There was an article in the New York Times about two weeks ago titled the same as the subject as my post. I’d sum up the article for you, but the title does fairly well.

Why, in a society where 75% of Americans are considered overweight (and the economy is terrible), can people not lose weight even when being paid???

Because unless you have changed your eating behaviors to make eating well automatic, it simply takes too much energy. Making change requires a higher energy level than giving in to your habits (good and bad). So, as soon as life changes course (vacation, overtime, other stressors), you revert back to what is “easy”.

The Z-Health newsletter that came out earlier this week talked about the 5 eating instincts that people have, and provided some easy-to-implement suggestions for changing your eating behaviors to make good behaviors automatic. Because only when these behaviors are automatic, can you succeed long-term.