Weight increase and obesity are becoming a great problem among most people living in metropolitan cities. The main culprits are sedentary lifestyles and excessive consumption of high-fat, high-calorie fast food.

A scene from a Hollywood movie sums up the dangers of fast food aptly enough. A Chinese instructor is teaching the hero martial arts and has this to say about fast food: “You know why fast food is called so-because it takes you to your end fast!”

Many people don’t like carrying extra kilos because of the effect on their appearance. But the danger to health is actually more worrisome than the image one presents in the mirror. The truth is that the more overweight you are, the greater your risk for health problems.

There is a strong relationship between your personal sense of involvement and investment in weight loss and the potential for succeeding on any weight-loss plan. One way to increase your sense of investment in this issue is to learn how losing weight will reduce your risk of having some health problems that we all would like to avoid. We can drastically reduce our health risks by losing weight.

We must understand that each cell in the body is a living organism. The basic needs of cells consist of oxygen, nutrients, water, and the removal of metabolic waste. Cells get these materials and combine them together to produce energy, a building fuel for the entire body. These processes are carried on by the cardiovascular and respiratory systems. Therefore, a strong heart, proper circulation, and a healthy network of blood vessels and efficient lungs are required to push the blood through hundreds of obstacles to reach every cell. The major obstacle to blood circulation is body fat.

Besides a host of ailments, excessive weight increases , blood sugar, lowers metabolism, disturbs sleeping patterns and causes stress and fatigue. By losing weight you are not only preventing major health problems, but also boosting self-esteem, self-confidence and self-realisation. You begin to feel good about yourself and your self-image is better than ever before.

Most people I have come across do not fully comprehend the gravity of the problems they might encounter due to their excessive body baggage. It is only when they start having problems that they realise the gravity of the situation, but by that time it is too late. To make matters worse, most people mishandle weight reduction in the same manner that they had mishandled its growth.

Crash dieting and sudden changes in lifestyle are all that they can think of. These people - and even some consultants-fail to understand the scientific validity of the regimen that they should follow to ensure effective weight loss. Weight loss advertisements are full of claims about losing large amounts of weight within a short span of time. Or consider those before-and-after ads with claims supposedly made by clients-how many of them are really effective? In many cases, the photographs shown in these ads are either doctored or happen to be of two different individuals.

While there are a number of reasons for excess weight gain, the primary culprit happens to be incorrect habits. Some of these wrong habits are: eating while reading, eating the minute you enter the house, eating when the kids come in from school, eating while cooking dinner. In short,eating at odd hours and at every available opportunity.

It is not just wrong habits that are to blame. Certain moods and circumstances also cause us to eat even when we are not hungry. For example: anger, boredom, fatigue, nervousness, anxiety, happiness, loneliness, the fact that the kids are finally in bed, the spouse is out for the evening or out of town, the spouse brings home ice-cream or pastries the list is endless. All of which may trigger an eating response.

Old habits are hard to break. But we must not only break old bad habits, we must also resolve to form new good habits through daily repetition. For instance, make some regular commitments. And whether you feel like it or not, work to meet these commitments each day. Your daily commitments will help you form good habits.

Resisting temptation is difficult. But if you succeed in resisting it the first time, it becomes easier to resist the next time. Before long, you will have formed the good habit of resisting temptation every time it confronts you. If you yield to that temptation, you will succumb to it faster the next time.

In order to tackle such wrong habits, we must resort to the technique of behaviour modification. This simply means changing your behaviour. These techniques work only if you consistently repeat them, so that they become a regular part of your life.

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