For hundreds of years, scientists and thinkers have been studying the unconscious mind, which is the reservoir of things like memories, thoughts, feelings, and motivation that are outside of conscious awareness.
You may have heard of a marketing technique that some advertisers use to influence people’s behavior and thoughts without the latter being aware of what the former is doing. That technique is called subliminal messages.
Perhaps, you are wondering if this technique can also work for weight loss. In this article, we will explain how subliminal messages affect weight loss and whether they are supported by science.
What Are Subliminal Messages?
Subliminal messages are stimuli, such as images or sounds, that target unconscious thought and can potentially stimulate the brain and affect behavior.
In other words, the human brain might receive and respond to these stimuli unconsciously. This is why subliminal messages can be used as a simple and unique way to influence people’s thoughts and behavior.
Subliminal messages have been used by some people to change several kinds of behavior, including to boost self-esteem, quit smoking, and even lose weight.
Subliminal Messages and Weight Loss
So you might wonder how subliminal messages and weight loss can be connected.
Two main pathways in the brain - the homeostatic pathway and the hedonic pathway - regulate your food and beverage intake.
The homeostatic pathway increases the motivation to eat when your energy is depleted, thus controlling energy balance. The hedonic pathway, on the other hand, causes food cravings and thus overrides the homeostatic pathway, even when there is relative energy abundance.
Although the two pathways are dependent on the neural pathways in the brain, the hedonic pathway is triggered by things like food availability; your emotions, thoughts, and stress; and even those that you perceive such as advertising.
In other words, subconscious cues may affect and influence various eating behaviors.
This is why some people wonder whether subliminal messages can be used to influence their brain pathways and promote weight loss.
Subliminal Weight Loss Programs
Subliminal weight loss program proponents claim that these techniques can reprogram the subconscious brain to replace negative thoughts with positive thoughts, thereby helping people meet their weight loss goals.
These programs come in different forms: YouTube videos, digital apps, MP3s, CDs, DVDs, and audiotapes. They can offer promising weight loss results.
Some of these programs use practices for focusing the mind, such as guided meditations, hypnosis, and positive affirmations, along with binaural beats or background music to relax the mind and prepare it for the subliminal messages.
Using Subliminal Messages to Lose Weight
How you use subliminal weight loss messages depends on the program that you choose because every program includes specific instructions.
For example, some programs suggest listening to audio while working on activities, while others instruct listening while lying down with your eyes closed. Some programs also suggest listening to the audio while sleeping or before going to sleep.
There are also music-based subliminal weight loss programs that layer messages beneath nature sounds, binaural tones, or instrumental music.
Do Subliminal Messages Really Work for Weight Loss?
Subliminal messaging may sound like a simple weight loss tool; however, very little scientific evidence is available to support this claim.
For example, a 2018 analysis of studies examining the connection between subliminal cues and food intake has found that weight loss control cues do not affect food intake.
Some scientists have studied the use of subliminal messages for weight loss very rigorously; however, most studies haven’t measured weight loss directly and some studies were small.
For instance, a 1992 study compared the weight loss rates in three groups of overweight women: one group listened to subliminal messages for weight loss, one group didn’t, and one group listened to a placebo.
The study observed similar amounts of weight loss for all three groups, regardless of what the participants have been listening to. It can therefore be deduced that there wasn’t enough evidence to support the subliminal weight loss messaging effects.
However, researchers in the same study suggested that listening to subliminal weight loss messages might make you more conscious of your weight.
Potential Benefits of Subliminal Messages
Although very little research on this topic has been conducted to make conclusions about the potential weight loss benefits of subliminal messages, some evidence shows that it may influence—or indirectly support—weight loss and some behaviors that often come with it.
For instance, people who were exposed to positive visual subliminal messages before exercising have been found in a small study to participate in a cycling routine for longer than those who weren’t.
In addition, viewing subliminal messages of exercise-related words have been concluded in a 2009 study to result in greater food intake.
What’s more, viewing diet- and food-related words consciously or subconsciously has been found in one research review to notably affect future behavior of some people who are on a diet.
Factors Affecting Its Effectiveness
Subliminal weight loss programs may not work for everyone in the same way.
According to some research, there are some factors that can affect the effectiveness of subliminal messages for weight loss. These include your past cultural experiences, goals, personal traits, ability to self-regulate, levels of hunger and fullness, motivation, and the medium you use—visual or audio.
The Takeaway
Subliminal messages for weight loss have been suggested by some of its proponents to be simple, safe, and effective.
These techniques have been shown in some early studies to influence diet- and food-related behaviors and thoughts, but very little evidence shows that it directly influences weight loss.
There are mixed study results on the topic; thus, further research is necessary before making any conclusions and recommendations that subliminal messages can help you lose weight.
