Whatever your natural weight loss goals, if you want to be successful over the long-term, you must examine your attitudes, beliefs, and behaviors around food. Otherwise, it’s almost guaranteed that you’ll backslide into old eating patterns at the first sign of emotional stress.

Theoretically, your weight should be one of the easiest things to manage—you simply expend more energy (measured in calories) than you take in. But as you probably know from experience, the process is not that straightforward in practice.

Along the way, you’ll need to learn about the following issues:

Developing a Support System

Having a support system is a crucial component of this journey. By support, I mean that co-workers, friends, and family help reinforce you in reaching your weight-related goals.

Sadly, many overweight individuals lack support, often from the time they were children. They usually come from families where achieving was more important than being, and where there was little acceptance of the children as they were. Their parents let them know in one way or another that they didn’t measure up.

But the truth is that too much pressure, for adults or children, only tempts people to rebel or to loathe their shortcomings—and consequently themselves. What they need more than anything is acceptance and encouragement. Read more…