change for as long as you hoped, but there were a few weeks there where you were really on a roll,” says Parnarouskis. Take it as an opportunity to look back and ask yourself what did work. “Revisiting what helped you at that time can help you as you set new goals,” she says.

You can also learn from what didn’t work to better shape your future goals and strategy. For example, if you were too ambitious (12,000 steps a day just isn’t happening right now!), dial it down next time so it’s achievable.

Pick one behavior to start

So you want to lower your A1C, do a push-up, and have more energy in the morning. Ambitious? Yes. Realistic? Not really. Start with one area that you want to improve, and then spend the next week simply paying attention to it (not actually changing anything).

Want to cut back on sugary drinks? Start by tracking how many you drink each day. Denkin recommends writing down details, like what you drank, how much you drank, the time of day you drank it, and any situations or feelings that may have influenced your choice. Then, at the end of the week, review your notes and look for patterns. “Tracking itself is a positive behavior change,” Denkin says. “By becoming more aware of your habits, you're already taking an important step toward improving your health.”

Write out your worries

When you go from intention to action, your brain might resist. Where will you find the time? Who’ll watch your kids? If that’s the case, “it can be helpful to write some of these thoughts and fears down and respond to them, like a conversation with yourself,” says Parnarouskis, adding that this stems from a technique called “challenging our thoughts” used in cognitive behavioral therapy. 

Then, respond to your worries with specific potential solutions and alternative perspectives. “While there’s no obligation to commit to anything from this exercise, sometimes seeing the possibilities laid out in front of us can help tip us into action,” Parnarouskis says. If you want to exercise three times a week but have little kids to keep track of, you could set up “stations” for them to play at while you exercise, play a game of tag in the backyard, look for a gym with a childcare program, or find some quick, 15-minute workouts that you can do during a nap.

Try “habit stacking”

Tacking a new habit onto an existing one can help make the addition feel automatic. You already brush your teeth twice a day, so if you want to sneak in more physical activity, do 20 squats after you’re done morning and night. “When a new behavior is added to an existing habit, it is much more convenient and easier to achieve,” says Denkin.

Celebrate the small wins

When you do identify moments of success, give yourself that credit. “Often, people focus only on the final outcome, such as a number on the scale, and overlook the positive steps they're taking along the way,” says Denkin. A small win could be planning meals for each weekday, drinking a glass of water first thing in the morning for a week, or going for a short walk after dinner 10 days in a row.

Behavior change isn’t a one-and-done thing. It’s a gradual, ongoing process that takes consistent effort — but once a new habit sticks, you’re with it for life. To do that, it emphasizes setting goals that are realistic and clear, tracking your behavior, building a support system, and noting your progress. These also happen to be all features of Weight Watchers programs, which are built on behavior change. And, importantly, these tweaks should make you feel good. “When we shift our focus from punishing restrictions to healthy habits we genuinely enjoy, we create a sustainable lifestyle that we’re more likely to stick with for the long-term,” says Bloom.