either overeat or eat the wrong types of food. Or both. The secret to successfully lose weight is to replace your bad habits with good habits.

It is almost impossible to eliminate a bad habit. Trying to remove a bad habit, such as eating the wrong foods, is a flawed idea. The one method that works is to replace the bad habit with a good habit.

People are habitual creatures. It is very simple to see that the patterns in our lives

are just the result of the habits that we aquire. When you learn to replace a bad habit with a good habit, being overweight will be a thing of the past.

The difficulty will bad habits is that they start with small changes. By the time that they take over we seldom even notice them. Once they become ingrained they are rather difficult to change.

Generally speaking, those who are overweight have acquired many habits that combine to create the situation that they are in now-fat.

Having food involved makes matters even worse. The highly processed foods that we consume are low in nutritional value, have a lot of additives or consist of combinations not suited to us (too much protein, fats or enriched with vitamins). The truth is that these foods will cause hunger and in

ever increasing quantities for us to feel satisfied.

Let me ask you this. Do you find yourself eating because of your emotions or state of mind? Of course you do. It is very common to eat when you are stressed or depressed. Emotional states definitely trigger unnecessary eating or indulging in comfort food.

It is these emotional eating habits that are the most difficult to break. When in this state of mind we are not fully conscious of what we are doing. Even when we make an attempt at being completely aware, we manage to indulge and punish ourselves by feeling guilty at the same time.

These patterns are obvious when you think about them. Unfortunately, this is not the solution. In fact it will create more problems that fuels the cycle of over eating and gaining more weight.

The first step is to connect your weight issues to your bad habits. When you take the important step to replace your bad

habits with good habits, being fat will then become a

thing of the past.

Step back and determine what your bad habits are. Examine the times when you tend to overeat.

Many experts tell you to elimate these emotional triggers. In my opinion, this is unrealistic. What are you going to do? Get rid of your (fill in the blank) husband, children, job, inlaws or financial problems. I don't think so.

These are some of the behaviors that you do have control over:

You have control over what you put in your mouth.

You do have control over how you eat and when you eat.

You have control over how much exercise you have.

In simple terms you have control over yourself, not external circumstances.

First, figure out what is healthy to eat. The best foods are natural. These include whole grains, beans, vegetables and fruit.

To online and find some recipes and tasty ways to prepare these foods. Yeah, I know. This is a big sacrifice. So what? When you change your diet to consist of natural whole

foods you will begin to lose weight effortlessly. The great thing is that your health will improve and

you will feel better. You'll have more energy and your mind will become clear and sharp. Big sacrifice, huh?

At the same time, find some physical activity that you can do and will enjoy on a daily basis. You can walk, jog, run, bicycle, swim, play tennis or whatever it is that you enjoy. Change it up. Your daily exercise program should be fun and something

that you look forward to.

This is not hard stuff to do nor is it rocket science. The important element is to make up your mind. Once you do that everything else will fall into place.