Why Determination is Needed to Maintain a Healthy Weight

You might think that you only require determination when losing weight, as you have to go to the extra effort of counting calories and doing exercise. However, this is perhaps why so many people have difficulty maintaining a healthy weight. You can't simply go on a diet, lose lots of weight and expect to be able to keep the weight off without continuing to practise good habits. If you simply go back to eating large quantities of junk food once you have reached your weight-loss goal and stop doing exercise, the inevitable result will be weight gain. You then find yourself having to start the whole weight-loss process again.

Thus, you need to have the determination to continue monitoring your eating habits and getting some exercise if you don't want to end up watching your weight continually going up and down, depending on whether you're on a diet or not. Without the determination to maintain a healthy weight, it becomes far too easy to go back to the habits that are most familiar to you. Even if you've managed to stick to a healthy eating plan for many months, sometimes you still have the urge to kick back and relax. You don't want to have to permanently worry about what you're eating or whether you're doing enough exercise, because it can be stressful.

However, if you make no effort whatsoever to control the amount of food you eat and rarely bother to exercise, you will put on weight and you will end up right back at square one, needing to change your eating habits in order to lose weight. This will mean having to reduce your calorie intake once again whilst increasing your calorie expenditure. You also have to deal with the embarrassment and shame of gaining all the weight you lost back and you need to find the motivation to lose weight again, despite worrying about the possibility of regaining it all again, and it isn't easy. Surely, it is better to maintain a healthy weight than to watch your weight regularly fluctuate.

If you don't have any determination to maintain a healthy weight, it is pretty pointless losing weight in the first place, as you will ultimately end up going back to the habits that offer you comfort. Clearly, it is much easier to sit around, stuffing your face with food and not bothering to consider your calorie intake, but you will pay for it when you step on the scales. Being overweight isn't exactly good for your health; nor is yo-yo dieting, and so you need to focus on the benefits of maintaining a healthy weight, so that you can take the appropriate steps to avoid weight gain. It may require some effort, but it is worth it for the sake of your overall health and well-being.

Why do so Many People Regain Weight?

It is rather depressing to know that most people who lose weight usually gain some, if not all, of the weight they lost back within a couple of years. You obviously want to believe that you're going to be one of the few who manages to keep the weight off, but there are always doubts lurking in the back of your mind. At least when you're losing weight you have something to keep your mind fixated on. You may have a particular dress you would like to fit into for a wedding or you may want to get down to a certain weight before going on holiday.

Once you are trying to maintain your weight, though; there is no such incentive. You don't get the same boost of stepping on the scales each week to discover that your healthy eating and exercise routine has helped you to lose a pound or two. Indeed, you may try to keep track of your weight for a few weeks or months after reaching your goal weight, but, eventually, you may decide to avoid the scales, even though this usually proves to be a big mistake. If you don't know how much you weigh it is much easier to go back to your old eating and exercise habits, since you are oblivious to the impact it is having on your weight.

Of course, you can generally tell that you're gaining weight, as your clothes start to get tighter, but you don't know just how bad the situation is. The trouble is that it doesn't matter how exactly you lost the weight – you could have gone on a crash diet or simply followed a healthy eating plan – your inclination is always going to be to revert back to your former habits. It takes a long time to make something into a habit, and once it is established it is even harder to get rid of. If you're used to eating at certain times during the day or after experiencing particular emotions, then this is what comes naturally to you.

Unfortunately, if you have the type of habits which leave you consuming too many calories, the inevitable result is weight gain. You may be able to lose weight when losing weight is your main obsession; when you're giving it your full attention and planning every single thing you eat and making yourself exercise. The difficult part is when you're at your goal; everyone has stopped praising you for your weight loss and you come down to earth with a bump. You realise that to keep the weight off you're going to have to constantly watch what you eat and make an effort to exercise.

However, the chances are that life will get in the way or you will grow tired of calorie counting and exercise, so that, in the end, you simply give up. Consequently, you become one of the failed dieters, and like so many of them you may find that your weight constantly yo-yos up and down, rather than ever stabilising and remaining within a healthy range. Thus, to achieve weight-loss success you have to be just as determined to maintain a healthy weight as you were when you were actually losing the weight in the first place.

How Being in a Relationship Could Affect Your Weight

Weight gain is obviously the result of consuming more calories than you burn, just as losing weight is the result of consuming fewer calories than you burn. Consequently, you may wonder how being in a relationship could have any impact on your weight. However, it is possible that your calorie consumption could be influenced by being in a relationship, since entering into a relationship may lead you to change your habits and it can also affect your emotional state. Many people find that they gain weight when they are in a relationship, whether the relationship is a happy one or not, because of how they feel about themselves.

If you're happy in your relationship and feel comfortable being with your partner, you may find that you stop worrying so much about going to the gym and eating healthily. If your partner isn't bothered when you gain a few pounds it is much easier to simply eat what your partner eats, regardless of your calorie requirements. You enjoy each other's company and you're not trying to attract someone new. You're loved and valued as you are, so bad habits creep up on you and you find yourself gaining weight. This probably won't pose a problem, though, unless your weight spirals out of control.

