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It's not the dieting that doesn't work, it's the maintaining weight loss after the dieting that doesn't work. And that's because the only real way to lose weight and keep it off is to change our eating habits - what we put in our mouths, how often we put it in our mouths and what we do with our bodies in between.

If we want to lose weight for a specific event, say a wedding, then a diet should work. We will have motivation and the true desire to shed weight for that event. Once it's passed however, it's going to be easy to slip back into our old eating habits. And that's why dieting doesn't work, because we think that once we've lost the weight, that's it, we've done it - we can now go back to eating 2 chocolate bars at 11 in the evening a couple of nights a week. And then when we see the weight creeping back on, we become disillusioned and tell ourselves that if that diet didn't work then nothing will so there's no point - and we end up comfort eating, and put all the weight back on, and some.

In order to lose weight and keep it off, we have to change our eating habits; we have to educate our bodies not to want to eat chocolate - or perhaps not so much of it. We have to realize the importance that exercise plays - and that if we want to eat take-out Chinese food, then it might be better if we work out before doing so. Maybe see those foods as 'reward foods' and do something with our bodies to 'earn' them.

The weight loss industry is worth billions because they get us to buy foods such as low-fat ice-cream, and low-fat cake, telling us that if we eat those foods we will be slim. What we're better off with, of course, is sticking with the regular variety - but just eating less of it. That way we will educate our bodies to expect less of something that, in the past, it's had more than its fair share of. Low-fat foods will only go so far, sensible eating will take us further - eating a sensible portion of something, satisfying our craving, and then stopping. Eating low-fat chocolate bars isn't changing our eating habits - we're still eating chocolate bars! It's better to try and get our bodies used to a healthy substitute - fruit, for example - or a piece of toast with a scraping of jam.

Dieting does work, but remember that if we want to lose weight and keep it off, we will need something for life, not just for now.

Learn more about this author, Jed Eane.
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