What’s In A Name? Critical Clues!

Have you lost weight before? Have you lost weight and gained it back? Want to keep it off this time?

Of course you do! The weight “loss” professional or program that you choose for support in achieving lasting weight control is a critical, make or break decision! As I will write throughout this series, you can only go as far as your mentor can take you. The bad news is that you are looking for a needle in a haystack – 95% of all weight that is lost is regained by five-year follow-up. That means almost all of the programs and professionals out there putting together diet and weight loss programs are INCAPABLE of teaching you how to get control of your weight in a lasting fashion.

The good news? A few of us DO understand the flaws in current weight loss technology, as well as what to do about it!

When it comes to choosing a program…

First, avoid any program or product that attempts to seduce you through slick marketing about how effortlessly you can lose large amounts of weight in small amounts of time. As weight control professionals, our initial contact with prospective clients should focus on education. Weight control today is a complex set of issues with which 65% of the American public struggles. We should NOT seduce prospective patrons with unrealistic promises. To do so is unethical and irresponsible.

Second, avoid any program that includes in its name, "diet" (the "so and so diet") or "weight loss" ("ABC Weight Loss Program"). The focus should be on weight CONTROL or weight MANAGEMENT from the initial contact - NOT weight LOSS. As responsible professionals, we should use EVERY interaction to educate, including how we name our companies! The focus on weight LOSS and the consequent use of "diet" or "weight loss" in a company name is like telling a woman how rewarding having a baby is without relating the LIFETIME OF RESPONSIBILITY. There is a clear failure to understand the following basic and incontrovertible truths of weight loss and weight control:

*** Weight Loss Is NOT The Cure for Weight Problems ***
anymore than carrying and delivering a baby is the solution to parenting a child!
(AND … don't shoot me; I'm only the messenger!)

If weight loss is the cure for weight problems, we would have an epidemic of thin people, NOT fat people. Look PAST weight loss and even "lifestyle change" (which has also failed to deliver the goods in a lasting fashion, right?!). Obviously a program so named does not understand the above statement and a fundamental truth of lasting weight control. As professionals we are responsible for knowing our way around our area of expertise and educating prospective patrons so they make good decisions for themselves - no matter how badly they want it to be easier and more simple than it really is.

There are powerful forces out there currently causing 65% of Americans to be overweight. The focus from the initial conversation should be to train prospective patrons to deal successfully with those complex, insidious and omnipotent forces. If the program fails to acknowledge this in the initial conversation, it is not capable of training you in the way you must be trained. Keep looking.

Remember the Weight Wizard’s Credo – Strength... Wisdom… Perseverance.

That's the way it looks from here at The Castle ...

Gary Avignon, a psychotherapist of almost 20 years (known affectionately as The Weight Wizard), specializes with food, nutrition and weight issues. He is the author of a revolutionary new book, Weight Wizardry 101: Introduction to The Psychology of Successful Weight Control. YOU can nab Chapter One, “The Single Biggest Secret That Causes Diet Failure”, for *FR*EE* for a limited time at http://www.theweightwizard.com.