Indeed, if you find yourself stuck in a relationship which leaves you feeling miserable, you could find yourself turning to food for comfort, as so many people do. If your partner is controlling and makes you feel worthless, you may retaliate by eating more. You stop caring about your appearance, because your self-esteem has reached such a low point and so you may try to ignore the weight you've gained. It takes a lot of strength to leave a relationship when you have such little self-worth, but it is only when you can value yourself that you will be able to get back in control of your weight and your life.

Sometimes, it is the end of a relationship which affects your weight. If you have been in a happy and loving relationship, it can come as quite a shock when it ends. You may find that you lose your appetite because you feel miserable and have no inclination to eat. Alternatively, you may consciously decide to change your eating habits so that you can lose weight for your own sake and increase your confidence. There is always the chance that you will go the other way and turn to food to cheer you up, in which case you could start to pile on the pounds.

Overall, then, it is pretty clear that being in a relationship can affect your state of mind which, in turn, can affect your weight. It depends on the type of relationship you are in and the emotional attachment you have with food as to which way your weight goes. Plus, the time you dedicate to exercise will also affect whether you gain weight or not over the course of a relationship. There are also unavoidable instances of weight gain which can happen during a relationship, such as if you decide to have a baby. It is obviously up to you to determine whether the relationship you're in is a healthy one, so that you can make the right choices for you.

Why is it so Difficult to Control Your Weight?

Everyone knows that if you eat too much food – especially the kind of food which is full of sugar, salt and saturated fat – there is a good chance you're going to put on weight. Very few people actually want to gain weight, because when you pile on the pounds your clothes no longer fit and you start to hate the way you look. Plus, you are also conscious of the fact that being overweight could be bad for your long-term health. Despite all these negative aspects of weight gain, many people find it a struggle to control their weight.

Even though you may want to remain slim, so that you can wear nice clothes and feel good about yourself, whilst also not having to worry as much about your health, the lure of junk food can be too much. The trouble is that it is far too easy to fall into bad habits. All it takes is for you to start working longer hours or to begin taking evening classes and suddenly you no longer have the time or inclination to prepare your own meals. It is much easier to grab a packet of biscuits and eat them on the move and perhaps pick up a burger later when you're on your way home, so that you don't have to cook.

Skipping meals and eating fast food on the go is hardly conducive to a healthy weight, though. If you don't eat regularly, your metabolism will be affected, whilst your excessive hunger may lead you to binge on high-calorie foods later on in the day. Sometimes, however, you are too preoccupied with other things going on in your life to worry about your calorie intake, even though you start to regret having ignored the problem when you finally do step on the scales. If you're busy at work, or having relationship difficulties, for instance, you may be stressed or feeling down and such negative emotions can affect your eating habits.

It perhaps would not be so bad if you made time for exercise, but the chances are that if you don't make the time to eat sensibly, you are probably even less likely to try to fit exercise into your schedule. If you're really lazy, you may not even bother to walk anywhere. It doesn't cost anything to walk and it at least gets you moving. However, when you work miles away from your home, you may be more inclined to take your car than to use your legs. Unfortunately, if you're not getting any exercise and you eat too much rubbish, you will end up having a difficult time trying to control your weight.

The only way to control your weight is to balance your calorie intake against your calorie expenditure. If you regularly consume more calories than you consume then you gain weight, something which is easy to do when you work long hours and don't bother to plan your meals. When you gain weight, you may decide to put yourself on a diet to get back down to your normal size, though if you follow a fad diet, you could just end up regaining any weight you lose. If you have a habit of not watching your weight, then how are you going to control it? You can't simply eat without thinking and hope that dieting now and again is going to solve your weight issues.

In the long term, to control your weight you have to make sure you eat properly, rather than eating whatever is most convenient, and try to get some exercise. It may seem like a hassle, but it is surely better to be careful with your diet and exercise habits than to watch your weight going up and down and feeling as though you are never in control of it.

Why do so Many Girls Worry About Their Weight?

It is a rather unfortunate state of affairs to see so many young girls already beginning to worry about their weight. There are girls that haven't even hit puberty, yet are preoccupied with the way they look and with trying to lose weight. When you're young, you shouldn't have to worry about your appearance or how much you weigh. Increasingly, though, young girls are reading magazines that talk about making the most of your appearance, whilst watching their own mothers battling weight issues. Consequently, the 'grown-up' thing to do is to go on a diet.

Usually, it is image-conscious youngsters that worry about their weight and decide they need to go on a diet, even when they are a perfectly health weight. However, in a society which is obsessed with the issue of weight and where everyone is constantly talking about wanting to be thinner, it is not surprising that many girls are adopting unhealthy habits in an order to control their own weight. They see adults going on diets, losing weight and receiving praise for doing so, which makes them think that they, too, could do with losing a few pounds in the belief it will improve their appearance.

However, what exactly are young girls so concerned about their looks for? Obviously, as you get older, there is a certain amount of pressure on you to take care of your appearance, because of the expectation that you have to look a certain way to attract a partner, procreate and, thus help to keep the human race going! Young girls are not in a position to attract a mate and have children, even though many are reaching puberty earlier. The trouble is that the kinds of magazines girls read and the television programmes they watch tend to propagate the idea that as a female it helps to be slim, as you are more likely to find a boyfriend and be popular.

