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in article , Roger Houston at
wrote on 10/16/05 2:01 AM:

"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.)

Heh. I don't buy into the the locus pocus myself. They know they are
overweight. They know they need to eat better. They know they need to
exercise more. But they've bought in (and it's easy to buy in, since all
that is required is laziness) to the culture of professionalization, which
states that no matter what it is you are too lazy to do, it's not your
fault, the problem is you haven't yet hired a professional.

Now I don't mess around with people in my personal life when it comes to
this sort of stuff, because I'm just happy that they are doing SOMETHING to
have a healthier lifestyle, and I don't care if they hire a professional
trainer or worship the stars, as long as it means they will be on the planet
longer and enjoying a better quality of life.

But with one friend in particular, I carefully broached the subject - if (as
she was saying) you could not have done it without the trainer, then what
will happen when you no longer have the trainer? Or has the trainer been
supporting you to succeed on your own?

Answer: Oh, no. I'm planning to see the trainer for the rest of my life. I
could never do this on my own.

What can you say? I just put on my best fake smile, said "that's great" and
started talking about the weather.

And then, much worse I think, are my friends and acquaintances who go on
this Dr Bernstein (sp?) diet, where they give you vitamin injections and
basically starve you (so it seems) to produce rapid weight loss. Man o man,
this is some scary stuff. Sure enough they lose that weight, but how the
heck is anyone supposed to keep the weight off, when all you've done is a
totally unnatural and unsustainable method to get it off to begin with?