"KMAN" wrote in message
...

I am ashamed to say I now have several acquaintances who feel they need
"personal trainers" because they can't stop eating like pigs or get off
their asses to go for walk. They honestly believe it is not possible for
them to lose weight without a professional to help them.

That particular issue may be more an issue of "locus of control". Some are
self-motivated, and these folks are spoken of as having an "internal" locus
of control. Others have an external locus, and still others what is called
a "powerful other" locus. There are little quizzes you can take that scores
you on all three dimensions. The people who employ a personal trainer
probably have a combination where the internal is the weakest of the
domains. The people whose doctors have to tell them they're fat and out of
shape and then join Weight-watchers probably have high external, higher
"powerful other" and very low internal loci. And so forth.

This may relate somehow to the current pie-fight on the topic of teaching
yourself vs. going to classes to learn how to have fun in a paddlecraft. Or
not.

(Become inner-directed, and be the envy of all your friends.)