It seems a shame that young girls are being forced to grow up so quickly. There are children that are learning to count calories and making themselves exercise excessively in order to lose weight that they don't really need to lose, anyway. This is leading some girls and boys to develop eating disorders. Although anorexia and bulimia are conditions which have long been associated with teenagers, increasingly young children are also developing eating disorders at a time when their bodies need the right nutrition for them to be able to grow.

Young girls who are worried about their weight are, in most cases, not actually overweight, and often take drastic measures to achieve the body they believe to be the most desirable. They don't consider the health implications of their actions, as they are too young to fully comprehend what they're doing to themselves. Unfortunately, if they become too obsessed with their weight, they could end up with an eating disorder that has a serious impact on their quality of life.

Dangers of Letting Your Weight Get Out of Control

If you are so heavy that you are classed as morbidly obese and have begun to develop health problems as a result of your size, it is evident that your weight is out of control. You probably never meant to put on so much weight, but found yourself on a downward spiral of eating and gaining weight. The heavier you became, the more you turned to food for comfort and when this happens it becomes harder to imagine the situation ever changing. You're carrying so much extra weight that it may take years to reach your goal weight, a prospect which makes finding the motivation to lose weight even harder.

Unfortunately, if you fail to tackle your weight you could run into serious problems. As you get heavier it becomes harder to do the normal everyday things that people who are a healthy weight take for granted. When you're substantially overweight, it can be extremely difficult to go for a walk, for instance. Walking is one of the easiest activities there is, but this is not the case when you're carrying too much weight. You may find that you are left out of breath after taking only a few steps and that there is so much pressure on your joints that you are in pain and have to sit down after covering only a few metres.

When you can't even do a basic form of exercise, such as walking, the chances are your weight problem is only going to get worse, since you end up burning even fewer calories. Clearly, if you burn fewer calories but continue to eat a high-calorie diet, the result will be continuing weight gain. It is not only exercise which can become difficult when your weight is out of control, as it can also affect your confidence, particularly in social situation. As an overweight individual, you can find yourself a target for abuse, as individuals shout nasty remarks at you regarding your weight. This can make you less inclined to leave the house.

Not only do you have to contend with bullying when you are overweight, though, as you may discover it is harder to carry out ordinary, everyday activities such as going to the cinema or shopping for clothes. When you're extremely heavy, you may not be able to fit into seats that are designed to accommodate a slimmer person and you may find yourself in an embarrassing situation that makes you want to leave. Going shopping for clothes can be equally traumatic, especially if you are with friends who are much slimmer than you are, and you can only find clothes that fit you in specialist plus-size stores.

The most dangerous aspect of letting your weight get out of control is the implications for your health. If you allow yourself to gain too much weight, you could find yourself diagnosed with a range of health conditions such as sleep apnoea, diabetes and arthritis. Your heart is under a great deal of pressure when you're overweight and your organs are likely to be covered in fat, so that you are at a higher risk of suffering a heart attack or stroke than someone of a healthy weight. Being overweight – especially when you are so overweight that you are considered to be morbidly obese – certainly does your health no favours and you could be shortening your life.

Thus, if you're a few pounds overweight it is worth trying to do something to lose the extra weight before it becomes a significant problem, and if you're extremely overweight you need to find the motivation to start trying to lose weight. You have to tell yourself that it's not too late, because it isn't. Although there is a long road ahead of you, it is possible for you to lose weight so that your health improves and you can enjoy life once again without having to worry about your size.

Why are so Many People in Denial About Their Weight Problem?

It is difficult to face up to a weight problem, as once you do, you then have to take action to change the situation. Sometimes, it is just easier to bury your head in the sand – to keep on eating your usual diet and piling on the pounds – than it is to address the fact that you're unhappy about your size and concerned about the implications for your health. You can't ignore the problem forever, though, as eventually you will find yourself struggling to find clothes that fit and feeling miserable about yourself, whilst also developing health issues that wouldn't be a problem if you were lighter.

If you're in denial about your weight problem, rest assured you're not alone. Many people avoid tackling their weight until they are so heavy they are classified as 'morbidly obese' and have no choice but to lose weight or else come to a premature end. Clearly, it is better to try to address a weight problem before it takes over your life and you have to confront it head-on. Losing weight is a challenge, so it is understandable why most people would prefer to ignore the issue of their weight, but you only make the whole process harder for yourself if you keep putting it off.

You have to be extremely motivated to lose weight and to keep on losing the pounds week after week, and when you have over 100 pounds to lose, it makes it all the more difficult to stay focused, whereas if you're only 20 or 30 pounds overweight you can reach your goal sooner. However, most people try not to contemplate the idea that they could ever let themselves get that heavy. They watch these documentaries about dangerously overweight individuals trying to lose weight and believe that their weight problem will never get that bad.

