Instead of learning to regulate and discipline yourself, you might be tempted to join one of the popular branded weight loss programs — often ones that rely heavily on prepackaged foods for all your meals. These programs can seem like an easy fix: no meal planning, no guesswork, just heat-and-eat. But while convenient, I strongly discourage you from going this route.
Why?
Because you lose the opportunity to retrain your brain when you give away the responsibility of determining what and how you eat to someone else. And retraining your brain is absolutely critical. It’s not just important — it’s the most effective way to make new habits stick.
Outsourcing the Work Means Outsourcing the Growth
When you follow a program that decides everything for you, you’re not engaging in the daily decisions that actually change your relationship with food. You’re not building awareness around hunger, cravings, portion size, or emotional triggers. You’re simply following instructions — and that rarely leads to lasting change.
Most importantly, understand this: nearly all of these third-party weight loss programs fail in the long run.
The moment participants stop using the prepackaged foods and return to eating on their own, they often revert to their old unhealthy eating habits — and just like that, the weight comes back.
Why Your Brain Is the Best Diet Coach
Your internal regulatory system — not a branded meal plan — is your best partner in beating weight gain. It’s your brain that determines how you respond to stress, how you interpret fullness, and how you make choices in moments of temptation.
Doing this yourself, using the skills you’re learning, will make you far more conscious of what the right foods are, and how much of them to eat.
This isn’t just willpower. It’s rewiring your brain. When you do the work to create new neural pathways — when you consistently choose nourishing foods, listen to your body, and stay aware — new eating habits start to form naturally. Over time, these habits become automatic.
And here’s the key: when a habit becomes automatic, it becomes sustainable.
Final Thoughts
Quick-fix diets might offer speed, but they rarely offer stability. If you want real, lasting change, focus on building it from the inside out. Train your brain. Build awareness. Stay consistent. That’s how you take control of your health — and keep it.
The author of the award-winning book, Diabetes: The Real Cause and the Right Cure, and Nationally Syndicated Columnist, Dr. John Poothullil, advocates for patients struggling with the effects of adverse lifestyle conditions.
Dr. John’s books, available on Amazon, have educated and inspired readers to take charge of their health. You can take many steps to make changes in your health, but Dr. John also empowers us to demand certain changes in our healthcare system. His latest book, Beat Unwanted Weight Gain, reveals the seven most essential strategies for shedding pounds—and keeping them off for good.
Follow or contact Dr. John at drjohnonhealth.com.
John Poothullil practiced medicine as a pediatrician and allergist for more than 30 years, with 27 of those years in the state of Texas. He received his medical degree from the University of Kerala, India in 1968, after which he did two years of medical residency in Washington, DC and Phoenix, AZ and two years of fellowship, one in Milwaukee, Wisconsin and the other in Ontario, Canada. He began his practice in 1974 and retired in 2008. He holds certifications from the American Board of Pediatrics, The American Board of Allergy & Immunology, and the Canadian Board of Pediatrics.During his medical practice, John became interested in understanding the causes of and interconnections between hunger, satiation, and weight gain. His interest turned into a passion and a multi-decade personal study and research project that led him to read many medical journal articles, medical textbooks, and other scholarly works in biology, biochemistry, physiology, endocrinology, and cellular metabolic functions. This eventually guided Dr. Poothullil to investigate the theory of insulin resistance as it relates to diabetes. Recognizing that this theory was illogical, he spent a few years rethinking the biology behind high blood sugar and finally developed the fatty acid burn switch as the real cause of diabetes.Dr. Poothullil has written articles on hunger and satiation, weight loss, diabetes, and the senses of taste and smell. His articles have been published in medical journals such as Physiology and Behavior, Neuroscience and Biobehavioral Reviews, Journal of Women’s Health, Journal of Applied Research, Nutrition, and Nutritional Neuroscience. His work has been quoted in Woman’s Day, Fitness, Red Book and Woman’s World.Dr. Poothullil resides in Portland, OR and is available for phone and live interviews.To learn more buy the books at: amazon.com/author/drjohnpoothullil
Visit drjohnonhealth.com to learn more. You can also contact him at john@drhohnonhealth.com.
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