By the Fall and Winter seasons, most of us have tried and failed at least one weight loss program and are looking forward to the more concealing cold weather fashions. This year, we continue the struggle over the ups and downs of diet. This is often because standard, action-based weight loss systems fail to address the biggest (pun unintended) cause of weight problems...the fat addiction. We'll describe and define these issues and discuss how the BAR cycle can help you succeed using any weight loss system, or none at all.

The Ups And Downs Of Diet: Whether we're shorting carbs, fat, proteins, it seems all diets reach a point of diminishing returns, where even following all the steps leaves us at the same weight or even a higher weight week after frustrating week. My whole summer has seemed that way...how about yours? I lost 25 pounds in about 8-9 months and then, over the last 2 months, I gained 2 pounds. Aargh! The lack of progress was so frustrating I stopped counting my servings and, though I didn't overindulge much, I did have too much fat, sugar, etc. I'm back on plan, now, but feel guilty heading into my doctor's office next week. Sound familiar? We all suffer from this kind of thing, no matter what the diet, because of a major weakness in weight-loss systems.

Action-Based Weight Loss Systems: These systems are weak because they are all based on changing actions, to produce results. Yes, actions are required to produce results, but actions, alone, are not enough. Now, before you throw your digital calorie counter at me, give me a few paragraphs to explain. All weight loss diet systems are designed for you to reduce your intake of calories to less than what you burn up in daily activities...ergo, you begin to burn stored fat and lose weight. All exercise weight loss systems are designed to increase your daily activities to burn up more calories than you take in, again, losing weight. It's simple! So why doesn't it work? Well, it would work if we possessed the strong will it takes to continually feed ourselves less than we need and less than we want until we've achieved our goal.

The Fat Addiction: Unfortunately, those of us prone to being overweight are about as likely to get thin by force of will as an alcoholic is likely to will himself to stay sober. That's because we're addicted to fat! Now, I'm not talking about fat, the nutrient, though many of us are addicted to that, as well. No, we're addicted to being fat. Here's what I mean: Many of us were raised by fat parents, around fat kids. Throughout our childhood, we were learning that fat is normal. We learned in school that our genes control how we metabolize food and some of us have "fat" genes. Even the dangerous increase of fats and sugars in the Western diet works against us to reinforce our feeling that being fat is just normal for us. Look at all the other fat people, after all! The longer we live being overweight, the more normal it seems to us.

Then, after realizing we want to be what society considers attractive (thin), we want to lose weight. When we begin to learn about all the terrible health problems caused by obesity, we really want to be thin. Once we see that skinny attractive person of the opposite sex, we really, really want to be thin. When we catch our spouse eying that skinny person of our same sex, we really, really, really want to be thin. Unfortunately, wanting and being are two different things. No matter what weight loss program we try, no matter how much we want it, we will not stay on it until we can change what we believe is "normal" for us. We can force ourselves to change behavior only so long, until our minds begin to work against us, compelling us to return to normal. Even if we reach our weight goal, we'll immediately begin to gain it all back to "normal." This is why actions are not enough to produce the desired results. If we are to succeed long-term, we have to work on what produces action.

The BAR Cycle And Weight: We can use the BAR Cycle (see explanation) to understand how to break our addiction to being fat. While Action produces Results, Belief is what produces action. If we want to permanently change our actions and results, we need to work on the Belief part of the BAR Cycle. Our deep seated beliefs are the root motivations of all our behavior. We can't consistently maintain a healthy weight if we believe being fat is normal for us. To change our belief about what a normal weight is, we need to flood our minds with ideas of being healthy and thin. We can start by spending more time with thin people and getting a thin doctor, because we tend to be like who we hang around.

To reprogram our belief about fat, we have to stop the fat self-talk, "I look fat in this. I just can't lose weight." Replace it with thin self-talk, "I eat the right amount for energy and health. I exercise regularly to stay thin and healthy. I am attractive, energetic, healthy and thin." We can change how we see ourselves by putting a picture of our head on a thin body and posting it on the refrigerator and the bathroom mirror. We need to saturate our minds with the idea of ourselves as healthy and thin. Reading books about nutrition, aerobics, diet, healthy cooking...it all helps the program. This is one area where the TV and magazines might do us some good...all those images of thin people tend to make us feel that thin is normal...and it is. Most of our ancestors were not obese...maybe strong-framed, but not fat.

We no longer have to fight the ups and downs of action-based weight loss systems. We can beat our addiction to being fat simply by changing what we believe. Once we believe thin and healthy is normal for us, we will lose weight with any program and keep it off. Why wouldn't we? That's just the way we're supposed to be...it's normal.

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