Yet, the chances are if they continue to lead an unhealthy lifestyle, gaining weight as a result, they could quite easily end up with such a weight problem. The trouble is when members of your family are also overweight, as well as friends and neighbours, being overweight seems normal and so there is no real motivation to lose weight. You don't have to worry about standing out when all your friends and relatives are the same size. Plus, with an increasing number of plus-size shops you can dress fashionably and look nice, so that you may not see the need to lose weight.

Recognising that you have a weight problem means that you need to consider what has caused you to gain weight, so you can change the situation and stop it from happening again. If you're an emotional eater, this can be a painful process, and even if you just eat food because you love the taste, you still have to find a way to change your eating habits in order to lose weight. Any kind of change is difficult, which is why most people would prefer to believe that they're either a healthy weight or only a few pounds overweight and that the extra pounds are hardly likely to cause them any damage.

Signs You Can No Longer Ignore Your Weight

Losing weight isn't easy and so you may be inclined to just ignore the fact that you're carrying too much weight. However, if you keep eating too much in relation to the amount of activity you do, you will continue to pile on the pounds. Although you may be able to ignore your weight for awhile, eventually you have to face up to the fact that you have to do something about it. If you don't do anything about your weight, you could end up stuck in the house, unable to get out of bed because you're so obese that you are unable to move.

You don't have to let it reach such a stage, though, if you consider tackling your weight as soon as possible. Checking your Body Mass Index (BMI) will give you a clue as to whether you need to lose weight and how much weight you could do with losing. Although it is not a perfect measure of whether you are a healthy weight or not, at least you will gain some idea of what a normal weight for someone of your height actually is. The chances are that if you rarely exercise, it is mostly fat that your body is made up of, anyway, which is what you want to work on reducing.

If you notice that your clothes are getting tighter and that every time you go shopping you require a larger size, it is evident that you are continuing to put on weight. You may be tempted to avoid stepping on the scales, knowing that you're heavier than you would like to be. However, you cannot ignore the fact that every few months you are having to replace clothes that have become too small for you and that when you look in the mirror you see someone with more than one chin, as well as rolls of fat around your midriff.

The clearest sign that you can no longer ignore your weight is when your health and overall well-being is beginning to suffer. You may struggle to move around, as you get out of breath after walking only a few steps. This could exacerbate your weight problem if you are doing even less exercise than before. You may become increasingly isolated, as you are are not able to go out and enjoy yourself, partly because you get tired so quickly and partly because you can't face everyone staring at you, which leaves you feeling miserable and alone.

You may have been to see the doctor who has told you that if you don't lose weight you could die prematurely. Being overweight puts you at greater risk of heart disease and diabetes and the heavier you are, the more dangerous it becomes. It is therefore evident that you can't ignore your weight if it is making you depressed and damaging your health. It may be challenging to lose weight, but at least you know that doing so will improve your health prospects and make you feel good about yourself.

Are You in Denial About Your Weight?

If you're in denial about being overweight, it obviously means that you have no reason to try to alter the situation. Sometimes, it is just easier to tell yourself that your weight isn't a problem and that it doesn't really bother you, because then you don't have to deal with it. However, remaining in denial about your weight problem won't help you in the long run. If you fail to tackle your weight problem, it may get worse over the years and, in the end, carrying too much extra weight could have a detrimental impact on your health.

One of the most common signs you're in denial about your weight problem is your reluctance to step on the scales. If you don't know how much you weigh, how can it be a problem? If you never bother to weigh yourself you don't know that you're gaining weight and what the impact of your eating and exercise habits on your size is. Bad eating habits can become worse, so that your calorie consumption increases over time, but you don't realise this because you have no idea how much you weigh. It may only be when you go to see your doctor that you finally realise how heavy you are.

Your doctor obviously can't force you to step on the scales, but if your health is suffering because of your weight, it is something your doctor is going to point out, whether you want to hear it or not. Unfortunately, even when your doctor indicates that it would be a good idea for you to lose weight, you immediately tell yourself that being overweight is in your genes or that perhaps you have a thyroid problem that makes it harder to stay slim. You know how hard it is to lose weight and so it is easier to tell yourself you're only slightly overweight or that you can't do anything about it, even if you wanted to.

Eventually, being overweight will catch up with you, though. You may be able to avoid the scales, but you can't ignore the reflection in your mirror or the fact that whenever you go shopping for clothes you have to buy them in a larger size. At the end of the day, it is your health which is likely to deteriorate if you don't do something to lose a few pounds. Being overweight puts you at greater risk of heart disease and diabetes. You may not want to think about the possibility of becoming ill, but it is worth considering. Although you may be in good health now, this may not be the case for long if you continue to put on weight.

The Difficulty of Staying a Healthy Weight

Everyone wants to be a healthy weight, but sometimes it isn't easy. You know what you have to do to remain slim, yet it almost feels as though you have no control over your eating habits. Instead of eating three nutritionally balanced meals a day, you can find yourself grazing on junk food all day long and serving large portions of fast food at meal times. Plus, it doesn't help that you don't have the time or inclination to exercise, as you end up consuming far too many calories for your body to burn, which inevitably leads to weight gain.

