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"Sir, I am so depressed because I am overweight. Please help." Of course you know you have to lose weight. If you don’t, you will never be happy, and you will die young. I could tell you that it really doesn’t matter, that you could please God in a thousand ways anyway, and have a wonderful, fulfilled life making other people happy by sharing what you have with poor people, visiting and cheering up the sick, and so on, and yes, all of that is important. But you and I both know that you just simply need to lose weight. Period. End of story. Boy, if I had an easy solution for this, I would be a billionaire. There is none. So step number one is to come to grips with reality and realize that it is going to be a long, hard battle. Stay well away from any trendy diet book. Stay even farther away from medication that promises to help. These are all scams. The good new is that even though there is no easy solution, there is a simple and good one. You need to restrict your caloric intake to a small amount each day. 1000 calories a day is about right for a woman, 1200 for a man. Do not eat less than this, you will ruin your health or even die. Do not guess at calories or amounts. Measure carefully. Be a zealot about this. Just get a mindset that nothing except nutritious, wholesome food passes your lips and when you reach 1000 calories, no more for the day. For weight loss, it does not matter where those 1000 calories come from. But for good health (you don’t want to be a skinny corpse in the ground, do you?) they have to really be high quality food. It’s easy to get all the nutrients you need from lots of food. But from this amount, you need to eat nothing but lean meat, fresh fruits and vegetables, non-fat milk, whole grain cereals, and so on. No fast food. No junk food. There just isn’t room. And take a good multi vitamin-mineral or two. Clear your kitchen of all “bad” food. Don’t have any food that you like in the house. You know what I mean. If you have to cook for others, you have special problems. Put them on a healthy-only diet too, just let them help themselves to larger portions. If they are your family, they will understand. NOTHING IN THE HOUSE. You will get terribly, achingly hungry. It is a high price, but the price MUST be paid. It gets a whole lot easier after a few weeks. If you KNOW it is going to hurt, you can get through it a lot easier. Try to increase your activity, too. Don’t just sit around thinking about food. Instead of heading for the kitchen, head out the door. Take a long walk. This definitely helps. Have other people help you with your diet. Everybody you know can help. Explain to them that you want them to keep an eye on you and DO NOT LET YOU go off your diet. Do not even think about going it alone. I recommend joining Weight Watchers, if there is one nearby. The reason is that the more support you have from others, the better. They also have many good tips and helps. Set goals for yourself, but make them realistic. The loss of two pounds a week is the most you can expect, and consider it to be a great achievement. That’s 100 pounds a year, and will only happen if you are VERY good on your diet. Do not expect more, it will not happen. Also, when you reach your goal, do not think that is the end of it. Gradually increase the calories every day, by only about 100 per day for the first week, then another 100 per day. Stop when your weight stabilizes. You will not lose weight steadily. It will come in spurts. Your body will adjust to your new diet and for a while it will be real stubborn about holding on to fat. But you just have to be more stubborn, not get discouraged, and plow ahead during the two or three weeks that you show no loss. Then you will lose some more, and then your body will adjust again. If you understand this, you will not get discouraged. Well, OK, you will get discouraged. But don’t quit. It is a life long battle for you. Once the fat cells appear, they do not go away. They shrink, but they are always there, like little vultures, waiting to be filled up again. All you can do is tell yourself that food is no longer important to you. Whereas once food held the #1 place in your life, from now on it has to be dead last. I WANT YOU TO WRITE TO ME EVERY WEEK AND TELL ME EXACTLY WHAT YOU WEIGH. DO NOT CHEAT. Get a good scale, like the doctors use, with the weights that slide. The little dials on the floor are not precise enough. I do wish you all the good luck in the world. And do not forget to bring God in on this. Talk to him all the time. Complain, bitch and moan, he is your Dad and is used to it. Always ask for his help, all the time, both with your diet and with how you lead your life so that you can merit eternal life with him (so much more important). Garrett and Sonia Toren, Lifehelping.com  Cope With Death | Evolution and Ideas | Being a Christian | Why Is There Suffering? | Who Is In Hell? | | Return Home | The Meaning of Life | Is There a God? | Prayer | Teachings of Christ | Don Camillo Stories | Our Catholic Faith | Links | |
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