How smart women lose weight

By Mary Ellen Strote

The first time Jenn set out to lose those 20 pounds, she gave up sugared sodas. The second time, she ate only protein. She fasted, overdosed on raw carrots and counted fat grams.

Every trick she tried worked, but only for a while. Sheer force of will didn't keep her from chowing down when the impulse struck; nor did it get her into the gym. Not until Jenn approached her excess weight the way a new CEO might a faltering business did her 20 extra pounds disappear for good.

The technique Jenn used is a systematic problem-solving approach developed more than 50 years ago to improve industrial production. Called "quality improvement" or "systems thinking," it means you look at your problem as part of a larger system, find things that contribute to the problem, and experiment by changing the system in some small way. After you've seen the result of your change, you alter the system again to incorporate the new change, then look for other causes of the problem. Then you experiment with the other solutions until the problem is solved.

If your problem is too much weight, you can use this method to change the behaviors causing it. Farrokh Alemi, Ph.D., associate professor of health-care management at George Mason University School of Nursing in McLean, Va., and his colleagues have tested what they call continuous self-improvement on 400 people seeking personal change, including losing weight and exercising more. Not only has it been successful in changing daily habits, the changes have been long lasting. Here's how it could work for you.