It started when I sat down with my wife Katie and we began to search for answers to our weight problems. We first identified what each of us hoped to gain and why being slimmer would give us that. Our aspirations turned out to be quite straightforward. For Katie, it was all about the kids - being able to get in and play with them. Equally, she aspired to feeling good about being un-dressed when we’re intimate together.

My main wish was to be able to purchase clothes that fit properly! Also, as our home is on 3 levels, I just longed to be able to reach the top floor and not feel my heart pounding violently!

Whilst going through this introspection, we discovered that it wasn’t just about how we look, but also about how much we valued ourselves. We have much less respect for ourselves when we increase in weight. It’s very common to see weight reduction as the solution to a happy life. We wholeheartedly acknowledge these feelings, and want to share some findings with you.

Medical research tells us that our sub conscious mind has no scope to differentiate between actual reality, and perceived reality. This means it ‘tells’ our conscious mind anything that pre-dominates. Tell it the same notion many times; it becomes the principal thought and consequently the reality.

Reflect on that for a little while - have you been sabotaging your hopes of a slimmer self by constantly telling yourself that you are fat? We should tell our sub conscious what we want, not what we don’t want.

We must always be focused on the prizes of losing weight, not the price. So between us, we came up with a number of things that we knew would be better once we’d lost the weight - Things like having fun with the kids, cycling, more confidence, poise, going for long walks, dancing and playing tennis.

And then we visualised trips away, wearing lovely summer outfits. Others smiled and welcomed us where-ever we went. We truly started to live…

Consequently, the weight came off (though not too much…) Has it been worth it? You bet…

(C) Scott Edwards. Browse WeightLossDietWar.com for logical information on slimming uk and diet weight management.