the truth about weight loss

Question
hello laurie, i'm having difficulties in losing weight. i weigh 325 pounds and im 6ft tall. i have been all over the internet and read books on weight loss but i can't find a single answer as to why i'm obese. what i want to know is what is the real and proper way to lose weight and what is the real reason why i'm fat. i would really appreciate any details you can give me about this problem. thanks.

Answer
Hello Christopher,

The truth about why you are overweight is simple: You eat more calories than you burn.

The complicated part is often figuring out why we eat more than we need to.
It is difficult in today's society to control our caloric intake; there are food signals everywhere (signs, billboards, commercials, check-out lines) and the manufacturers know that food that is particularly high in fat and salt is desirable to humans.

So your question about why you are obese is a totally different question than how you can lose weight.

One program I like very much is Judith Beck's "The Beck Diet Solution". It isn't a diet; it's a way to change your thinking from things like "I had a hard day, I deserve this chocolate" to "My body doesn't know I worked hard or suffered disappointment today; it only knows if I feed it this extra 300 calories it will store it away as fat for later use".
She has a facebook page if you are on facebook, and often has daily tips for positive thinking.

Another very helpful tool in weight loss is keeping a food diary. Writing down everything you eat (whether it's on a paper notebook, online on a program like SparkPeople.com, or on your iphone in an app called "LoseIt") makes you aware of what you are eating.
Chances are you are eating many times during the day when it's not a meal time, it's not a healthy food, and you aren't hungry. We eat because things taste good and it makes us feel good--not just to curb hunger and provide nutrition (which is what food was intended for).

Being aware of when you eat and what you eat can clue to you in to where you can best make changes. Don't give up breakfast, or a piece of fruit to save calories! Give up empty calories like soda, candy, cakes, etc FIRST.

The other side of the equation is exercise. It doesn't mean you have to spend an hour at the gym every day. Start with a 10-minute walk and work your way up from there. Remember physical activities you enjoyed as a kid, whether basketball or Frisbee, and just get UP and move :)

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