Bad eating habits are the main cause of weight gain, though leading a sedentary lifestyle, as many people do, certainly doesn't help. You may have picked up bad eating habits as a child, which become increasingly difficult to tackle as you get older. You get used to eating large quantities at meal times and consuming as many snacks as you want without giving any thought to what you're eating or how much you're eating. Picking up bad eating habits as a child is even more likely when you have overweight parents who have forgotten what it means to eat healthily.

Unfortunately, if you don't address your own issues with food your behaviour could affect others around you, especially if you decide to start a family of your own. If you don't really know what a reasonable portion size is or what constitutes a balanced meal, you could have difficulty managing your weight. Subsequently, you may pass on your bad habits to any children you have, so that they, too, develop a weight problem.

Even when you do know what action to take to maintain a healthy weight, life can get in the way of your plans. If you have a job that requires you to work long, irregular hours you may not have the time to plan healthy meals and to get some exercise. You may find yourself skipping meals and subsisting on junk food just to get through the day, even though you know this could contribute to your expanding waistline. When you have a busy schedule, you may prefer to prioritise spending time with friends and family, rather than your weight, and so you try to avoid thinking about the issue.

You may go into a state of denial, which makes it easier for you continue gaining weight, or you may become stressed about the situation and turn to food for comfort. Either way, it becomes increasingly difficult to stay a healthy weight when you are unable to or unprepared to adopt the habits that will ensure you avoid excessive calorie consumption.

How Important is it to Maintain a Healthy Weight?

What exactly is a healthy weight? Medical professionals often use the Body Mass Index (BMI) to determine whether you're overweight or not, although this is a flawed system, since your weight is set against your height. The taller you are, the heavier you can be without being classed as overweight. However, this does not take into account muscle mass, so that if you're extremely athletic and muscular, you could be considered overweight or obese despite being very fit and perfectly healthy.

Waist measurement is another way to determine whether you could stand to lose a few pounds, so that if you're a woman with a waist measurement over 35 inches or a man with one over 40 inches you could be at greater risk of developing health problems. Once again, though, no allowances are made for your activity levels. Just because you're carrying extra weight doesn't necessarily mean you lead an inactive lifestyle and exercise is an excellent way to stay fit and improve your health prospects. How big you are doesn't necessarily reflect this.

However, most people are well aware that they're overweight in whatever way it is measured and that they do not have the kind of lifestyle which makes it easy to maintain a healthy weight. If you work long, irregular hours it is obviously going to be a challenge to fit exercise into your schedule and to take the time needed to prepare nutritious and balanced meals. You may simply eat food on the go, so that you mainly eat convenience meals and fast food. After all, when you come home from work all you want to do is sit back and relax or play with your kids. How much you weigh may not enter your mind until you have to buy clothes or you take a trip to the doctor.

It is only when you're told that your weight could lead to serious health problems that will ultimately shorten your life that you have to face up to the fact that your weight can no longer be ignored. Losing weight is difficult and so it is convenient to tell yourself that you're just big-boned or that you're curvy rather than overweight, but weight is not merely a superficial issue. At the end of the day, it doesn't really matter what dress size you wear; what matters is that you are happy and healthy. If you are carrying so much weight that your quality of life is beginning to suffer you can't continue to bury your head in the sand.

Consequently, although there may be room for manoeuvre in what constitutes a healthy weight – since everyone is different – you know when your weight is becoming a problem. If you're too skinny or too heavy to live the kind of life you want, then it is obviously time to address the issue of your weight. For most people it is carrying too much weight that is the problem, but being underweight can also be detrimental to your health, as extremely skinny individuals will already know. It is therefore reasonably important to maintain a healthy weight for the sake of your physical and mental well-being.

Why People Get Trapped in a Cycle of Gaining and Losing Weight

For most people it is far easier to gain weight than it is to lose it and far more enjoyable! To gain weight, all you have to do is eat too much and drink too much whilst doing very little exercise, something which many are able to do with ease. All it takes is for a holiday abroad or Christmas and New Year's celebrations for them to overdo it and gain weight. Making the effort to lose weight is much more challenging, but has to be done if you don't want to end up with a wardrobe full of clothes that no longer fit.

You know that losing weight is going to be hard, because it means having to make a number of changes to your usual way of doing things. You can no longer just eat whatever you feel whenever you please or go out with friends and get drunk every weekend. When losing weight is such a hassle, you just want it to be over with as quickly as possible and so instead of looking to make long-term changes it is more convenient to aim for rapid weight loss by going on a diet. There are, after all, plenty of diets on the market which claim to be able to help.

Unfortunately, virtually all of these diets are designed with the short term in mind. They are not there to help you to control your weight, but rather to encourage you to lose weight as quickly as possible by getting you to cut your calories down to a very low amount. Of course, you're bound to lose weight when you're more-or-less starving yourself, but you won't be able to keep it up for long and as you grow increasingly despondent it becomes much easier to give into temptation. Sticking to a diet may not be a problem when you're motivated, but usually this motivation doesn't last long.

It doesn't help that most diets are very prescriptive and provide you with restrictive meal plans that don't exactly give you much choice. You get bored of eating the same meals every day, especially when everyone around you is able to eat what they want. It isn't long before you're back to your former ways, eating large quantities of junk food and not even pausing to consider your calorie intake. The end result is always weight gain, which usually leaves you feeling miserable, because you feel that you've let down all the people who had been complimenting you on your weight loss.

