ut only for a short period of time. It does not remove the cause for your weight gain.

Why did you gain weight? What caused it? What family, career, or personal circumstances changed and started the weight gain? Have you always been overweight?

Losing weight starts in your head. Not on your plate. I have joined Weight Watchers myself. You might think that I contradict myself – since you think Weight Watchers is another slimming diet. For me, Weight Watchers is a help to

Losing weight has accompanied me my whole life. However, I have never tried stupid diets that claimed you can lose 10 lb in a week, or 20 lb in a month.

When I was at Uni, I was rather overweight, so I concentrated on my weight and joined a local GP-moderated group. We were supposed to “learn” how to eat normally and we would start by learning how to eat breakfast. The two other meals – lunch and evening meal – were replaced by a drink you would make using some powder and yoghurt. Over time, you would replace the lunch powder drink with a proper lunch and the same happened to the evening meal. Since the whole thing was quite expensive, I really stuck to the diet and was soon used as a role model in the group. I lost about 4 stones in 3 months and looked gorgeous. I had a super body, down from a size 18-20 to a size 10-12. I managed to keep the weight down for about 2 years. Then my life changed dramatically, I moved from Germany to Scotland, different foods were available, my rut was broken, I gained weight. Lots of it.

I gained about 6 stones since I moved to the UK – thanks to Fish & Chips, Indian Restaurants, Chinese Take Aways and so on. We don’t have these things in rural German towns, and I really enjoyed the new foods. But my hips didn’t thank me for it.

Now, at 16 stones, I am as unhappy as ever and I put my mind to it. I need to lose weight. I decided, however, not to go on a diet.

I will give you an example: If you have headaches, the first thing you do is you take an Aspirin. This will remove the headaches because it numbs your feeling of pain for a certain amount of time. The headaches are away, and it seems as if Aspirin has cured the headaches.

This is completely wrong though. Aspirin has only removed the pain, the symptom, but not the underlying cause. The reason for your headaches might have been dehydration or lack of sleep or too much computer work.

The same is true for slimming diets. If you go on a diet, it removes the symptom – the weight you have gained, but only for a short period of time. It does not remove the cause for your weight gain.

Why did you gain weight? What caused it? What family, career, or personal circumstances changed and started the weight gain? Have you always been overweight?

Losing weight starts in your head. Not on your plate. I have joined Weight Watchers myself. You might think that I contradict myself – since you think Weight Watchers is another slimming diet. For me, Weight Watchers is a help to

replace the lunch powder drink with a proper lunch and the same happened to the evening meal. Since the whole thing was quite expensive, I really stuck to the diet and was soon used as a role model in the group. I lost about 4 stones in 3 months and looked gorgeous. I had a super body, down from a size 18-20 to a size 10-12. I managed to keep the weight down for about 2 years. Then my life changed dramatically, I moved from Germany to Scotland, different foods were available, my rut was broken, I gained weight. Lots of it.

I gained about 6 stones since I moved to the UK – thanks to Fish & Chips, Indian Restaurants, Chinese Take Aways and so on. We don’t have these things in rural German towns, and I really enjoyed the new foods. But my hips didn’t thank me for it.

Now, at 16 stones, I am as unhappy as ever and I put my mind to it. I need to lose weight. I decided, however, not to go on a diet.

I will give you an example: If you have headaches, the first thing you do is you take an Aspirin. This will remove the headaches because it numbs your feeling of pain for a certain amount of time. The headaches are away, and it seems as if Aspirin has cured the headaches.

This is completely wrong though. Aspirin has only removed the pain, the symptom, but not the underlying cause. The reason for your headaches might have been dehydration or lack of sleep or too much computer work.

The same is true for slimming diets. If you go on a diet, it removes the symptom – the weight you have gained, but only for a short period of time. It does not remove the cause for your weight gain.

Why did you gain weight? What caused it? What family, career, or personal circumstances changed and started the weight gain? Have you always been overweight?

Losing weight starts in your head. Not on your plate. I have joined Weight Watchers myself. You might think that I contradict myself – since you think Weight Watchers is another slimming diet. For me, Weight Watchers is a help to

t. Lots of it.

