On a purely physical level, one of the major drivers behind the dramatic escalation of weight problems is the widespread use of refined sugar products in processed foods and drinks. Couple this with many peoples' adoption of a basically sedentary lifestyle and you have a ticking obesity time bomb.

Another important factor, which combines elements of both the physical and psychological, relates to the now proven fact that sugar is - in varying degrees with different people - psychologically habit-forming. The term "comfort food" refers to the subtle but significant ‘high’ derived from eating sweet food, especially when there is some degree of depression or low self-esteem affecting a person's outlook.

Virtually no one actually wants to be overweight, so people are forever going on diets, starting out feeling determined and quite optimistic, but within a couple of weeks back where they started, possibly having ended up gaining more weight in the process. This leads to feelings of depression and low self-esteem, which stimulate the desire for comfort food, and which in turn produce even more weight gain. At some point, the desire to reassert the will and lose weight returns, another diet is undertaken and the whole cycle begins again.

This pointless treadmill of endless and ultimately ineffective dieting is a result of the fact that many people fail to or are unaware of the need to take into account the significant role the subconscious plays in maintaining and sustaining habitual behaviours and psychological addictions. When a habit or psychological addiction has become embedded in the subconscious, it's usually the case that attempting to use willpower alone to defeat it will ultimately prove to be inadequate.

The power of the mind is almost always stronger than the power of the will. This is why you might start out on a diet feeling determined and positive, but before long your mind is starting to become filled with thoughts and images of all those beautiful and delicious cakes, sweets, rich and fatty foods. These thoughts and images just won't go away. They're always nagging away at the back of your mind and will sooner or later cause your will to collapse and you will surrender. The pleasure derived from giving in will be short lived, soon to be replaced by feelings of self disgust and weakness.

So how do you break the cycle? You can start by understanding and accepting you have a subconscious mind, which is real and also incredibly powerful. Your subconscious controls and directs all aspects of your body's functioning and repair, and also has stored within it the memory of every single moment and incident which has occurred in your whole life. It has also recorded the feelings and emotions which accompanied each of these moments and incidents.

The subconscious will tend to act on and help to manifest in your life whatever is habitually suggested and visualized by your conscious thought, whether it's positive or negative. 

Training your conscious mind in this way isn’t quite as easy as it may sound however. While it's not difficult as such, it does require a degree of persistence and dedication, and above all genuine desire.

If you're overweight and really want to slim down to an appropriate body mass index, then start by either locating an experienced hypnotherapist with some kind of track record in helping to resolve weight issues, or use self hypnosis and dedicate yourself to a daily session of relaxation, visualization and positive suggestion. Or, of course, do both. Experienced hypnotherapists understand the link between the power of the subconscious and success in any endeavour, and many specialize in weight loss programmes. If however you want to start by using self hypnosis, set aside 10-15 minutes once, or better twice, a day, when you can comfortably relax and have peace and quiet.

When you're relaxed and comfortable, close your eyes and begin to breathe fairly slowly, deeply and regularly. Then after a couple of minutes, begin to visualize in your mind an image of yourself as slim, active and healthy. Then, maintaining your relaxed breathing and visualization, begin to affirm to yourself something like "I'm slim, healthy and attractive". Repeat the affirmation about 20-30 times, mentally or verbally, then gently let it fade away and bring yourself back to normal consciousness