You see it on TV all the time: People losing hundreds of pounds, going from couch potatoes to athletes, transforming themselves into different (and happier) human beings.

How do they do it when most people struggle to lose 10 or 15 pounds? Big weight loss requires big lifestyle changes that stick for more than a few weeks, and it almost always involves a true life transformation.

Yes, learning to eat very differently and move more — a lot more — are required, but that alone doesn’t always produce extreme results.