By Todd Duncan

A recent issue of Science Magazine found that 54 percent of American adults and 25 percent of American children are overweight. Other such studies report that as many as three in four Americans are too heavy! This is a problem that leads to all sorts of other health-related issues. If you are more than 20 percent above your optimum body weight, then it is time to close this gap.

You and I make choices each day about how we fuel the most important piece of equipment we own— our bodies. Believe me, you can lose weight and can keep it off. Using the following steps, I lost forty-two pounds over twelve years ago and have kept it off to this day.

Step 1: Change the messages you send to your brain.

Instead of sending a memo to your brain that says, “I’m fat,” say, “I’m thin.” Then immediately ask yourself, “What can I do this instant to give myself pleasure that doesn’t involve food?” This shift in self-talk will help you change your eating habits.

Step 2: Take Inventory.

List the top one-to-five activities, relationships, and circumstances that typically zap your energy, get you down, or make you feel depressed or angry. What can you do to improve the way those situations make you feel?

Step 3: Speed up your metabolism.

Most people do not realize that a faster metabolism is a basic requirement for permanent “thin gain” (instead of “weight loss”). Commit to thirty minutes of active stretching, weight lifting, or aerobic fitness at least every other day. This will raise your metabolism and increase your energy... and you will feel good about you.

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