What does "Necessary and Sufficient" mean?

Carl Rogers was a major influence in the helping professions. The psychologist developed strategies and techniques that are still studied years after his death. One of his contributions to the field was to assert that there were certain conditions for a helping relationship to be effective. These conditions were necessary and they were sufficient. If the conditions weren't present, helping wasn't effective. If the conditions were present, that's all you needed.

After reviewing my own experience, and studying the experience of people who have actually lost weight, I developed my own necessary and sufficient conditions for weight loss. I want to share them with you.

The Conditions

From what I've seen, most people who want to lose weight skip the necessary steps to be successful. Based on my experience, and on the experience of people who have been successful at losing weight and maintaining the loss, there are a few conditions that are necessary. They are also sufficient. Ninety-five percent of the people on the planet will lose weight and maintain the loss if these conditions are met in the order provided below. The other five percent have some medical condition that makes their bodies react differently. The odds are massive you are not one of those. Here are the necessary and sufficient conditions for losing weight and maintaining the loss:

1. Maintain rigorous honesty: Honesty comes first and the most important person to be honest with is ourselves. Instead of tying to cover up the reading as we weigh ourselves, advertise it. Wear a button that says, "I weight 200 pounds and my waist is 42 inches." (Measure your waist one inch below your belly button -- another honesty issue.) Say it out loud: "I am powerless over junk food." Or, "Ice cream defeats me every time." Admitting it is the first step in getting better. If you relapse and eat a piece of cake on any day but your one day to eat one piece of cake, admit it. Don't rationalize. Until you are rigorously honest, your efforts are doomed.
   
   
2. Be willing to change: Wanting to lose weight doesn't matter. Not a bit. What matters is a willingness to give up preconceived notions that have never worked and do things differently. You have got to be willing to listen to the winners: the people who've lost weight and maintained that weight loss for a long time. If you do that, you'll find that the vast majority, like almost all, follow the third and fourth necessary and sufficient conditions. You also must change the way you react to life. If you eat ice cream when you're worried, you need a new way to deal with worry. If you don't find that, you'll never, never, never be successful. (See the tools.) You've got to change.
   
   
3. Effective Exercise is essential: Exercise comes next because so many people want to skip this part. If you're not exercising, you're doomed to failure. You simply cannot reduce your food intake enough to lose weight. Part of the reason for that is your body will think you are starving and begin converting everything to fat to store up an energy source for when the food runs completely out. If you exercise, you fool you body back into thinking you're OK. You must exercise. And, you must be rigorously honest about that exercise. Plan on 45 minutes a day during which you get your heart rate up into your target zone. If your heart rate isn't up there, you're not burning enough calories to matter. Now look here: it does absolutely no good to sweat for 45 minutes, then reward yourself by eating a honey bun. You've just wasted all your effort.
   
   
4. Believe you lose weight due to calories in and calories out: If you think calories eaten and calories burned don't matter, you are doomed to failure. You just are. If you insist on believing calories don't matter, stop reading this and accept that things won't change for you. They won't. Esoteric arguments found in books and websites don't change that. As you go about eating foods with calories in mind, don't forget that you have to maintain rigorous honesty. A cup is not a heaping cup. If you go over the top when measuring your cereal, you'll take in tons more calories over time and you won't lose weight or you'll gain it back. Measure honestly. And, Dr. Harry Lodge's rule about what you should eat that's found in Younger Next Year is the best I've seen. Here it is in its entirety: "Don't eat crap." We all know what "crap" is. Stay away.
   
   
5. Eliminate decisions: At least for a while, meaning . . . oh, say . . . the first five years, you should do all you can to eliminate decision making. Develop menus that have the number of calories that fits into your regime and stick to those menus. If you are cooking for a family, make their meals and make yours. Your menu shouldn't be all complicated. At least for this time period, food should not be the center of your life. Have set times for snacks and make the snacks an apple or orange. Create a routine that you don't change. When life forces changes, make careful substitutions. Notice, the word is not "exception." Substituting one meal for another is OK. Eating a piece of pie as an exception is not. Don't go to all you can eat buffets. Don't go to covered dish dinners . . .or if you must go, eat your dinner before you go and don't get near the food table. If you've tried to lose weight and have failed, or have lost weight but failed to maintain the loss, it's clear your decision making is flaw. Eliminate them.
   
   
6. Give yourself a break: Take a meal (not a day) off once a week. Eat what you want. Now, that does not mean you eat as much as you want. Eat a normal piece of pie after your meal off -- not a whole pie. When you are craving during the rest of the week, remind yourself that you can eat it during your meal off.
   

That's it. If you do those things, you'll lose weight. The concepts are extremely easy. If you're honest about carrying them out, you'll be successful, guaranteed. If you're not, you'll fail. No doubt. You can read more about the principles behind these conditions here.