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There are lots of ways to lose weight but there is only one way to lose weight and keep it off: Change your habits. Dr. Khandee Ahnaimugan (Dr. K) Medical Doctor, Weight Loss Expert and Author of Slim and Healthy without Dieting
12 Questions 1: What s wrong with diets? 2: Isn t willpower the key to losing weight? 3: I come from a family where everyone is overweight. What do I do if my genetics or family background are against me? 4: I m a woman in my 50s. I feel like the odds are against me. Are they? 5: How do I avoid yoyo dieting? 6: I ve tried lots of diets. Even if I manage to lose some weight, I can t stick to them. Is there something wrong with me? 7: Last time I tried to lose weight, I was doing really well, but then had a bad day and it all fell apart. How do I fix this? 8: How can I lose weight if I don t want to suffer? 9: I know what to do, I just don t do it 10: What s the real solution to weight loss? 11: Can I just do a drastic deprivation diet, get to my ideal weight, and then do something more sustainable after that? 12: How do I change my habits?
QUESTION #1-2 #1 W #1 WHAT HAT S WRONG WITH DIETS IETS? Diets don t work because they are too focused on the short term. Diets are designed to get you to lose weight, but not to maintain weight loss. Most people who start on a diet don t want to be on it forever. Mainly because they are usually quite drastic, unpleasant and not very compatible with a normal life. So if you go on a diet and manage to lose weight, then what? If you don t want to stay on the diet, you stop it. If you stop it, your old lifestyle returns and you start gaining weight back. This is a crucial point. If your lifestyle remains the same, then any time you aren t dieting, you re gaining back weight. #2 ISN I SN T WILLPOWER THE KEY TO LOSING WEIGHT EIGHT? It is one of the enduring myths of weight loss that you need willpower to lose weight. I have met so many people who had given up on losing weight, because they felt like they lacked willpower to lose weight. If you believe that a lack of willpower is what is standing between you and weight loss, I have some very good news for you: Contrary to popular opinion, willpower (otherwise known as self-control) is not enough to make lasting permanent change to your lifestyle. Using willpower for weight loss implies that you are resisting doing things that you want to do because you know you shouldn t. (cont)
QUESTION #2 #2 ISN I SN T WILLPOWER THE KEY TO WEIGHT LOSS OSS?? (CONT( CONT)? ( People can use this kind of discipline for a short time, but this strategy is not sustainable over the long term. The reason is that the urge to eat is so powerful. Stopping yourself from eating something tempting goes against our deepest inner programming. When our ancestors saw food they had to eat it, because they didn t know when the next meal would be. So you can enforce willpower on your diet and you might be able to maintain this for a few weeks, but the idea of remaining self-disciplined about never eating chocolate or treats for the rest of your life is not realistic. The key to long term weight loss is not to rely on selfcontrol. So what is the key? Read on... So you can use self-discipline to resist this urge to eat, but the evidence is that willpower is a limited resource. It takes energy, and when you are using willpower for one thing, it limits your ability to resist something else. For example, if you do window shopping for things you can t afford in other words depleting your willpower it would make it hard to resist tempting food that is offered later.
QUESTION #3 #3 I COME COME FROM A FAMILY WHERE EVERYONE IS OVERWEIGHT.. WHAT W DO I DO IF MY GENETICS OR FAMILY BACKGROUND IS AGAINST ME? I know for some people who are overweight, it can be comforting in a way to know that their genes make them more likely to gain weight. It gives them a reason and some meaning for why they struggle to stay slim. Indeed, when we see a family where every member is overweight, there can really be only two explanations: 1. Their genes predispose them to being overweight 2. The family has particular patterns of behavior that make it more likely they will be overweight. But the point is, while you may get some comfort from knowing that your genes contributed to your predicament, it is not going to change anything. As we know, your genes are not your destiny. Being predisposed to being overweight doesn t necessarily make you overweight. Furthermore, the worrying increases in rates of obesity in our society over the last few decades clearly cannot be blamed on genes. No, the fact is you only gain weight, when you eat too much. And if you are overweight, regardless of whether you have the obesity gene or not, the solution is the same. You need to make changes to what and how much you eat, and you need to get more active. But most importantly of all, these changes need to become part of your lifestyle. Obesity genes or not, the power is in your hands. The reality, I suspect is probably varying combinations of the two.
