Dr Phil McGraw

This is no dress rehearsal.

We teach people how to treat us.

You are so much more than what people have done to you, and to let that define you, would be a tragedy.

I mean, I’m very, very competitive.

Relationships are negotiated and if you deal with ultimatums and authority all the time, then you’re not going to get anywhere.

Like an enemy I knew as intimately as any friend, I came to know the nagging, constant emptiness of the incongruent life. I ignored myself and lived for people, purposes, and goals that weren’t my own. I betrayed who I was and instead accepted a fictional substitute that was defined from the outside in.

Successful weight loss takes programming, not willpower.

First, you’re going to have to stop using food for anything other than nutrition. You cannot continue to use food to celebrate, or as a companion, or for entertainment, or comfort. You cannot medicate yourself, your mood, or pain with food.

Reality check: you can never, ever, use weight loss to solve problems that are not related to your weight. At your goal weight or not, you still have to live with yourself and deal with your problems. You will still have the same husband, the same job, the same kids, and the same life. Losing weight is not a cure for life.

I’ve talked to so many people, men and women alike, that get overweight and their self-esteem just goes in the tank. They think they’re judged. They think they’re unattractive.

A year from now, you’re gonna weigh more or less than what you do right now.

You’re FAT – and don’t try to sugarcoat it, because you’ll just eat that, too.

Food is a coping mechanism; people are afraid of giving it up because then they’ll feel confused and lost.

I don’t care how pumped up or psyched you are to start a new diet or a new program – that emotion will fade.

Now ask yourself if you’re really going to spend the rest of your life on one of those ridiculous diets. The honest answer is, no, you won’t. So, that means you might lose weight while you’re on it, but you’ll probably gain it back when you’re off it because you haven’t made any real lifestyle changes.

Now, my body fat runs around 18 percent, which is normal and, you know, kind of in the middle of normal, actually.

What I want people to do is what’s healthy for them.

Experts indicate that you should aim for consistent weight loss of about one to two pounds per week, so you should remain realistic—you aren’t going to lose 40 pounds per week (no matter what any diet product claims).

Get up each morning, look at yourself in the mirror, and see yourself not as someone who is overweight or out of shape, but as the someone you will become.

The time is coming when man will be able to determine the length of his lifespan by controlling his diet.