Sometimes, this can fuel binge eating, which only exacerbates the problem. At some point or another you will once again come to the decision to lose weight and quite often you will try to shed the extra pounds by going on a diet. The trouble is that you become fixated on losing weight as quickly as possible without considering whether you will actually be able to keep the weight off. To successfully maintain a healthy weight, however, you have to embrace healthier habits which are not advocated in any diet plan. Otherwise, you find yourself trapped in a cycle of losing and gaining weight.

Why Are People so Obsessed with Their Weight?

It seems that it is impossible to escape the issue of weight in our society. From an early age you hear your mother complaining about how fat she is and watch her going from diet to diet in order to shift a few pounds, not that you can ever really tell the difference! As you enter your teenage years you become more aware of your own body and how others judge you by your size, so that you start tinkering with your diet and exercising more in order to shift a bit of weight, something which usually carries on well into adulthood.

It doesn't help that the media is so preoccupied with weight. There are always news stories and documentaries examining the impact of rising obesity levels on society, so that you're under no illusion that obesity is bad. If you let yourself become overweight you are at greater risk of developing health problems that make it harder to work, leaving you unable to contribute to the health services that you will become increasingly reliant upon.

It is not only the issue of obesity that is highlighted on television and in magazines, though, since at the same time there is concern about the influence the media has on anorexia amongst adolescent girls, in particular. There is a fear that putting ultra-thin models and actresses on show in order to inspire others to admire their beauty and want to emulate their success is sending out the wrong message. There are many complex reasons why individuals develop eating disorders, but clearly this societal fixation with weight doesn't help.

Whether you're fat, thin or somewhere in the middle, it is hard to accept the size you are and learn to love the skin you're in when you're surrounded by images that are designed to encourage you to transform yourself. You are made to think about your weight, even if you're a perfectly healthy size, because you are bombarded with images of slim, attractive young things wearing fashionable clothing and you want to look the best you can.

When you watch television or flick through a magazine you notice there are plenty of slimming groups for you to join and diet products for you to buy that will supposedly help you lose a few pounds and you can quite easily get sucked into buying things you don't really need and that won't even help you manage your weight. It is not only the media that shapes your attitude towards weight, though, since friends and family also influence you. If all your friends are slim, you want to be, too; if a family member goes on a diet, you may decide to because you don't want to be left out. Clearly, there are more important issues in the world than weight, but many people find that their self-esteem is affected by their size and that their weight undermines their enjoyment of life. For these individuals, weight can become an obsession which only makes them feel more miserable.

Signs Your Weight is Getting Out of Control

Obesity has become increasingly common throughout the Western world, so much so that you don't even notice that the people around you are overweight or that you could do with losing weight, too. Since being overweight is the norm, you may not even consider that your weight could become a real problem. When you see documentaries about super morbidly obese individuals on the television, you wonder how on earth they let themselves get into such a position, but it really isn't that difficult to understand how they managed to get caught in the trap of eating too much and doing too little.

If your friends and relatives are all overweight, it is easier to ignore the fact that you're carrying a few too many pounds, since everyone around you is as well. You may not even realise you're overweight, especially if you don't weigh yourself very often and have no idea what a healthy weight for someone of your height is. It is only when you start to encounter other problems that you may have to face up to the fact that you need to lose weight before your weight spirals out of control. You certainly don't want to end up in a position where you're bed bound because of your size.

Obesity increases your risk of developing serious health conditions such as heart disease and diabetes, so that it may only be when you go to your doctor for a check-up that you discover your weight is getting out of control. You might be able to dismiss your doctor's suggestion to lose weight when there appears to be nothing wrong with you, but when you have high blood pressure, your cholesterol is through the roof and you are on the verge of developing diabetes, you may change your attitude. When you assess the health risks of being seriously overweight it is much easier to motivate yourself to do something about it.

Being significantly overweight can have a negative impact on your quality of your life. When you're carrying far too much weight, it can be a struggle to move about and to do things that other things that people take for granted. You may not be able to find clothes that fit and have difficulty going to the cinema or going on theme park rides because your size makes it impossible. You may struggle to walk, which only exacerbates your weight problem if you're completely inactive and still eating a high-calorie diet. All of this can have a detrimental effect on your self-esteem.

If you don't like what you see in the mirror and turn to food because it's the only thing that makes you feel better, you clearly have a problem. When your health begins to suffer and there is a danger that your size could render you immobile, you obviously cannot avoid dealing with the situation for much longer. It is always tough addressing a weight problem, but it is better to do so sooner rather than later if it means you will be able to enjoy a longer, healthier, happier life.

Why Fad Diets Will Not Solve a Weight Problem

It isn’t easy to decide to lose weight when you know it is going to involve months of religiously watching what you eat. It is a real hassle changing your eating habits just to lose weight, but when you don’t like the way you look and are worried you’re getting so heavy that your health could start to suffer you may opt to do something positive and take action. Instead of aiming for gradual weight loss which can be achieved through healthy eating and regular exercise, though, there is a good chance you will try to lose weight as quickly as possible by going on a diet.

