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Here’s a list of the things I have learned about weight loss that go against the norm.

• Stronger willpower helps, but it isn’t the answer. If you find yourself saying, “If I only I wasn’t so weak!” you are operating on a false assumption that your conscious mind controls all your behavior when it comes to eating.
• Not all calories are alike. Yes, a calorie is a unit of energy that you burn off through activity, but between your mouth and the treadmill, the food that a calorie is attached to can do any one of a number of things to the organs of your body. So, 500 calories of brown rice is not the same as 500 calories of ice cream.
• You can’t eat anything you like if you exercise a lot. This isn’t true until you reach major athlete status. If you have weight you can afford to lose, an exercise program can’t save you from a bad diet.
• Maintenance  is not easier than the initial weight loss. No. Just no. Believe the experts when they say “weight loss is a lifestyle change.” Keeping they weight off requires keeping the changes in place–and that’s hard.
• Being thinner will not make me a better person. Maybe it will make you a better person. For me, it changed some assumptions about who I am and what I want out of life. It introduced as many anxieties as it took away.

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