Am I destined to be overweight? I'm 5'9", 280 lbs. and no matter what I do, I can't lose weight.

Question

I have been overweight my whole life. My parents are very heavy and my grandparents were very heavy. I am now 24 years old. I am 5 feet 9 inches tall and I weigh 280 pounds.

It seems like no matter what I try, I do not really lose much weight. Because everyone in my family is so overweight, is it reasonable for me to assume that we have some sort of metabolic condition that runs in the family that makes it difficult for us to lose weight?

I am frustrated with trying to lose weight and enduring miserable diets that do not work.

William Anderson · Accepted Answer

The short answer is that no, you are not destined to be overweight. The problem can be solved.

You sound like me. I was overweight my whole life, over 300 pounds as an adult, until I got the problem solved in my early thirties. My family was overweight, I was the fattest kid in school growing up, constantly trying to diet and exercise the problem away from the age of 7, always failing and getting worse. It seemed like there was some powerful force that was making me overweight no matter what. And there was! But eventually, I learned how to overcome it and solve the problem. When I finally assembled all the pieces of the solution's puzzle, I lost 140 pounds and I've maintained my ideal body weight, 180 pounds, for over 25 years. You can too.

The good news is that we know how to solve the problem. We have undisputed scientific proof that if somehow you can get yourself to consistently eat fewer calories than you burn in your life processes, you will lose weight and never regain it. This has been proven with rock-hard science over and over again, no matter what you may have believed or been told. We also know the Behavioral Medicine technique to help do this. The bad news is that this is not easy to do, and very few people know what it is and how to apply it.

Your family may have conditions that make it more difficult than other people to solve the problem. I certainly believe this is the case with me and my family. But these conditions do not make success impossible. We just have to work harder at success than other people. But success is possible and it is well worth it, believe me. You were dealt the cards you have. You can't change that. But you can win in the efforts to get control of your weight problem.

Read everything here that I've written in ChooseHelp's Q&As about weight control and food addiction. Read everything in my blog at http://www.TheAndersonMethod.com Read my book The Anderson Method. If you are near a therapist who provides my therapeutic program, call and see if it is something you can do.

No matter how impossible it may have seemed to solve this problem, there is a solution, and when you persist in finding the answer, you will find it. Don't hesitate to write again after you've read everything I've written on the subject. I will be here to lend you a hand.

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