Although drastic measures like prescription weight loss drugs and gastric bypass surgery do offer good chances for losing weight, the inherent dangers and radical lifestyle changes that these methods entail tend to make nore natural weight loss approaches much more attractive to many overweight individuals. Despite the ongoing search of many people for safe and effective weight loss, the goal of natural, lasting weight loss remains difficult to achieve for the majority of those who are overweight.

Ultimately, natural weight loss comes down to some combination of diet and exercise. Although many approaches favor one or the other, the reality is that both diet and exercise are equally important and weight loss occurs much more rapidly with a combined approach. Many weight loss aids, including some reasonably safe natural weight loss products, can improve the overall effects of diet and exercise, but they really cannot be considered a substitute for changing your eating habits and engaging in more physical activity.

There is much debate as to what works and what doesn't. On the diet front, some will proclaim Atkin's and other low or no carbohydrate approaches to be the only effective diet strategy. Different experts promote the concept of overall calorie reduction. Still others may insist on the low-fat approach. The fact of the matter is that all of these diet systems work at least some of the time.

As with diet, there is considerable debate as to what exercise approach works best for weight loss. Some say you have to do high intensity "interval training". Some weight-loss gurus insist that the only effective form of exercise for weight loss is long periods of relatively low intensity aerobic exercise. Still others say any increase in any kind of physical activity works just fine. Again, all of these appoaches work at least for some people.

Various recent research studies into the vast array of weight loss approaches has come to a rather interesting conclusion: All weight loss approaches that are based on physiologically-sound principles seem to have about the same statistical success rate. Some recent studies have shown that the biggest determining factor in the success or failure of any weight loss program is... whether or not the person sticks to the program long-term.

It has been my experience in clinical practice that very few people stick to ANY weight loss plan (at least natural weight loss plans - not some type of weight loss drug) for more than about two weeks straight. Yes, some may stay on a weight loss plan for several months, but most are not consistent over that period of time. The majority of those trying to lose weight will start off well for the first few days, but then something will come up and they get off track for a few (or more) days, and then continue going through and on again, off again cycle. The times when they are off the program largely negate whatever progress they make while they are on the program.

Based on my experience with people trying to lose weight, the biggest factor in losing weight is not the diet or exercise the person is doing, it's the person's consistency with whatever he or she is doing. Consistency with a natural weight loss plan, including diet and exercise is highly dependent on one's ability to stay motivated and focusd on achieving one's weight loss goals. In other words, if you're going to lose weight and keep it off, you MUST get control of your mind so that you can have sufficient motivation and will-power to stick to the weight loss plan.

Developing motivation and will-power requires more than just deciding to lose weight. It is necessary for you to be able to resist any temptations that would pull you off course and interfere with your follow-through on whatever weight loss program you choose to do. Sadly, the majority of people are lacking an innate capacity to effectively avoid temptation and it is far too easy for many people who try to lose weight to quickly lose momentum and stray from their weight loss plans. For this reason, I recommend using a variety of mental conditioning techniques BEFORE one begins a natural weight loss plan. By preparing the mind in advance, one is far more able to resist temptation and stay sufficiently motivated to stick to the plan.

Among the most useful techniques I have found for this purpose include Neuro-Linguistic Progamming, Neuro-Associative Conditioning (developed by Anthony Robbins), various forms of self-hypnosis, the Sedona Method, Emotional Freedom Technique, and simply taking the time to clearly identify one's reasons for wanting to lose weight in the first place. By using any or all of these methods, temptation can be largely eliminated and one is able to stick with his or her diet and/or exercise program long-term, which allows for consistent weight loss and maintenance of one's weight once the goal is achieved.