I gained about 6 stones since I moved to the UK – thanks to Fish & Chips, Indian Restaurants, Chinese Take Aways and so on. We don’t have these things in rural German towns, and I really enjoyed the new foods. But my hips didn’t thank me for it.

Now, at 16 stones, I am as unhappy as ever and I put my mind to it. I need to lose weight. I decided, however, not to go on a diet.

I will give you an example: If you have headaches, the first thing you do is you take an Aspirin. This will remove the headaches because it numbs your feeling of pain for a certain amount of time. The headaches are away, and it seems as if Aspirin has cured the headaches.

This is completely wrong though. Aspirin has only removed the pain, the symptom, but not the underlying cause. The reason for your headaches might have been dehydration or lack of sleep or too much computer work.

The same is true for slimming diets. If you go on a diet, it removes the symptom – the weight you have gained, but only for a short period of time. It does not remove the cause for your weight gain.

Why did you gain weight? What caused it? What family, career, or personal circumstances changed and started the weight gain? Have you always been overweight?

Losing weight starts in your head. Not on your plate. I have joined Weight Watchers myself. You might think that I contradict myself – since you think Weight Watchers is another slimming diet. For me, Weight Watchers is a help to

. This will remove the headaches because it numbs your feeling of pain for a certain amount of time. The headaches are away, and it seems as if Aspirin has cured the headaches.

This is completely wrong though. Aspirin has only removed the pain, the symptom, but not the underlying cause. The reason for your headaches might have been dehydration or lack of sleep or too much computer work.

The same is true for slimming diets. If you go on a diet, it removes the symptom – the weight you have gained, but only for a short period of time. It does not remove the cause for your weight gain.

Why did you gain weight? What caused it? What family, career, or personal circumstances changed and started the weight gain? Have you always been overweight?

Losing weight starts in your head. Not on your plate. I have joined Weight Watchers myself. You might think that I contradict myself – since you think Weight Watchers is another slimming diet. For me, Weight Watchers is a help to

ut only for a short period of time. It does not remove the cause for your weight gain.

Why did you gain weight? What caused it? What family, career, or personal circumstances changed and started the weight gain? Have you always been overweight?

Losing weight starts in your head. Not on your plate. I have joined Weight Watchers myself. You might think that I contradict myself – since you think Weight Watchers is another slimming diet. For me, Weight Watchers is a help to a healtier and normal life style. Going to WW, listening to other people’s stories, learning about healthy foods is just a small part of losing weight. It can change your habits, but if you think WW is a phase, something you do until Christmas, your wedding, your holiday or whatever you aim for, then you are wrong. Very wrong indeed.

If you aim to achieve a certain weight loss by a certain time, yes, I agree, it can be an incentive. What you are doing, however, is creating pressure. This pressure is relieved as soon as the event happens. You create a date in your mind and your mind works for you. You might be able to lose the weight by the time the event happens, but the pressure will be off as soon as the event has gone. You will be overeating immediately after the event and put weight back on. This in turn will make you feel as a loser, who did not manage. It is your mind that is doing this to you. The pressure is off, so why bother?

When I got married, I frantically tried to lose weight. And I had a date too – my wedding day. I managed to lose about 1.5 stones. The day came and I was on the chocolate cake. On honeymoon, I ate French Cheese (the creamy version of course), baguettes, crepes, ice cream, you name it. The pressure was off. I gained weight. Lots of it.

I am not trying to do a Weight Watchers advert here, but WW helps me to get back on track. Currently, I read a lot of books about weight loss – especially the psychological ones – where an attempt is made to find out why you are overweight or what caused the weight gain. Questions are asked what might have caused it and so on.

If you are a person that is prone to be overweight, losing weight is not sorted by Christmas, it will be sorted on the last day of your life.

By saying that, I mean that you need to come to terms with the idea that if you want to be good-looking and have a healthy weight – and a healthy body / heart – you need to change your life now, and maintain that change. Forever.

A weight loss diet – b