QUESTION #4 #4 I M A WOMAN WOMAN IN MY 50S. I FEEL LIKE THE ODDS ARE AGAINST ME LOSING WEIGHT. ARE THEY? I would actually say it s easier for a woman over 40 to lose weight and keep it off, than say, a woman in her 20s. This sounds ridiculous on the face of it. But hear me out. In my experience, when it comes to their weight, women in their 20s are usually more preoccupied with quick results. Often this may be related to a particular event (like a holiday or a wedding). They are willing to go to extreme lengths as long as they get the results quickly. And in your 20s, it is possible starve yourself down to a lower weight (if you can tolerate the deprivation) very quickly. But the problem with this quick approach is that it is a recipe for yoyo dieting. You can do what it takes to get down to a lower weight, but as soon as you stop the diet, then what? The best example of this is the young woman in her 20s or 30s trying to lose weight for her wedding day. She stops eating all the foods she loves, starves herself and goes through hell for the sake of looking good in a wedding dress. Of course, this approach to losing weight is guaranteed to be short term only, because once the wedding is over, she no longer has the strong motivation to tolerate such deprivation so she stops dieting and the weight comes back on. In contrast, women over 40 have a much better approach to weight loss. In my experience they: 1. Are more concerned with lasting results than the speed of their weight loss 2. Are willing to embrace the idea that you don't need to starve yourself to lose weight. 3. Understand that small, gradual changes are more effective than "showy" drastic ones This makes them the ideal clients, because they have the most important prerequisite to losing weight and keeping it off: they have the right attitude. (cont)
QUESTION #4-5 #4 I M A WOMAN WOMAN IN MY 40S. I FEEL LIKE THE ODDS ARE AGAINST ME LOSING WEIGHT. ARE THEY? (cont) You might think that attitude is a minor factor in weight loss. But in my experience, a woman who wants quick results no matter what will generally make the wrong decisions when losing weight. They will go for short term strategies that may get them fast results, but that are so unpleasant that no one in their right mind would ever be able to live that way. Contrast this, with someone who aims for a long term solution to their weight. They make the right decisions to ensure that this is the last time they ever need to lose weight. The ironic result is that while women in their 20s might be able to lose weight easier, it is women in their 40s who are best equipped to lose weight and keep it off. #5 H #5 HOW DO I AVOID YOYO DIETING? Yoyo dieting (a cycle of losing weight and then gaining it back) is very common. Losing weight isn t very useful if you are going to gain it all back again. And yet, the way that many people approach weight loss, almost ensures this outcome. Do any of the following approaches sound familiar? 1. Going on a diet and cutting out all the foods you enjoy (Do you really think you can do that for the rest of your life?) 2. Trying diets that require hours of planning and preparation to make them work. At the first sign of a busy week at work, an unwell child or any kind of crisis the diet goes out the window because it was too difficult to maintain. (cont)
QUESTION #5-6 #5 H #5 HOW DO I AVOID YOYO DIETING? (cont) 3. Going on diets that take no account of real life. For examples diets that are so strict, that while you re on them you can t go out for dinner, go on vacation or even celebrate Christmas! Most people go on diets that are too restrictive. You might be able to lose weight like this, but you will not be able to keep it off. The solution to this is to take a long term approach. Don t think of weight loss as a short term project, treat it as what it really is. Adopting a new lifestyle. Your focus should be on making small changes that are easy to live with. #6 I VE TRIED LOTS OF DIETS.. EVEN E IF I MANAGE TO LOSE SOME WEIGHT I CAN T STICK WITH THEM.. IS I THERE SOMETHING WRONG WITH ME? There is nothing wrong with you. You have just chosen the wrong methods to lose weight. You have used diet-based approaches, which are destined for failure. It s not your fault. Our society has, to its detriment, enshrined the diet as the default solution to losing weight. And as more and more people are starting to realize, dieting doesn t work. Diets a short term solution to a long term problem. You have not failed. It s the approach that failed you.
QUESTION #7-8 #7 LAST L TIME I TRIED TO LOSE WEIGHT, I WAS DOING REALLY WELL, BUT THEN HAD A BAD DAY, AND IT ALL FELL APART.. HOW H DO I FIX THIS? The way that many diets are structured, they have a strict regime that you need to follow. If you stick to the regime, you are good and if you stray then you are bad. It s because of this fixation with perfection that when people have one bad day, there is a tendency to just throw the towel in. Weight loss should instead be viewed as a process. You don t need to be perfect to lose weight. You are just aiming for small changes that add up. Go easy on yourself. Don t aim for perfection. Allow yourself some slip-ups. Instead of beating yourself up over them, learn from them so that you can avoid or at least reduce them next time. #8 HOW H CAN I LOSE WEIGHT IF I DON T WANT TO SUFFER? Even people who accept that dieting is not the way to lose weight are still affected by the underlying principle behind a diet: "No pain, no gain" Diets are based on limitation and self-denial. You are supposed to severely restrict your intake for a short period of time with the end result that you (hopefully) lose weight. When I speak to women who are 20 or 30 pounds overweight, they tell me that what has put them off trying to lose weight in the past, is that they couldn't bear the thought of going on a diet. Of course they said this because they associated losing weight with suffering and deprivation. (cont)
QUESTION #8 #8 HOW H CAN I LOSE WEIGHT IF I DON T WANT TO SUFFER? (cont) The deprivation delusion - that you need to severely deny yourself food in order to lose weight - drives many people's weight loss efforts. And this is a dangerous belief. If you believe that losing weight requires suffering, you will necessarily look at short term methods to accomplish your goal. The less pleasant your methods for maintaining your weight the less likely you will stick with it for the rest of your life. This way, instead of trying too much and failing, you can have small successes that you build on. You can learn from your mistakes and get better and better. And really, there is no other way to lose weight. For long term change, you need to be making changes that you are sure you can stick with for the rest of your life. Most of us can't starve ourselves for the rest of our lives but we can make small changes each week that eventually lead us to our ideal weight. So how do you make weight loss pleasant? The main thing is you don't make any drastic changes to what you eat. Switching suddenly to a fruit, lettuce and boiled vegetables diet might make you feel like you are doing something proactive, but most people will not be able to last on it for very long. Leave the drastic changes for others who are less enlightened. You are better off planning for the long term, making small changes to what you eat each week.
