***I’d like to give a special thanks and welcome to Laura from Celebrate Woman Today for guest posting for me today. Please make sure you visit her blog after reading her fabulous article here! And, I’d just like to note, you can get help with all three of these things with Trim Healthy Mama! Read more about that here! ***

Trouble is, No One has All Three

To lose weight successfully, you need three things:
    
– Accurate knowledge about the science of weight loss
– An effective way to permanently change weight-gain habits
– A social support network to keep your motivation up

It really is that simple. So, why aren’t more people successful at losing weight, if that’s all they need to do?

Accurate Science of Weight Loss?

Start with the lack of knowledge about the science of weight loss. Where are you going to get it? The bigger the weight loss company, the more they want to sell you a program that counts on you being their REPEAT CUSTOMER.

Think about that for a moment…a repeat customer of a weight loss company means they didn’t help you keep the weight off. They failed you. The fact that you lost a few pounds initially doesn’t count. The key to success is keeping the weight off after you lose it. And none of the big companies help you do that.

Either the big companies are ignorant of the science or permanent weight loss (in which case you’d have to really worry about what they’re making you do), or they know it full well, but don’t want to tell you – which is just plain evil (it’s like shooting you in the foot, and then charging to take you to the hospital). Either way you look at it, they always profit from the harm they cause you. To me, that’s just not right.

Then look at the smaller weight loss companies…they all are hooked on selling you a magic ingredient that “melts the fat away,” or “kills your hunger forever,” or “burns off all the fat you want,” etc. It’s all a lie. They know it. The dirty little secret is they all know that no matter the value of a single ingredient, NO SINGLE INGREDIENT IS GOING TO MAKE YOU THIN. Never happen. Never will.

Your body is far too complex for that simplistic approach to work.  

So, where does that leave you?

Pretty well on your own, as far as the science goes. No weight loss company has a vested interest in telling you the truth. They need you to buy what they are selling. And what they are selling is – at best – based on half truths, unsupported theories, or outright fabrications. 

An Effective Way to Permanently Change Weight-gain Habits

Sadly, no one is talking to you about this. Why? There is no money in it. The big push in the MLM companies is all about “90 Day Challenges.” Or simliar short-term focused programs.

Think about it for a minute. It likely took you years to put on all your excess weight. Every bit of it was because of habits you formed over the years. And many of those fat-gaining habits probably go back to your days as a kid. Are you miraculously going to change all those habits in 90 days? Not likely. Actually, that is over-stating it. It isn’t going to happen.

Permanent weight loss is a journey, not a 90 day miracle. If no one is going to teach you how to keep doing the right things, and turn away from the wrong things. You are either going to fail, or you will figure it out alone by fits and starts, relapses, and a lot of frustration. Which leads us to the third point…

A Social Support Network to Keep Your Motivation Up

Permanent weight loss is about commitment to the principle of permanent weight loss, and never backing down. It is about accepting that you don’t do everything correctly, and don’t do it every time – but you are doing it.

Permanent weight loss is more about your belief in your ability to do it, than it is in which program you use to do it.

The difficulty is NO ONE CAN KEEP DOING THAT DAY AFTER DAY AFTER DAY, AFTER MONTHS.

You need help losing weight and keeping it off. Everyone does. Most likely you need more than one helper, because a single person can’t always be there for you. No person ever succeeded at weight loss without the support of people who care about them, who encourage them, and keep them aligned on the right path.

If you don’t feel like you have that, you are not alone. Very few report getting the support they need to lose weight after the first few months. Thus, very few lose weight permanently. 

Why Can’t You Lose Weight Permanently?
Just three reasons – science, habits, and support

Without those, what can you do? Just two choices, really. Either you give up hope. Or you strengthen your resolve. With resolve, you will find solutions to each. You will keep on doing it because it’s too important to allow yourself to give up.

So, begin there. Begin with building your resolve, and making it ironclad. With resolve, you will find a way to get all three things. Without it, you are lost.

So, its a decision you’ll have to make each day, every day – “Is it important to me, TODAY, to lose the weight I know I need to, and be healthier, happier, and more able to do all I have wanted to do?”

That’s the decision. What is your answer?

© Laura Gontchar 2014. All Rights Reserved.

Laura Gontchar blogs at Celebrate Woman Today.

Celebrate Woman Today is about supporting, inspiring and encouraging a woman in her daily quest for a joyful life. It’s not a loner’s job to be a million things for everybody out there. It is a community of women extending themselves to each other.