I have read that if you can change a habit for 21 days then it usually will be a perminate change. I put on about 30 lbs when I stopped smoking and have been overweight for the last 30 years. I go back and forth but do need to take it off that at my age what is the point then again I probably would feel better if I lost it.

It's not easy to change your attitudes and deeply ingrained behaviour. I read an article fairly recently about will-power and how its power increases, the more you use it. I am not convinced that is true, but I think we can sometimes change habits and attitudes over time, if it is advantageous to us to do so.

Unfortunately, the perception of your body/appearance that you hold in your mind is VERY hard to change. If you perceive yourself as overweight, you may find that even if you lose weight, you will see yourself in a mirror and see yourself fat. This is how anorexics/bulimics operate, they may be SKINNY but when they look in the mirror, they see themselves fat so they try to lose more weight. It may be hard to believe that you can look directly in the mirror and see something that is not actually there,(Your REAL appearance) but it happens. I caught onto this years ago, tried to explain it to a therapist once and they didn't get it.(???) Works the other way as well, you may perceive yourself as trim and even after you gain weight, you will see a trim you in the mirror.

Interestingly, this phenomenon does not carry into every visual presentation. If you see yourself in a photo, you will likely see yourself realistically. Occasionally, you will get a "glance" at yourself in a reflective surface like a store window or a mirror off to the side that you glimpse. This may explain why so many people will say they HATE having a picture taken. They expect themselves to look a specific way but they see a picture in which they don't match that expectation and they aren't happy about it. This can happen with other things, not just weight. I've definitely noticed that as I've aged, I will look at myself in the mirror and see myself as I do but when I take a photo, I am shocked at the signs of age I see that just are NOT there in the mirror.

Don't know if that had anything to do with your comment, but there it is. As to the commercials, best advice, mute TV and keep a book or something else handy to look at during commercial breaks. I have a DVR so if I'm ahead a little, I skip through commercials.

Switching your diet is hard because you are addicted to some foods and not others. You have to break a habit, for example, you stop eating bread and substitute whole grains. You may crave bread for a long time before your body forgets. Similarly, it takes a while to become addicted to the substitute.