The first step - stop GAINING weight.

Before you can lose weight you have to stop gaining it!

Many people gain weight gradually - maybe a few pounds a year. Sometimes you gain a few extra during special holidays. There are times in one's life when we gain more than others.

One especially vulnerable time is when we are very young. We hve all heard that this can be blamed on TV and video games. It is also because we have lots of snack foods around the house and kids are eating all day long. Once they get to school it seems like there is a birthday party every week. Parents bring cakes and treats for everyone.

Typically college students put on weight sitting in classes. They have stopped growing by then and exercising less.

Sedentary jobs right after school do the same thing - the beginning of thunder thighs.

The drinking age and beer needs no explanation.

But the most infamous for women is pregnancy. She gains at least 30 pounds. It is not all baby either. Pregnancy hormones increase the appetite and it is very hard to restrict and doctors do not want women to diet while they are pregnant.

So the pounds are being added slowly as well as in spurts.

At some point it becomes obvious that we need to lose a little weight when we can't button our favorite jeans. The clothes in the store just don't look so good on our bodies. At some point the cycle of dieting and regaining begins.

If you read anything about dieting you will be told you can lose weight without hunger, that certain foods MAKE you lose weight, or that you shouldn't "diet". If you just eat right.

So you do eat "right" and you still gain weight. Very frustrating.

You tell yourself that you don't have will power. You can't do it. You get fatter. You get depressed. You eat more. You make excuses. You eat more. You look at yourself and you feel lousy. You eat more. What is it about feeling bad about yourself because you are fat makes you eat more?

It is clearly more than nurishment at that point. It becomes an addiction. The problem with food is that you can't just pour it down the drain. You gotta eat and temptation is always right there. If you put all the bags of chips away you will start eating the stocks in the pantry - anything. Even if it does not taste all that great.

If it has salt or fat or sugar in it you eat more of anything. Those 3 things make the food more tantalizing.

It is time for "the talk with yourself".