Dr. Phil's No. 1 Diet Secret

Dr. Phil's No. 1 Diet Secret

It's not about fat. It's not about carbs. It's all about what you believe you deserve.

Dr. Phil McGraw, author of "The Ultimate Weight Solution: The 7 Keys to Weight Loss Freedom," tells Good Housekeeping magazine that the No. 1 way to lose weight and fight fat is to recognize your personal truth--that is, what you believe about yourself when no one else is looking.

"And we live our lives based on this truth: We generate the results that we believe we deserve," Dr. Phil writes in Good Housekeeping. "If you're overweight, out of shape, depressed, I guarantee you it's because that's what you believe you deserve. On some level you're thinking, 'I'm not good enough, I'm not worthy.' But your internal dialogue needs to change. You need to realize: 'I don't have to think this way anymore. It's not anyone else's fault that I am the way I am. I choose what I think, feel, and do, and that's a tremendous power. I have the power to choose who I am going to be and how I am going to live my life.'"

Dr. Phil eschews most diets, claiming they just don't work. They are temporary fixes for lifestyle problems, he claims, insisting, "You cannot be overweight if you don't have a lifestyle to support it."

So what does work when it comes to permanent weight loss? Dr. Phil offers this advice in Good Housekeeping:

- Restrict the way you use food. Do not medicate with a baked potato.

- Get rid of the high-calorie, impulse foods. You can't eat it if it isn't there.

- Fill your kitchen with healthy, hunger-suppressing fresh fruits and vegetables that are high in fiber and nutrients.

- Finally, realize willpower is just a myth. "Willpower is fueled by emotion, and emotions are fickle." It has to be more than emotion. It has to be THE priority in your life.