After all, there is no shortage of fad diets out there to choose from. Whenever you pick up a woman’s magazine there will be a headline telling you that inside there are tips to help you lose 10 pounds in a week. You become fixated on losing lots of weight within a short space of time, because you want to get back to living normally, rather than counting calories forever. You want to be able to go to a restaurant with your partner and eat whatever you want without feeling guilty and to go drinking with friends without worrying about your calorie intake.

You therefore choose a diet plan that offers rapid results with not that much effort on your part. You don’t have to think about what you’re going to eat when it is all laid out for you; you don’t have to make time for exercise when the diet is so low in calories you’re bound to lose weight, anyway. All you have to do is stick to the diet and watch the weight fall off you. It might be a challenge at first, but every time you step on the scales and see the numbers decreasing you know that it is worth it, which keeps you motivated to continue.

However, before long following the diet becomes rather tedious. You may have lost a bit of weight and so you decide you deserve a treat or you’ve had a bad day and can’t be bothered with the diet for one day. When you’ve broken your diet once, though, it becomes easier to do it again and eventually you give up on the diet altogether. This comes as no surprise since fad diets are there to encourage rapid weight loss, but are not meant to be followed for long periods of time. They do not prepare you for what is needed to maintain a healthy weight and so you simply go back to the habits with which you are most familiar.

Clearly, then, fad diets will not solve a weight problem when they merely get you to focus on the short term. Instead of looking for ways to lose weight at a sustainable rate you take steps that you hope will enable you to reach your goal weight within a short space of time, so that you won’t have to worry about your weight again. It doesn’t quite work like that, though, since you have to be prepared to control your calorie intake if you want to prevent yourself regaining weight. Unfortunately, despite the high rate of failure when it comes to fad diets, people are still drawn to them, as everyone wants to believe it will be different next time and that they will succeed.

Are You in Denial About Your Weight Problem?

If you are in denial about the fact you have a weight problem, you are not alone. Many people cannot face up to the fact that they have let themselves go and that they have put on so much weight that it could be damaging their health. After all, it is much easier to bury your head in the sand about being overweight than it is to confront the issue head-on and deal with it.

To reverse a weight problem, you obviously have to make changes to your eating and exercise habits. Unfortunately, introducing any kind of change to your life is always difficult and so it is tempting to avoid dealing with your weight, even if it is making you unhappy. You tell yourself that your weight isn’t really that bad and spend your time comparing yourself to people who are even heavier than you. If you can still get about and aren’t confined to a bed, as the people with a ‘real’ weight problem are, you are able to convince yourself that you don’t have to do anything about it.

However, morbidly obese individuals were not always that way. Those with a serious weight problem were not always as heavy as they end up. When you don’t want to find yourself in the position of having hundreds of pounds to lose you have to take action early on. You can’t keep pretending that your weight doesn’t bother you and that you’re just as healthy as your slimmer friends. If you sit around eating junk food and never bother to exercise, the chances are you aren’t as fit and healthy as you could be.

You may decide not to step on the scales, because if you don’t know how much you weigh then you don’t know how serious the problem is. Of course, you know when you’re putting on weight, because every time you go shopping for clothes you find yourself having to buy them in a larger size. Perhaps that is why you choose to avoid clothes shopping altogether, especially when there are only a few stores that stock clothes in your size.

Even if you try to kid yourself that your weight isn’t an issue, when you develop health problems and your quality of life begins to suffer you can no longer do so. If your weight prevents you from doing the things you want to do and you have negative feelings about the way you look, it is time to take action. Indeed, it would be preferable to deal with your weight before it reaches such a stage, but the main thing is that you finally face up to the fact your weight is a problem, so that you can take the action needed to facilitate weight loss.

Why do so Many People Regain the Weight they Lost?

It can be difficult to stay in the right frame of mind when losing weight, because it seems to take a long time to get where you want to be. The temptation is always there to just give up trying to lose weight, as then you will be able to eat whatever you feel like without worrying about how many calories you’re consuming. However, it is this kind of attitude that leads people to regain the weight they managed to lose. They want to be able to eat anything and everything, which obviously makes weight maintenance more challenging.

Losing too much weight
One of the reasons that people regain the weight they lost is that they shed too much weight in the first place. Not everyone is designed to be super skinny and so it may be just too difficult to maintain such a low weight. You may decide to use the Body Mass Index (BMI) to determine how much weight to lose, but if you have a large frame you may end up looking too skinny.

When people around you are constantly telling you that you’re too skinny, you may find yourself becoming more relaxed about your eating and exercise habits so that you put on a few pounds. This can become a problem if you end up putting on too much weight again.


Losing weight too quickly
Everyone wants to be able to lose lots of weight quickly, but to do this usually requires you to go on a very low calorie diet. When you decide to follow the latest fad diet you run the risk of malnourishment, because the chances are you won’t be getting the wide range of nutrients you need.

You may lose large amounts of weight in the beginning, but it may not necessarily be fat that you’re losing, but rather water and muscle. Eventually, your body will adjust to being given fewer calories and your weight loss will slow down, which is often when you are inclined to give up. Instead of eating healthily you simply go back to your former eating habits and pile on the pounds once more.


