Losing weight has accompanied me my whole life. However, I have never tried stupid diets that claimed you can lose 10 lb in a week, or 20 lb in a month.

When I was at Uni, I was rather overweight, so I concentrated on my weight and joined a local GP-moderated group. We were supposed to learn how to eat normally and we would start by learning how to eat breakfast. The two other meals lunch and evening meal were replaced by a drink you would make using some powder and yoghurt. Over time, you would replace the lunch powder drink with a proper lunch and the same happened to the evening meal. Since the whole thing was quite expensive, I really stuck to the diet and was soon used as a role model in the group. I lost about 4 stones in 3 months and looked gorgeous. I had a super body, down from a size 18-20 to a size 10-12. I managed to keep the weight down for about 2 years. Then my life changed dramatically, I moved from Germany to Scotland, different foods were available, my rut was broken, I gained weight. Lots of it.

I gained about 6 stones since I moved to the UK thanks to Fish & Chips, Indian Restaurants, Chinese Take Aways and so on. We dont have these things in rural German towns, and I really enjoyed the new foods. But my hips didnt thank me for it.

Now, at 16 stones, I am as unhappy as ever and I put my mind to it. I need to lose weight. I decided, however, not to go on a diet.

I will give you an example: If you have headaches, the first thing you do is you take an Aspirin. This will remove the headaches because it numbs your feeling of pain for a certain amount of time. The headaches are away, and it seems as if Aspirin has cured the headaches.

This is completely wrong though. Aspirin has only removed the pain, the symptom, but not the underlying cause. The reason for your headaches might have been dehydration or lack of sleep or too much computer work.

The same is true for slimming diets. If you go on a diet, it removes the symptom the weight you have gained, but only for a short period of time. It does not remove the cause for your weight gain.

Why did you gain weight? What caused it? What family, career, or personal circumstances changed and started the weight gain? Have you always been overweight?

Losing weight starts in your head. Not on your plate. I have joined Weight Watchers myself. You might think that I contradict myself since you think Weight Watchers is another slimming diet. For me, Weight Watchers is a help to a healtier and normal life style. Going to WW, listening to other peoples stories, learning about healthy foods is just a small part of losing weight. It can change your habits, but if you think WW is a phase, something you do until Christmas, your wedding, your holiday or whatever you aim for, then you are wrong. Very wrong indeed.

If you aim to achieve a certain weight loss by a certain time, yes, I agree, it can be an incentive. What you are doing, however, is creating pressure. This pressure is relieved as soon as the event happens. You create a date in your mind and your mind works for you. You might be able to lose the weight by the time the event happens, but the pressure will be off as soon as the event has gone. You will be overeating immediately after the event and put weight back on. This in turn will make you feel as a loser, who did not manage. It is your mind that is doing this to you. The pressure is off, so why bother?

When I got married, I frantically tried to lose weight. And I had a date too my wedding day. I managed to lose about 1.5 stones. The day came and I was on the chocolate cake. On honeymoon, I ate French Cheese (the creamy version of course), baguettes, crepes, ice cream, you name it. The pressure was off. I gained weight. Lots of it.

I am not trying to do a Weight Watchers advert here, but WW helps me to get back on track. Currently, I read a lot of books about weight loss especially the psychological ones where an attempt is made to find out why you are overweight or what caused the weight gain. Questions are asked what might have caused it and so on.

If you are a person that is prone to be overweight, losing weight is not sorted by Christmas, it will be sorted on the last day of your life.

By saying that, I mean that you need to come to terms with the idea that if you want to be good-looking and have a healthy weight and a healthy body / heart you need to change your life now, and maintain that change. Forever.

A weight loss diet by definition starts at some point and ends at some point. A diet will remove certain foods from your life for a certain number of days, months etc. A diet then claims that by this limitation you will become slim, healthy, sexy. Simply read the stories in coloured magazines Drop a clothes size by your holiday, lose 10 lb in a week.

Every person needs to find out what is best for them to lose weight. For me, I exchanged my foods for healthy foods. I now no longer eat 2 take aways per week or a Chicken Curry Creamy Sauce version at the Indian restaurant.

I have learnt to cook delicious and healthy meals using interesting ingredients I had not known before. I swapped a boring Kung Po Chicken for Grilled Chicken in Pitta Bread with Tzaziki Sauce for example. You decide which sounds more exciting.

The sport thing for some people is the most daunting part of losing weight. It is so comfortable to just have crisps and watch TV. I used to be like that. A friend of mine tried to drag me to the gym. I went there a few times but felt very out of place and did not enjoy any of the things I did. Then I took part in classes. Aerobics, Step Aerobics etc. But again I had to kick myself out of the house to get there.

Sports mustnt be like that. If you dont like it, dont do it. There is bound to be some kind of sport out there that you will enjoy. Try to find it and stick with it. There are so many things you can do from climbing, cycling, mountain biking, snowboarding, canoeing, dancing, riding, walking, rambling. Have a look at the Spice website for example for a selection of things there is. If its an expensive sport, who cares? You will enjoy it and it will keep you fit and happy!

I tried to remember sports I used to like when I was at Uni. The one thing that kept coming up was cycling and the other one snowboarding. I have still to lose some weight until I will fit into my ski suit again, but I will try the snowboarding again. Until then, I will enjoy mountain biking. I bought myself a brand new mountain bike and I feel deprived already if I dont go out for at least 30 mins a day. I found my sport. There are so many cycle paths where you can go for a ride. I use my bike for anything now picking up the mail from my PO Box which is about 4 miles from my house, getting a newspaper from the newsagent, going shopping, anything. The calories you burn during these short trips are already amazing and will mount up over time.

Think about why you want to lose weight and re-programme your mind from slim for christmas to slim forever and you will be on the winning side.