Jennifer is a middle-aged single mother with a young daughter. She has been avoiding sugary foods for a few weeks. And she has also been faithfully watching her portions. She has been exercising for an hour 4 times a week as well. However, she has not lost any weight, and doesn’t know why. This is not uncommon. You might be doing everything you can to lose weight, but can’t seem to make any progress. Consequently, you are frustrated or depressed and are ready to give up. One problem is that many diets are homogeneous. They don’t consider the individual’s physiology, metabolism, and lifestyle. They are a cookie-cutter approach to weight loss, which doesn’t work in most cases. Therefore, employing the services of a registered dietician may be the best solution. This can be done in person or via the Internet, where you can contact your dietician any time of the day or night via e-mail. Your dietician will be your personal coach and cheerleader, helping you through the inevitable setbacks. Lack of support is a big reason that diets often fail. You might feel like you have no one to talk to about your weight problems. When this is the case, some individuals go to psychotherapists to help them with their food-related issues. This can be very helpful, especially if an individual suffers from an eating disorder, such as anorexia or bulimia. Bulimia and anorexia are serious diseases that need to be treated by a medical professional in order to ensure the recovery of the patient. Hidden calories in the foods we eat is another pitfall of dieting. Often, we are consuming calories and don’t even know it. Sugary drinks like sodas and fruit juices are a common source of unneeded calories. By switching to diet drinks, or drinking water, and substituting skim milk for whole milk, you can eliminate the hidden calories that are keeping you from reaching your weight loss goals. Being a yoyo dieter is another problem. You might start a diet, then quit before you’ve made any measurable progress because you are bored or feel deprived. Healthy weight loss is not often quick, and involves losing only a couple of pounds per week. Keeping a positive attitude and sticking with a healthy diet plan is key to losing weight. Lifestyle change is part of successful eating and exercise. Avoid eating for comfort or emotional fulfillment. Changing the way you eat requires lifetime commitment; it means that you have to follow the plan for the long haul. Find an eating plan that is healthy, and that you can stick to. While your main goal might be to lose weight, you should also focus on being healthy. Fad diets cannot give you both of those things. For that reason, you must carefully choose your eating plan.