Tip Get Ripped with the Proximity Effect Search Skip to content Menu Menu follow us Store Articles Community Loyal-T Club Loyal-T Points Rewards Subscribe to Save Search Search The World s Trusted Source & Community for Elite Fitness Diet & Fat LossEating Tip Get Ripped with the Proximity Effect Whether your goal is fat loss or muscle gain here' s a simple trick to increase your odds and boost diet compliance by Chris Shugart February 28, 2018April 27, 2022 Tags Diet Strategy, Feeding the Ideal Body, Nutrition & Supplements, Tips See It Eat It Regret It There have been a lot of psychological studies on proximity and diet. Proximity just means how close or how far something is from you. For example, in one study, researchers placed snacks around a bunch of secretaries in an office setting. Some of the goodies were placed on the secretaries' desks, others in the drawers of the desks, and others in the break room. You can guess the outcome, right? It looked something like this: Snacks on the desk: Fat secretaries Snacks in the drawer: Less fat secretaries Snacks in the break room: Lean, sexy secretaries If a food is in sight AND reachable, you're more likely to eat it, even when you're not hungry. If you have to work for it – even just by standing up and walking across the room – you're less likely to indulge. For fat loss, make sure you have to "work" to eat. More cooking, fewer pre-made foods, especially of the junk variety. You want some cookies? You gotta make the cookies. (Make high-protein, no-sugar-added cookies ideally.) Make it a little less convenient to grab foods you don't need. If you have to drive somewhere to get a junk food you're craving at 10PM, you're less likely to do it. Keep the crap out of the house. On the flipside, maybe you need more calories. I once advised an underweight high school athlete. Lanky kid just "couldn't" eat enough. I told him to keep a can of mixed nuts in the drink holder in his car. Every time he was in the car he had to eat a handful. Kid gained a lot of muscle in one summer. Proximity and visibility can also help you take your supplements correctly and regularly. I often joke that if Biotest came up with a supplement that could make you put on 10 pounds of muscle a week, BUT required you to take it two times per day, most people would never gain that muscle. They'd remember one dose but forget the other one. No consistency. Here's what I do. I put all my supplements for the day in a container that sits right out on a counter I have to walk by several times a day. The container is visible and reachable, so I never miss a dose. Get The T Nation Newsletters Don' t Miss Out Expert Insights To Get Stronger, Gain Muscle Faster, And Take Your Lifting To The Next Level related posts Diet & Fat Loss Another Power Food Long before 1904 when J.T. Stinson coined the legendary phrase, "An apple a day keeps the doctor away," apples have been a historic symbol of good health. Feeding the Ideal Body, Nutrition & Supplements Mike Roussell, PhD March 15 Supplements Tip Dopamine Serotonin and Toughness To be at your best, you need to understand the neurological components of performing under pressure. Calm Down & Sleep, Motivation, Nutrition & Supplements, Tips Christian Thibaudeau March 29 Eating Tip Make Pumpkin Cheesecake Cookies Even if you're tired of pumpkin, you'll love these. They're packed with protein too. Feeding the Ideal Body, Nutrition & Supplements, Protein, Recipes, Tips Dani Shugart October 15 Eating Vegans Suck at Science Here s The Proof Ignore the vegans and their bad science. Here's the truth about meat, cancer, heart disease, inflammation, and the environment. Dietary Myth Busting, Feeding the Ideal Body, Nutrition & Supplements Mike Sheridan June 14