If you feel that you have done EVERYTHING possible in the whole wide world to change your body and state, think again!

If you have done everything possible, then chances are you would have not only lost weight but also become an Olympic athlete, Super Model and Motivational Speaker at the same time!

It is very easy to confuse “going on five fad diets over the last 3 years” with “I have tried everything possible to lose weight”. Chances are your heart wasn’t in it. This is where you need to start thinking about what might be stopping you…

Look at your past

Have a look at what was going on at the times you have unsuccessfully lost weight or lost weight only to regain within 6 – 10 months. Were you stressed? Did you have a major change in your life? What were your problems?

Go through each of the different times your have tried to change and see if there is a pattern that you can identify, something that you might not have been aware of and yet it could be the downfall of your success.

The problem in the pattern could be; not finding enough time to exercise because you are over committing yourself at work, eating junk food for lunch most days because you were always late out of bed in the mornings and didn’t have enough time to create a low fat, low calorie meal; Not having enough money to by the food you wanted rather than what was cheaper or on special.

Addressing problems

Once you identify where you are going wrong you then need to address the issue. If you can’t do it on your own, ask an objective friend to help you; their outside perspective might be exactly what you need!

Remember you can also speak to a councilor or psychologist to help you through any problems no matter how big or small.

1. Eating the wrong food

If the problem is that you are eating bad food when you are at work, then perhaps you need to make a deal with your self that you will get up 20 minutes earlier each day to prepare a healthy meal.

This commitment will actually save you time and money during your lunch break as your meal is already made. You won’t need to go and buy something, simply pick up a book or magazine and enjoy your stress free lunch break!

2. Too busy at work

Perhaps you problem is that you are over committed at work and don’t have enough time to exercise. This can be a very common problem as many people think in the “now” rather than in the “future”.

Whilst working hard now shows your company that you are a valuable employee, letting them watch your body get larger and more untoned also shows them you don’t have the ability to balance your life properly.

Try approaching your boss and explaining that you feel you have an extra large workload and, while you are happy to help out, you will need to leave on time to go to the gym three days a week in order to keep your body healthy. I doubt there would be many bosses in the world who would not want healthier and more productive staff!

3. Don’t have enough money to eat good quality food

Finally, if you are finding that money is the problem behind your weight loss, you will find you are not alone!

Unfortunately, it can be quite expensive to eat healthy, wholesome foods, especially if you are feeding a family. Many people simply can not afford the more expensive less fatty cuts of meat, or can’t afford the pineapples for juicing in the mornings.

The good news is that this might be easier to solve than you think! Technically, it is a lot cheaper to feed your family of four fried chicken than to cook a healthy free range chicken dish, however have you ever looked at how much chicken you are actually eating in both of these meals?

Look at the "value" of your food

With 1kg of fried chicken, half the meal is batter, fat and bones; in fact I would go as far as saying it is more than half. However if you use 500 grams of skinless chicken breast fillets there is no added fat (other than an optional teaspoon of cooking oil), no animal fat (all the skin is trimmed off), no batter and no bones!

It is a far healthier option and because you are buying half the amount (and no batter or oil) and it is actually around the same price.

When making a salad or vegetables for accompaniment, make sure you choose produce that is “in-season” rather than vegetables that have to be grown in hot-houses or imported because it is the wrong time of the year. This will help drop the price considerably.