Hello Everyone,

I am the son of a serial dieter, my mother has attended many weight loss programmes, and some of them more than once over the years. I'm sure she has had some success, but not enough to carry on with whatever plan she is on at the time.

I'm 28, and since I can remember, weight has always been an issue. I'd be a millionaire if I got a pound for everytime she ate something bad for her and said

"nevermind, I'll start the diet on Monday"

It seems to me that weight loss programmes do work, but more important it is the motivation to actually follow the plan you are on by avoiding unsuitable foods and partaking in physical exercise.

My questions to you is:

In your honest opinion - what is the reason you have not lost weight?
(e.g. over-eating? emotional eating? not exercising? not enough time? lose motivation? Don't believe you can? etc...)

I'd really appreciate your feedback

Hello
Welcome to the board. My mother is also a serial dieter for as long as I remember and her mother too (although not sure my Grandmother ever took it seriously).

I have lost weight, so can't give you an opinion on not losing it, but I can say that it creeps back on and my honest opinion of this is that I am genetically predisposed to obesity. Now that is often an excuse used by people who are obese, I am not, but I enjoy my food and often eat more than I should as I don't get the feeling of fullness until I have eaten far more than I should.

I also feel that when I was younger, my mother's attitude to food affected me and I gained about 4 stone when I first left home probably because I was able to make my own choices about food, nothing was forbidden or rationed. As a baby, I was bottled fed and started on solid food from the age of about 6 weeks (as was done then). Finishing the whole bottle of milk or meal was encouraged and praised. A chubby baby was considered to be a happy healthy baby and boy was I chubby!

Now, I maintain a healthy weight and am a size 10-12, yes, it does creep up but when that happens, I go back to the Rosemary Conley books and diet again for 2-4 weeks until I am back to a size I feel comfortable with. I generally cycle for around half an hour a day or walk for around an hour and do about 4 hours of gardening a week. I prefer to fit my exercise in with my life rather than taking time out to go to a gym or class.

There is no miracle diet, it is about learning how to eat healthily, if you are prone to weight gain, losing the excess weight alone won't stop you from gaining it back when you stop dieting.

Hope that helps.

How about you, is your weight healthy and has your mother's dieting affected you?

Ana