In case you missed it, Kirstie Alley appeared on the Oprah Winfrey program last week to report that she, like Oprah, had "fallen off the wagon".  She admits that she is an emotional eater.  I've said many times before that emotional eating is the number one cause of weight gain.  It's not always because of stress or some negativee emotion.  The truth is, any time you are eating more than you need, you are no longer feedign yoru body - you are feeding your emotions.

It must be difficult for Kirstie, after being the spokes person for Jenny Craig and being in the public eye for almost a year as everyone watched every pound.  Why, after losing 75 pounds, did she gain it all back again so easily?  The answer is very simple, as Kirstie explained herself.  When she hit her goal of reaching the weight she wanted, she put all of her exercise equipment in the garage and started eating her favorite foods again. 

The problem with diets (at least one problem) is that the focus in on the result.  In my seminars, I ask people this question: "What if I could wave a magic wand and you would be the perfect size and weight you want to be?"  Everyone gets excited just thinking about it.  Thaen I ask the follow-up question: "If you keep the same behavior you have now, where will you be in 6 months?"  Everyone says the same thing, "Right back where I am now".

The first problem is that people see the gao as reaching a certain size or weight.  When thay reach that goal, they feel good and go our to celebrate by eating.  There is never a goal of maintaining a certain.  That actually doesn't make a very good goal.  To our subconscious mind, there is no achievement in staying the same way you are.  We are conditioned to reach new heights and be more than we are.

The bigger problem is this.  When you go on a diet, you are trying to change the result.  That is always a temporary goal because your current weight is a result of your current behavior.  If you change the result without changing the behavior, you will always go back to your old result.  

 The key is to forget about the result and focus on changing your behavior.  Since your current weight is a result of your current behavior, all you have to do is change your behavior and you weight will change by itself.  Once you change your behavior, you never have to diet again.  That is the key to lasting success.

Oprah herself is a victim of her own language.  What ever we say will become images and feelings in our minds.  When Oprah talks about her weight, she also talks about "falling off the wagon".  Thsi sends a message to your subconscious mind that you have failedin some way and the only way to success is to "stay on the wagon".  She also uses words that guarantee it will be hard.  She says that she is always "fighting" with her weight and that it is a "constant battle".  She ended her show by talking about "continuing the fight".

How do you feel about having to fight a battle for the rest of your life?  It's not very appealing, is it?  The way to end the battle is to change your associations to food and your emotions.  Once you do that, you are in complete control.  It starts with changing your words.