Examining - pg. 2
Motivation:
What is your motivation?  The overwhelming majority of overweight people who don't diet or quit dieting do so because they either don't have enough motivation to start or to continue long term.  What motivates you? Why do you want to change? 

* Realizing that without a change in your lifestyle, you are going to die years sooner than you should?
* Realizing that many of your medical problems could be erased or greatly lessened?
* Wanting to live longer for the sake of your children, spouse, or parents?
* Tired of looking fat and being ridiculed by others?
* Want to attract a mate?

Like everything else in life, if you don’t have a good reason to do something, you will put little effort in trying. 

Another thing you must do is take responsibility of your actions.  It is easy to say “it’s not my fault I am overweight”.  Yes, you may be genetically pre-disposed to a certain figure or weight gain.  Yes you may have grown up in an obese household or a culture where the food leads to being overweight.  But just because something like weight management might be harder for you than for other people does not mean you are not ultimately responsible for the end results.  Find your motivation then take responsibility for the outcome. 

Decisions -vs- emotions:
We all have emotions and we all make decisions based on reasoning.  But each of us differ in how often we base our choices on emotion or logic. 
Many people are very emotionally based.  They act based on their feelings more often that reasoning the best course of action to follow.  Other times is depends on the situation - e.g. logical at work as an accountant but emotional when it comes to eating.

It is extremely important that when it comes to eating and exercise that you base your actions on decisions you know are good for you instead of your emotions at any given moment.  Did you read that?  When it comes to eating and exercise, you should be logic based, not emotionally based.

People who are overweight often avoid exercise because they don’t “feel” like it.  They also eat when they are not hungry.  It is usually a response to emotions like depression, stress, loneliness, boredom or even when they are happy. They do this because it makes them feel good emotionally, takes their mind off of problems or sustains an emotional high. 

When you first start to change into your healthy lifestyle, it will be more difficult to make the right decision instead of acting emotionally.  However, as time goes on, doing what you know is good for you will become much easier and the emotional aspect will lessen.

Failure-maybe your best teacher:
So what happens if you find yourself overeating, eating too much food you know is not good for you, or slack of exercising?  If you regret a decision you made, consider why you failed and what you can do better next time.  Please understand, everyone without exception will fail to meet their goals in one way or another.   The more you understand why you failed and consider what you can do to improve, the more likely you will be at achieving your goals.  When you repeat the same failure, don’t give up, reevaluate what went wrong and consider other options to help yourself. 

In the same way, you should evaluate your successes.  If you have been doing something particularly well, evaluate the mindset and habits you have been using.  Then consider why they have been helpful.


Consider what to focus on:
While everyone should consider good nutrition, exercise and addressing psychological food issues, it is best to focus your attention on your specific reasons for gaining weight.
If you don't know what caused you to become overweight, it will be harder to make the necessary changes you need for long term success. Look at the list below (mentioned earlier in the basics section) and consider what areas you need to focus on.  Note: you may see yourself fitting into more than one of these categories.


A. Food choices - ethnic or cultural diets, eating out too often.  Characterized by very slow progressive weight gain. Being overweight a few pounds but typically not obtaining the morbidly or super obese size.

Recommendations - Focus on food:
Simply leaning to eat healthy can slowly bring your weight under control.  This would include leaning better food choices, cooking techniques, and learning what food is good for you on your favorite places to eat.  Even fast food can be healthy if you make the right menu choices. Consider your portion sizes.  Also for cultural cooking, lean what ingredients are best to eat and see how you can modify your favorite foods so they are healthier but are still great to eat.


B. Periodic weight gain - holidays, weddings, vacations, parties.  These types maintain weight well but weight adds during life events.  Generally they are only a few pounds overweight and daily food choices are not usually the problem.

Recommendations - Focus on the life events:
Holidays are the #1 offender in this category.  Consider what events your weight gain happens around and what you can do to reduce your caloric intake. Also a good exercise plan will help you maintain weight better even through these higher caloric life events-especially if you up your workouts during these times.

C. Age -after metabolism starts to slow or the onset of menopause or andropause, weight is gained and muscle tone diminishes.  This largely due to us living a  more sedimentary lifestyle as we age but also includes the caloric intake staying the same as the body slows down needs less to survive.

Recommendations - Focus on exercise:
In these cases, weight slowly increases as the level of activity goes down.  A good fitness plan will help you lose the few extra pounds and help you keep them off.  Furthermore, the exercise will carry many health benefits as you continue to age.


D. Psychological Eating disorder - eats too much continually, eats for comfort, eats due to depression or happiness, eats from boredom, goes on food binges.  This group typically obtains a far greater weight than any of the other groups and typically starts in childhood.    Weight loss is the hardest for this group because the problem can be a combination of all of the above (e.g. Weight gain around holidays) plus the mental aspects as well.  The mental aspect is by far the hardest to cure.  It is frequently a response to a traumatic life experience.

Recommendations - Focus especially on the psychological aspects, but absolutely do not neglect the nutrition and exercise.

If you don't deal with the emotional causes for your weight gain, it will be almost impossible to be able to keep the weight off.  Deal with the mental and the physical will follow-plus your results will more likely be long term.

What is the psychological reason for your weight gain?  The answer to this question might be clear and obvious to you; or it might take months of reflecting before you understand.  And in many cases, the emotional problem might be like an onion-you peel back one layer and there is yet another smaller layer waiting to be dealt with. There will also be times where you think all the emotional baggage has been dealt with, only to realize there are still other items to address. 

The point settles to this, are you trying to address the psychological issues that contributed to your weight gain?  If you are active at this, your chances of success are very good.

Also, you do not have to address all the psychological issues in order to start eating healthy.  In fact, exercise has been shown to greatly reduce depression and stress in people.  Good nutrition also plays a role in helping your body balance the complex chemistry in your brain that affects mood and energy. 
Next: Examine pg3
Quote:
If you don't deal with the emotional causes for your weight gain, it will be almost impossible to be able to keep the weight off.  Deal with the mental and the physical will follow.
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When it all comes down to it, you must learn to live by conscience choice and not the emotions of the minute.  
Quote:
Being overweight comes from at least one if not all of these three factors:
1. Poor nutrition
2. Lack of exercise
3. Psychological issues
Quote:
The more you understand why you failed and consider what you can do to improve, the more likely you will be at achieving your goals.  When you repeat the same failure, don’t give up, reevaluate what went wrong and consider other options to help yourself.
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