Two major factors contribute to their ability to maintain healthy body weights.

Of course that is easier said than done, but it may not be as difficult as you think. A less sedentary lifestyle The secret to permanent weight loss is really not a secret at all. Anyone who has ever traveled to Continental Europe has seen that the obesity epidemic there is not nearly as bad as it is here in The U.S. But the changes need not be drastic.

Yet their lifestyles are not that different from ours. Just as the experts have always said, the trick is to take in fewer calories than your body burns on a daily basis. In order to achieve and maintain a healthy weight, we need to commit to permanently changing some of our deeply held beliefs, and thus our habits. They enjoy fine foods including desserts, they consume even more beer and wine than we do, and they do not spend the majority of their day on a treadmill or lifting weights.

The key is to rid yourself of the age old assumptions that.