So you’ve got another diet underway in your battle of the bulge. You’re probably anticipating more deprivation and frustration before you even start. Then a short time later you’ve added yet another failure to your long list of attempts at weight loss. You coach yourself to the couch and give up yet again.

Why is it that this is such a common story from those with the balloon-shaped and pair-shaped bodies?

What is the one thing, outside yourself, that can really help you in achieving your weight loss goals?

For a change the answer lies not with you but with someone else.

Obviously, in the end, it is all up to you but you don't have to do it all by yourself.

Athletes rarely try to do it all by themselves.

All top athletes have a coach. Why is that?

Because they have a goal and the coach is there to help them achieve it.

Your goal is weight loss, or more importantly to change your body shape to what you desire. It is a worthy goal worthy of a coach's support.

How can a coach help?

* Set small weight loss goals

A coach can help you set smaller goals as stepping stones to the achievement of your bigger ones.

Focusing on all that weight you want to lose is like moving a mountain and very discouraging. But even a mountain could be moved with just one teaspoon at a time.

* Commitment

Making a commitment to another person is like a contract. You are probably more likely to honor a commitment to someone else than you will honor a commitment to yourself. Keeping a commitment to yourself involves willpower and we all know commitment runs second best to won't-power (our feelings).

Commitment to someone else brings pride, honor and integrity into play.

* Motivation

A coach can be your greatest source of motivation to start and keep going. Their encouragement can pull you through those times when you would give up on your diet or lapse into old habits if you were by yourself. Imagine being able to eat whatever you want as long as you ring your coach first.

No longer will you have only that self-sabotaging voice of Miss Gobble-it-up in your head to listen to. You'll have the voice of your coach to make it a fair debate so you can repeatedly make a better choice about what you're eating.

• Knowledge

While your coach could be anyone who is willing to help you and gently give you some tough love when it comes to your diet, it is probably wiser to find someone who knows about how the human body responds to food and eating habits.

That way you’ll be more likely to eat in a manner that actually removes fat rather than water and muscle tissue. You’ll also have some guidance when your diet stalls and doesn’t seem to be working any more.

With a coach you can avoid the Yo-yo diet syndrome where you get fatter and fatter. Even if you have to pay for a coach the cost will be more than justified when you consider the cost of obesity on your health, time and self esteem.

Get a coach. You've nothing to lose, but weight, and everything to gain, except weight.