QUESTION #9 #9 I KNOW KNOW WHAT TO DO,, I DO IT Do you really know what to do?, I JUST JUST DON T Often when people say they know what to do, their plan includes some variation on eat less and exercise more Sorry, but that is not a plan to lose weight. It s like saying the way that you run a marathon is to put one foot in front of another until you reach the finish line. It might be technically correct, but it doesn t help you achieve it. You might know that you need to eat less chocolate, but this is not a sufficient level of knowledge to succeed at losing weight. You need to know how to ensure that you eat less chocolate. When you think about it, this is one of the failings of many diets and exercise programs. They simply tell you what to do, but it s a different matter working out how to make it a permanent part of your lifestyle. Remember: To know and not do, is to not know Knowing what to do, should also include knowing how to actually do it. It s like someone learning the rules of tennis, but never learning how to hit a ball. They might be able to say to you I know how to play tennis, but the truth of the matter is they know the rules, but they don t know how to play.
QUESTION #10 #10 WHAT W HAT S THE REAL SOLUTION TO WEIGHT LOSS? The fact is you lose weight and keep it off to the extent that you can change your lifestyle. When new healthy behaviors become habit, you become a healthy person who maintains a healthy weight naturally. Have you noticed that when you try to lose weight it sometimes feels like you re fighting against yourself to make changes? This is because you re trying to change your life without changing your habits. These habits have come about from repeated actions over a long period of time. Once habits are entrenched, it s harder to introduce new behaviors. The average diet attempts to enforce a totally different way of doing things on top of your pre-existing habits. This is why sticking to the latest fad diet is such hard going and why it feels so good to come off it. If you can work out how to make eating less and being more active into a regular habit, you will achieve weight loss that is long term. And if you don t you won t. It s as simple as that.
QUESTION #11 #11 CAN C I JUST DO A DRASTIC, DEPRIVA- TION DIET NOW, GET TO MY IDEAL WEIGHT AND THEN DO SOMETHING MORE SUSTAINABLE AFTER THAT? This a very common strategy. Put up with the most brutal diet for a few weeks, in order to lose weight, and then plan to do more sustainable things later. If you have starved yourself down to your weight goal, then you will need to start from scratch developing new habits. In the time it takes to develop, you will find that you will begin gaining weight again. The better approach is to start off as you intend to continue. Begin with the good habits, making them your own. It s a learning process and unfortunately there are no shortcuts. Unfortunately it doesn t work. You can t just click your fingers and develop good habits. It is a learning process. Each person is different. Their habits are different. And their life is different. Therefore, developing good habits takes time and we often don t get it right first time. You need to modify your approach, refine behaviors over time.
#12 H #12 HOW DO I CHANGE MY HABITS? QUESTION #12 The simplest way of describing how to create a habit is by repetition. The more you practice a certain behavior, the more likely it will become habitual. But there s more to it than that. You maximize your chances of a habit taking hold if you choose habits that YOU are likely to be able to maintain for the long-term. I emphasize the YOU, because a key part of this is being flexible and tailoring your habits to your own lifestyle. We can all say that we should run 5 miles every morning, but the reality is that the vast majority of people won t do it. So why waste time trying to convince yourself it s a good idea? Instead, choose things that are more likely to succeed and introduce them slowly into your life. Here are some great habits that you might want to develop: Eating only when you re hungry Eating portion sizes that are more attuned to what you really need, not just what you re used to Walking more Keeping food out of your way so that it s not a constant temptation Eating slowly Choosing better snacks Drinking more water
IN CONCLUSION IN CONCLUSION Putting it all together: 1. Diets don t work., especially for women over 40 2. But having a desire for long-term results is the biggest advantage you have, because it means you ll do the right things, instead of the shortterm things (like starving yourself) that don t work. 3. You avoid yoyo dieting, by making sure that whatever changes you make are ones that you are happy to do forever, so you never stop doing them. If you never stop doing them, you can t gain back weight. 4. Look at weight loss as a process. You don t have to be perfect, you just have to keep going. 5. Focus on simple, easy to continue behaviors that you can repeat over and over until they become a habit.
WHAT NEXT? WHAT NEXT? This was an introduction to the behavioral approach to losing weight. Check out more FREE resources at: