We all know that the vast majority of people who lose weight, regain it. And while we know that nobody who loses that weight actually wants to put it back on, somehow we’ve become really good at it! Some of us have spent a lifetime cycling between the fit and fat versions of us. We even have the small, medium, large and industrial sections in our wardrobe. What a miserable and frustrating cycle that is. And I’m not talking about minor weight fluctuations here, I’m talking about a range of 10-50 kgs (22-110lbs) or more. We get on and off the weight-loss roller coaster for a bunch of reasons but here’s what twenty five years of working with people in this area has taught me. My top five observations anyway…

    1. We don’t keep our head in the game.

    For a range of reasons, somewhere along the way we lose it mentally and emotionally. And when the discipline, the self-control and the can-do attitude go out the window, so does the new and improved body. Pity. We know that what happens below the shoulders is driven by what happens above them (our physiology is a by-product of our psychology), so for most of us, mastering our mind is the key to mastering our body. Creating life-long change (in this case, weight-loss) ain’t about carbs, protein shakes, treadmills or pump classes, it’s about what’s happening between our ears. I know that this is a message I share regularly but it still seems to be missed and/or overlooked by the masses; fix the head to fix the body. Do whatever you need to do, to maintain focus, commitment and momentum over the long term. And as for that whole “it takes thirty days to create a new habit” thing… crap. As a rule, it usually takes much longer. Very few of us (okay, nobody) will undo thirty years of destructive behaviours, habits and thinking in thirty days. As is often the case, the theory and the reality don’t actually merge.

    2. We do stupid things to our body.

    Oh how we love extremes when it comes to weight loss. Four lettuce leaves, two carrots, some diuretics, a few fat-blaster tablets and three workouts a day. Great plan. If you’re an idiot. And if you wanna lose a heap of fluid and muscle. And energy. And health. Extreme never works. Yes we all think our body is special and unique but… it’s not. It amazes me how many ’smart’ people do stupid things to their body. Drugs, cigarettes, alcohol, excess food, no food, no sleep, poor hydration, over-training and under-training, just to name a few. Be emotional and silly about your football team by all means, but not with the decisions you make about your body.

    3. We start things that we won’t maintain.

    We know that diets don’t work but geeeeze we’re good at doing them anyway. For a week. Despite being more educated than we’ve ever been, we (our society) still embrace what we know doesn’t work; the watermelon and air diet. And the boiled egg and grapefruit diet.

    4. We get in shape for events, but not for life.
    Yep, I’ve said it before, we’re great at losing weight for birthdays, weddings, school reunions, big social events and even summer. And then we’re great at getting fat again. It’s what we do. Don’t get mad at me, just take a look around. If only life was one long birthday, we’d all look amazing 24/7. We change our behaviour for a while, but on a level below our conscious (and temporary) behaviours, we’re simply waiting to go back to normal. Normal being the same behaviours that lead us to obesity in the first place.

    5. We don’t have a plan for life beyond the weight-loss.

    Some of us are pretty good at the losing bit… but kinda crap at the maintaining bit. We arrive at our destination (Skinny Central) and start to eat. And eat. And eat. After all we deserve it, we’ve been ’so good’. And then we wake up six months later and realise that our trim body has well and truly left the station. Toot, toot. Losing weight is relatively easy. Maintaining habits, behaviours and weight loss for life is the real challenge.

    大多數人減了再肥，肥了再減。誰也不想這樣反反復復，不過我們卻出奇擅長做這種事。有些人甚至一輩子都在肥與不肥間循環往復，衣柜里的衣服從小號到中號、到大號，到超大號一應俱全。這是個多讓人灰心的循環吶！而且，我這里指的還不是一兩斤上下的小變化，我指的是10-50公斤（22-110磅）甚至更多的體重變化。我們在減肥的過山車里上上下下，其實是有原因的。我和這些反復減肥的人打了二十五年的交道，發現了其中最重要的五條。

    1、減肥時，我們沒有思考。

    有時候，是心理因素在激勵我們減肥。一旦心里有了紀律，我們就能約束自己，并相信自己能夠減肥成功。可惜我們卻很少這樣做。脖子以下的身體都受了脖子上面的大腦支配（就像生理學是心理學的副產品），所以，減肥要靠思維控制。要想完成像減肥這樣的終身任務，靠的可不是碳水化合物、減肥代餐、踏步機或者健身課程這些玩意兒，靠的是我們大腦里有什么樣的意識。這一點我多次強調但大部分人還是忽略了，要想減肥，請先“健腦”。盡可能地在這項長期任務中保持你的注意力、你的責任感、你的原動力。有人說什么“三十天養成新習慣”……在我看來一派胡言。遠遠需要更多的時間。很少人（其實是沒有人）能夠只花三十天的時間就能使得自己三十年的舊習慣舊思維土崩瓦解。人們的理論總是過分樂觀地估計了現實。

    2、對身體，我們做了太多蠢事。

    對于減肥，很多人非常熱衷于采取極端方式。一天吃四片生菜葉子、兩根胡蘿卜、一些利尿食物、幾片減肥藥丸、做三次運動……計劃看起來很不錯？傻瓜！這樣做，你只能減掉水分和肌肉罷了，還丟了能量和健康。極端方式沒得成功。雖然誰都覺得自己的身體與眾不同，不過并非如此。看到很多所謂的聰明人對自己做這些蠢事，我感到非常驚異。服藥、吸煙、酗酒、過量飲食或者不吃不睡、不適當地攝取水分、過度鍛煉或者缺乏鍛煉……這些都是非常不好的行為。看足球你可以感情用事，對自己的身體，千萬別。

    3、我們總在做無法堅持的事情。

    明明知道節食沒用，我們還是會做，哪怕只做一個禮拜。除非教育水平空前地提高上去，我們還是會做那些明知道沒用的事情，比如西瓜減肥法、煮雞蛋和葡萄柚減肥法等等。

    4、為了某件事減肥，卻不為了生活減肥。

    參加生日聚會、婚禮、同學會、大型社交活動甚至迎接夏天都成了我們減肥的理由。活動一結束，我們就開始了增肥的歷程。大家就是這么干的，別覺得我說話討厭，不信你看看周圍的人。如果人的一輩子就是一個漫長的生日，我們誰都會苗條無比。為了某個目的我們一時間改變行為習慣，這就使得我們在潛意識里期盼著回歸正常。所謂的正常，無非就是做那些讓我們一步一步走向肥胖的蠢事。

    5、減了肥，我們就失去了人生目標。

    攻城容易守城難，減肥目標實現，我們就開始吃、吃、吃，再長肉純粹活該。做得這么水到渠成，不肥真冤。六個月后，我們恍然醒悟，發現自己已離初衷太遠。于是再殺將回來。減掉幾斤肉其實很簡單，難的是一輩子保持良好的行為習慣，把成果保持下去。