Negative attitude
If you have lost and gained weight a number of times in the past, it is not surprising if you don’t have much self-belief. Even when you’re actually losing weight, you may become preoccupied with the thought that you’re only going to gain it all back again. As a consequence, you might simply sabotage your own efforts, so that once you have reached your goal weight you give up trying to control your weight because it much easier to sit around eating rather than taking the steps needed to maintain a healthy weight.

It doesn’t have to be that way
Although yo-yo dieting is something that many people experience, it is entirely possible to lose weight and keep the weight off. However, to do this successfully you have to adopt healthy lifestyle habits that will ensure you never have to go on a diet ever again.

Why is it so Difficult to Maintain a Healthy Weight?

According to the CDC, over a third of Americans are classed as obese, which suggests that obesity is far from being an individual problem. Society has undergone profound changes over the past century, so that nowadays most people are engaged in less physically intensive work; they have more options about what to do with their free time and they generally spend less time preparing nutritionally balanced meals. One of the consequences of this is that people’s waistlines have been expanding.

Dietary habits
The way in which people eat and the food that they choose to consume is very different from years gone by. There are so many more options than there used to be that the choice can be overwhelming. Food is relatively cheap, particularly the kinds of food that are crammed full of sugar and fat, and so people are more likely to opt for cheap, tasty and quick-to-prepare meals than to pick out raw ingredients and prepare a meal from scratch. Individuals are less likely to sit around the table and eat together as a family and will often graze on snacks instead of eating proper meals or will eat snacks as well as hefty meals.

Activity levels
Besides picking up poor eating habits, a significant proportion of the population are not getting enough exercise either. Most people have jobs which involve a lot of sitting around, which doesn’t exactly burn many calories. On top of this, they are not making enough effort to incorporate exercise into their day. It is recommended that individuals should engage in moderate intensity exercise at least five times a week to stay healthy, but even this amount is too much for some. However, this doesn’t stop them from eating as if they are training to run a marathon. The end result is, of course, weight gain.

General lifestyles
For many people, modern society is characterised by stress. People may not be working in physically demanding jobs, but that doesn’t make the work they do any easier. Most are having to work long hours for very little reward and there are other stresses that people have to deal with, from financial issues to relationship worries. None of this is new, but there seems to be less stability in people’s lives than in the past and many people turn to food for comfort in times of stress. Not only that, stress can lead to the excess production of cortisol, a hormone which can promote weight gain.

It therefore isn’t difficult to see why it is so many people struggle to maintain a healthy weight. Individuals find themselves with less certainty in their lives, worried about what the future holds in store, and food provides them with a cheap way of feeling better about everything. In their spare time they want to relax and enjoy what they’re doing, and so they are more likely to switch on the television than go to the gym. Unfortunately, because people aren’t making enough effort to keep their calorie intake in check, they end up weighing more than they would like, which could have a detrimental impact on their health.

The Importance of Monitoring Your Weight

When you know you’re heavier than you should be, you may not bother to get on the scales for fear of what you will discover. However, it is surely better to continually monitor your weight than to avoid weighing yourself until you become so heavy that you are unable to lead a normal life. If you fail to monitor your weight, you won’t know the precise impact your eating and exercise habits are having on your weight, which means you won’t bother to adjust them. Consequently, you could find yourself with a very large amount of weight to lose, rather than just a few pounds.

Clearly, when you find yourself needing to lose over 30 pounds you have to be extremely determined to reach your weight-loss goal. It can be hard enough to lose three or four pounds, but when you need to stay focused for so long it is even tougher. Ideally, then, you would avoid getting into this position in the first place. By monitoring your weight, you can see for yourself when you’ve eaten too much or not done enough exercise, which you can then rectify the next week to ensure you don’t continue to pile on the pounds.

If you’re overweight and trying to lose the extra pounds you’re carrying, monitoring your weight takes on even greater importance, because it provides you with a useful way to measure your progress. You don’t have to weigh yourself every day – indeed, to do so could be counterproductive – but, by weighing yourself once a week you will be able to see how the changes you’ve made to your diet and exercise regime are paying off. This should help keep you motivated, since you know for sure that all the effort you’re putting in is working, and so you don’t mind sticking with it.It is important to monitor your weight, because being either too fat or too thin could have a detrimental impact on your health and well-being.

Consequently, weighing yourself at least gives you some indication of whether you need to gain or lose weight. You are able to track how your weight fluctuates over the weeks and months, so that you know more about how your body works. Plus, if you start gaining or losing weight unexpectedly, you will know straightaway about it, which means you can make an appointment with your doctor and find out if there is anything wrong with you. If there is, at least you will be able to deal with your condition sooner rather than later.

Even though you may loathe stepping on the scales, it is important to monitor your weight, so that you don’t gain or lose huge amounts of weight in a short space of time, as doing so could be bad for your health. If you do gain or lose a few pounds you can always make changes to your habits to avoid the situation worsening and see a doctor if you’re concerned about being ill, whilst if you don’t monitor your weight you may not even realise there is anything wrong.