And is it possible to change the way you think and lose weight - without doing anything else?

Scientists now seem to think you can. Researchers at Harvard have come to startling conclusions about the body-mind connection.

Just Think About It.

How many times has someone said that to you? More than once, I'll bet. But now it seems it's even better advice than ever. It seems an amazing discovery has been made by researchers at Harvard University investigating the science of weight loss.

A group of Psychologists studied 84 hotel cleaners, all of them involved in physical activity as part of their job. The group was split into two 'teams' and it seems that one group lost an average of two pounds and lowered their blood pressure somewhere in the region of 10 percent, while the other group had no noticeable changes.

There were no differences between the two groups prior to starting the research and none of them was on a diet, trying to lose weight.

If the successful group of 42 workers had been put on a new weight loss diet, the world right now would probably have bought millions of copies of that diet and every talk show host would be discussing how good it is.

If you're wondering what caused one group of half of the hotel cleaners to lose weight, you may be in for a bit of shock. The only difference between the two groups was that the successful group had been coached to believe that the jobs they were doing burned calories, made them healthier and helped them lose weight.

In other words the weight loss group were taught to believe what they were already doing anyway was going to have health benefits and the health benefits appeared, without any extra effort on their part. The chief researcher, Ellen Langer, claimed 'The changes were a function of the change in mindset alone'.

That phrase, 'The changes were a function of the change in mindset alone', is pretty important and we'll come back to it later.

She goes on to say 'If you can put the mind in a healthy place, you can have dramatic physiological consequences'. In other words you can lose weight, or improve your general health just by thinking about it the right way. That's an amazing statement and has implications for everyone who would like to enjoy vibrant good health.

'The changes were a function of the change in mindset alone'.

I said we'd come back to that phrase. What, exactly does it mean and in what way can it help you lose weight?

If you imagine yourself losing weight and burning up calories during normal daily activity, you will lose weight and bodyfat. That simple. No diets, no extra exercising, no magic weight loss pills or diet pills, no weight loss shakes, no meal replacements.

They didn't take Hoodia, or drink green tea.

It almost sounds too good to be true, but the researchers at Harvard have now proven that it's not.

For most people who have tried to lose weight and failed, it's only too easy to remember how difficult it was to stick to whatever you were doing to aid your weight loss.

But with the right mental conditioning you can support your weight loss goals and the Harvard research team has shown that it does make a difference what you think about. So choose to think the right things and you will see better results as your weight drops and your health increases.

Remember, the two groups were doing everything the same and neither group went on a diet, or tried weight loss pills. Imagine what positive benefits you could get from thinking the right way and following a sensible and healthy lifestyle?

So next time you see a slim friend who eats what they want and never puts weight on, they may just be thinking differently than you.