We have known for some time that stress can contribute to obesity. Firstly, holding onto food stores seems to be a part of the body’s natural stress-response, and secondly many behaviours that we employ to help cope with stress (eg comfort eating) directly contribute to weight gain. Effective coping and self management practices are thus the third key element to effective weight management - and yet most weight loss programmes place very little or no direct emphasis on this. People instinctively develop their own ways of coping with life stress (some more effective than others). One common coping mechanism is avoidance – of things which are either physically or emotionally uncomfortable. Working in a weight-loss setting over the years I have come to believe that this is used even more frequently amongst people who are overweight.  I cannot yet back it up statistically, but my perception is that overweight individuals are more prone to using procrastination, TV watching, over-sleeping, and of course comfort eating as a way of avoiding uncomfortable realities, emotions or tasks.  The more effective approach is to pro-actively deal with obstacles & challenges as they arise, while at the same time planning and prioritizing regularly, to ensure that attention is being paid consistently to all of the most important life areas. Not doing this, results in one spending one’s days (and ultimately one’s life) rushing to putting out fires. This is in itself very stressful, thus further spiraling the pattern. Ultimately, avoidance is indeed a coping mechanism in that it potentially makes one feel better in the moment, but over time it inevitably accumulates more stress. In conclusion, weight management is about more than just eating and exercising – it is about developing effective, holistic self management practices, without which one is unlikely to reap the full benefits which healthy eating and exercise can potentially bring to one’s life.