21st Century Aging

Living longer and better.

How Weight Gain Relates to Factors We Can't Control

The holiday season is filled with food. It’s everywhere you go. But it’s important to remember the real truth about eating and weight gain: that it’s partly self-control, and partly biological. Read More

Thank you for your thoughtful

Thank you for your thoughtful discussion about weight gain. I think that patients are too often pathologized for not losing weight, and somehow they are not "trying" hard enough, or surreptitiously eating more then they claim. Weight gain is a complex issue; there are obvious behavioral contributions, but biology plays a role as well (albeit less completely understood). I think it's prudent to remember that in some cases, medications may also be playing a role in weight gain (on top of other factors).

Couldn't people conciously

Couldn't people conciously (mindfully!) CHOOSE not to buy foods like that, encourage the same from party hosts or not even go to the party at all? You've not mentioned at all the REAL power people have and the fact that we can all walk away from peanut brittle and other crap foods.

mindfulness matters

Hi Merri-
Thanks for commenting! Yes of course, mindfulness matters. As someone who also passes up peanut brittle (in part because I can't even identify it as food), I appreciate what you are saying. But I also wanted to point out that weight, like many health behaviors, is complicated, and that I see many people in my practice who eat mindfully but who have bodies that are simply more prone to gaining weight. Both biology and psychology matter, as it does for many things that plague people.
Thanks for taking the time to read and respond!
Tamara

Explore every option

Being healthy is a lifestyle, not a diet. There are many good tips on how to achieve permanent weight loss; none of them includes gimmicks, diets, or diet pills. The best way to lose weight and to become healthier is to take responsibility for yourself! Your health is your most important asset. For many people, being overweight is associated with being uncomfortable in their own skin. To assist with weight control; keep a daily food journal and every time the urge to snack is felt, first drink a large glass of clear water. This simple act will help you to eat less. Water hydrates you, suppresses your appetite, helps you to feel full, and metabolizes fat cells. Water will soon become one of your best friends. The major reason so many people in America are overweight is because we eat too much for comfort! It does not hurt to treat ourselves with something special once in a while, what is necessary is that we limit our portions and do not overeat! It is also necessary to keep our body properly hydrated, so drink a full glass of water with each meal or snack. Being overweight ******, but after reading a book, I lost 85 pounds! Words can not express how good I feel! This is a comment which I recently received about the book Lose Weight Using Four Easy Steps

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Tamara McClintock Greenberg, Psy.D., M.S., is an Associate Clinical Professor of Psychiatry at the University of California, San Francisco.

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