Well, you should now know exactly why you want to lose weight. Without a clear and convincing reason, you're never going to keep the motivation going when you start feeling hungry. It's a sad fact of life that there's temptation wherever you look. There are all kinds of habit associations. It can be a place, or a time of day, or a group of people you're with. All these may be associated with particular types of food. Unless you are mentally prepared, it's going to be too easy to give into that craving and eat like you did in the "bad old days". This may be a recipe for some changes to your life. Perhaps you need to change the route you drive so you no longer pass that cupcake shop. Stop going to that particular fast food outlet for lunch. Get all those friends and relatives on your side. They must be prepared to tell you off if they see you about to give into temptation. With their help and support, you can make all this work. But if they are just part of the general pattern of temptation your diet is not going to last ten minutes. They will mock you into giving it up. Friends and family are like that, i.e. part of the problem and not part of the solution.

So what's the first step? You have to be realistic. There's no magic involved. You will not lose five inches from your waist by next Tuesday. You will not lose 20 pounds by the end of the month. Not even giving up food altogether will produce these results unless you want to wreck your health and risk death. When setting a target for yourself, make it achievable. This means hoping to lose 1 or 2 pounds a week. That's between 4 and 8 pounds a month. It might sound slow but, if you could keep it up, that between 24 and 48 pounds at the end of six months. For most people, that's about 10% of their current body weight. Keeping this real, that's actually quite a tough target. The majority of people find they lose weight for the first three months and then hit a barrier. So, when it comes to writing in your diary, aim for 4 pounds a month for the first three months and then see how you feel. The psychology is important. If you feel you are not making the expected progress, it's easy to lose motivation. After three months, aim not to put the weight back on and hope for some further losses. A target of 5% of body weight lost is usually achievable. That will be a satisfying result.

In pursuing this target, think about how you're going to use Meridia. This is an excellent weight loss drug but it's more a support for your motivation. By suppressing your appetite, it lets you get on with your life without any discomfort distracting you. But you still have to get the diet right and follow an exercise program to burn off those extra calories you are carrying around. Weight loss is possible with Merida so long as you are realistic about your target.