Why doesn't your fuel gauge work correctly? The problem may have started when you consumed a diet laden with certain types of foods. It may haw begun when you took medications for mood disorders, diabetes, seizures, or other health problems. Not sleeping well or enough, or doing shift work, may have triggered the problem. Whatever the cause, the result is very common, affecting two thirds of the adult population. Children also suffer from the same problem, maybe more than adults. I've treated small children who could eat as much as most adults. Did their parents teach them to eat that much, possibly by placing overly large portions on the table? I don't think so; I believe that a progressive breakdown in the fullness mechanisms ultimately produces this astonish-ing phenomenon, which I call feed forward.

I'd like you to think of this predisposition to gaining weight as a powerful force, as a health problem that you must light. You need a specific set of strategies to override it. If you don't first override the internal biology, typical approaches to weight loss - such as portion control and calorie counting - just don't work. You can't expect to will yourself to eat less, stop eating sugar, stop consuming caloric soft drinks, or stop eating bread. You can't, unless you learn how to fix your fullness gauge, so that sensations such as cravings and hunger naturally diminish.

I'll help you fix that gauge with a number of behavioral and eating strategies that have worked time and time again for the men and women I counsel. You'll learn these strategies through a series of incremental steps. Rather than overhauling your diet, joining a gym, and changing many different lifestyle habits at once, you'll be able to focus on small changes, changes such as eating protein for breakfast. Once you make over breakfast, we'll look at lunch. Once you get a handle on lunch, we'll tackle snacks, then dinner, then beverages. Finally, when you are ready, we'll talk about exercise.

These incremental strategies arc deceptively simple, so simple that many people hear about them and think."There's no way that works." If you are already feeling a little doubtful, I can't say that I blame you. The weight-loss industry is full of charlatans who want to sell you easy gimmicks. The difference between those gimmicks and my program comes down to one thing: I'm focusing on strategies that will help you do everything you already know you need to do. My strategies do not melt off fat, incinerate calories, or stop you from ever feeling hungry again. They merely take some of the effort out of weight loss, so that you can put down your fork earlier, long before you've overeaten.

I don't believe in false promises. I don't believe in eating and exercise plans that are so hard that you can't possibly follow them. I don't believe in setting you up for failure. I don't believe in lies. I would rather under-promise and overdeliver. I believe in the truth, and the truth is that weight loss is hard. It's hard for everyone, but it's not impossible.

I believe in science, science that says the secret of successful weight loss isn't necessarily about forcing yourself to eat less and exercise more. Rather, it's about learning, understanding, and working with the new science of appetite. That's what The Skinny is all about. It's about learning the skinny on why:

• The more you eat of certain foods, the hungrier you seem to get.
• You crave sweets after eating too many carbs.
• You feel cold when you lose weight.
• You wake up feeling hungry after a night of overeating.
• Your metabolism slows as you lose weight.
• You feel hungry after a night of poor sleep.

Most important, I believe in you. I believe that you need not only a program that enables weight loss, but also one you can follow and continue to follow until you lose weight, improve your health, and stay that way for life. Trying to eat less, but can't? Trying to reduce portions, but can't? Trying to cut back on soft drinks, but can't? Welcome to The Skinny.

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© 2009 Louis J. Aronne, M.D.

Tags: Diets and Weight Loss, Nutrition

About the Author

Dr. Louis Aronne has directed the Comprehensive Weight Control Program at New York - Presbyterian Hospital/Weill Cornell Medical Center since 1986. Dr. Aronne is a former president of the Obesity Society, edited the NIH Guide to Obesity Treatment, was an original host on the TV Food Network, and is perhaps best known for diagnosing David Letterman's heart problem in 2000. He is listed in the Castle Connolly Top Doctors in NY directory as a specialist in obesity and diabetes and is founder of the Cardiometabolic Support Network, www.cmsnonline.com. He lives in Greenwich, Connecticut. More

Alisa Bowman has collaborated on five New York Times bestsellers, including The 3-Hour Diet and 8 Minutes in the Morning. She lives in Emmaus, Pennsylvania. More