You have decided that you want to loose weight. You may have made a selection from the many diets that are available and decided to put your effort into the one that you feel most fits your needs. Millions of dieters go through this process every week (probably each day) and yet the outcome is usually failure.

 

Instead of asking what diet, maybe the correct question should be: does your body (i.e. your stomach/appetite) control what you eat or does your brain?

 

The truth is most people think that a diet isn’t working unless they lose 15 pounds in 2 weeks. This mindset is fueled by the rapid weight loss shows that have recently become popular – like the biggest loser.

 

The further truth is these kinds of rapid weight loss diets only work for as long as you are strictly following these strict regimes. How many stories have you heard of people losing a ton of weight only to gain it back? In these cases the brain has a temporary victory over the body. However, the body knows that the brain can only take so much punishment before the prolonged starvation forces it to give in.

 

And then the weight comes back… How can we say these ultra strict diets work? When, in fact, for the vast majority they don’t work at all.

 

If yoyo dieting isn’t something you want to spend the rest of your life doing, then you need to start thinking about what kind of eating you can sustain for the rest of your life. This may not be a 800 calorie diet, but a 2500 calorie diet. Of course, the weight won’t come off as quickly, but the mental beating won’t be nearly as drastic – the trick is to come up with something you can live with.

 

A person that regularly eats 5000 calories a day just can’t sustain an 800 calorie diet very successfully for very long. And when they come off the diet, they usually play catch up and eat at the same level they had been prior to the weight loss. The weight comes back.

 

You have to think very carefully about your life style, your food intake, and what changes you can make that are life long lasting. Thinking - using your brain – acknowledging that super rapid weight loss does not usually equate to life long success - is the only way to achieve successful weight loss.

 

You’re likely very aware of the bad habits in your life style. You can work on changing them - one by one, little by little. Not only will this put you on the right path to lasting weight loss, but you will also greatly improve your health.