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You're sick and tired of your fat ugly body and desperately want to lose weight. Will behavior modification help?

Before we answer that question, allow me to give you a little background first. Behavior modification means modifying your eating behavior in order to lose weight.

Does it work? For, some people, it will. But for others, it won't, according to Drs. G. Timothy Johnson and Stephen E. Goldfinger of the Harvard Medical School. Neither does it provide the benefits of jogging for hundreds of kilometers a week as some misleading print ads say.

Controlling one's appetite is a major part of most weight loss programs. But dieting alone won't help you if you don't change your eating habits. That's because how you eat is as important as what you eat.

One of the earliest to realize this was Dr. Richard Stuart, formerly of the University of Michigan. He made the first successful program to modify behavior which is explained in his book, 'Slim Chance in a Fat World.' Stuart said environmental factors influence the way we eat and the food we take more than hunger does.

"In other words, many people are prompted to overeat not because they are hungry but because their family pushes food or because they are tempted by food ads on television or in magazines," said Theodore Berland in 'Rating the Diets.'

To avoid this, Stuart said overweight people should be aware of bad eating habits and change them in order to watch their weight.

Most bad eating habits are formed a day or two after birth and they all start with bottle-feeding. British doctors said this is the reason why most infants are overweight and become obese adults later.

They arrived at this conclusion after studying 250 six-week-old babies who had all been delivered normally. Sixty percent of those fed by bottle were overweight while only 19 percent of breastfed babies were obese.

"The theory behind these findings is that bottle-feeding does not provide the solace that breastfeeding does. This vicious cycle leading to obesity begins with the unsatisfying bottle: anxiety provokes eating, which provokes anxiety," Berland explained.

While breastfeeding, a baby gets only the richest portion of the milk with the highest fat content. After this, he or she stops feeding. This natural mechanism teaches the child when to stop eating: a habit which the person presumably retains as he or she grows older.

Unfortunately, such a control mechanism is lacking in bottle-feeding. Since they don't know when to stop, bottle-fed babies eat more than they should and require more calories to satisfy their hunger. This later leads to obesity according to Dr. Malcolm Martin of Georgetown University Medical Center.

Parents are also responsible for their children's bad table habits. How many times have they forced kids to eat more than they should? How many times have they ordered youngsters not to leave the table until they've cleaned up their plates? While their intentions are good, parents should realize that children know whether they are hungry or not. Ordering kids to eat everything adults put on their plates even when they've had enough isn't healthy. It will only foster gluttony.

Other bad table habits are caused by psychological factors. Just like addicts, some people eat compulsively or for sheer pleasure, said Dr. Leonard Crammer, a New York City psychiatrist. Fat people often don't know when they are really hungry and eat just for the heck of it. Some substitute food for companionship and eat whenever they're bored or lonely.

Once you've discovered the root of your problem, it's easy to do away with bad eating habits. And you don't have to join a group or enroll in any figure salon just to benefit from behavior modification. You can do it in the privacy of your own home and practice it wherever you go.