But it is often difficult to follow a proper diet and to adhere to an ideal exercise regimen. We live in a busy, fast paced society. Our careers are competitive and long hours are often expected in order to maintain or advance in our jobs. Our children depend on us to drive them to extracurricular activities. More and more is expected of our time, leaving little time available for planning proper meals or engaging in exercise. Fast food establishments are prevalent. It s far more convenient for us to make a quick stop and eat something convenient than it is to shop for and prepare well-balanced meals. We have been taught that many foods are luxuries as well, when in fact, they are often not ideal for our body's health. Fat increases flavor, as do salt and sugar. Over time, our entire North American society has evolved toward these conditions. We seem to have forgotten the old adage, "you are what you eat".

For many of us, especially obese individuals, breaking out of this well-established cycle can be extremely difficult. Many of us were raised on poor eating habits by our parents and have no real knowledge of what constitutes a healthy diet. Many of us may be aware, but social pressures make it difficult to incorporate healthy eating and exercise into our lives. Many try, and repeatedly fail.

Certainly, the ideal method for achieving and maintaining healthy weight is to follow the Food and Drug Administration's (FDA) balanced diet guidelines, outlined on the Nutritional Guidance page of the Outreach section on our website, and to adopt a regimen of regular, moderate exercise (see Fitness). But once you have reach a state of obesity or morbid obesity, precipitated by whatever external influences that may have helped to lead you there (see What is Obesity? page in the Obesity Facts section of our website), diet and exercise often fail.

If an individual selects diet as a method of weight loss, the diet must be considered a permanent lifestyle change. The diet must be approached methodically, and strong consideration must be put to consuming healthy portions of food giving healthy proportions of protein, carbohydrates, fats, etc. A successful diet will shed pounds much more slowly than what most individuals would ideally like to see. A decrease of 1-2 pounds per week is considered safe and maintainable in the long-term.

There are reasons; however, that an individual may elect to undergo a bariatric (weight loss) procedure even though dieting is always an option. For instance, a person’s obesity-related health concerns may have reached such a level that he or she seeks a more reliable tool for weight loss (see Co-Morbid Diseases page of the Obesity Facts section of our website). To qualify for weight loss surgery, most insurance companies require that a patient have a history of dieting attempts. The fact is that the social, environmental, history and genetic influences and pressures a person may face each day, lead to a high failure rate with dieting and exercise.

People who go on hunger strikes, for instance, do indeed lose substantial amounts of weight, but it is at the expense of muscle tissue and organ failure. For an obese individual, Body Mass Index of 30 or greater, to reduce below the level of obesity through fasting, he or she would likely suffer kidney failure, heart attack, renal disease and a host of other life-threatening ailments.

Finally, fasting causes the same rebound effect as that described in dieting. In fact, because of the increased drastic measures that fasting takes on the body, the rebound effect is even more extreme.

By subverting the normal function of the colon, daily consumption of laxatives is harmful. Use of osmotics typically creates an initial weight reduction by reducing the body's water content, but that water weight returns once laxative use stops. Similar to the rebound effect mentioned above with extreme dieting and fasting, the human body has a built in defense mechanism to accommodate for excess water loss as well.

Finally, since the digestive tract relies heavily on water to transport nutrients from within the small intestine and colon to organs throughout the body, an osmotic laxative's tendency to keep water within the system does not allow for the adequate distribution of nutrients required for good health. This same effect may disrupt the efficacy of any additional medications that a person may be taking.

Smoking, or more specifically nicotine, can deaden an individual's appetite, but it also leeches nutrients from the body. Heavy smokers and people who have smoked for a long time often gain a few pounds after they quit smoking. Unfortunately, smokers often use this fact to justify continuing to smoke. There are some simple reasons that quitting smoking may have weight gain side effects:
Smoking increases your metabolism, the rate at which you burn calories; therefore quitting smoking may cause your metabolism to decrease somewhat, likely to its normal rate.

Quitting smoking is difficult enough without the fear of gaining weight. The primary reason that people gain weight when they quit smoking is that they tend to eat more, and you can control that. If you can keep from turning to food in place of cigarettes, and make a few adjustments to your eating and exercise habits, you won't have to gain any weight at all.

Below is a timeline of the positive effects your body experiences from quitting smoking.