Do diets work? Every year, more and more people decide to go on a diet to try and get rid of unwanted pounds. They put their faith in some new formula which promises to deliver their dream - permanent weight loss. Be it the Atkins diet or the South Beach Diet, their expectations are always high. These diets can deliver short-term weight loss, but the majority of dieters will be disappointed because permanent weight loss will not happen.

Losing weight is not just about what and how much you put into your mouth. It's about making change. Unless you take steps to change your behaviors, you will never achieve permanent weight loss. Recognising old behaviors and learning new habits, slim habits, is the only way to give yourself the chance to achieve permanent weight loss.

When a psychologist at UCLA decided to study the effectiveness of diets, she didn't use any half measures. Traci Mann looked at 31 diets over a period of between three and five years. That's a lot of diets! What she found was that in the majority of cases - another study put the figure at 99% - diets do not result in sustained weight loss for the majority of people.

So what can you expect if you go on a diet? Short-term weight loss is the short answer. You may be able to lose up to 10% of your body weight. You might think that's a pretty good result until you realise that within a very short space of time you will have put the weight back on again - with interest! This is what happens in the majority of cases - well over 90% in fact.

We live in interesting times. Change is happening all around us and is accellerating every day, yet we seem to be reluctant to embrace change when it comes to our own lives. Scientists - specifically neuroscientists and psychologists - have made some amazing discoveries in recent years: discoveries that have opened up the workings of how our brain and body function and interact, for example. They have given us the opportunity to use this new found knowledge to develop ways of helping us to make change by learning new habits - slim habits, if you like.

Weight loss programs need to be far more than calorie restrictive regimes. They need to be programs of learning and discovery. We have to enter into the process not as spectators who expect things to happen to us, but as participants that meke things happen. They need to have structure and a means to provide support if they are to make any real and lasting difference.

Habit change is not difficult, but it takes commitment - as does anything that is worthwhile. Permanent weight loss doesn't come from a formula or by spending eight weeks restricting your calorie intake, it comes from learning new habits.

The big weight could soon be over for those who really want to make change.