It's all about health.

In this time of praise for trim body images that influence our thinking about our own shapes, this is easy to forget. The campaign against "obesity" - a particularly ugly word - may also distract our focus from the very real benefits of healthy weight.

We don't want to look obese. We want to look like the buff and slender men and women we see on TV and in magazines. As lesser mortals our day jobs park us in chairs or cars, or don't pay enough to buy the healthiest foods, or leave us without enough time or money for the gym or even an early morning walk. We struggle to find time to eat right and exercise and sleep, the holy trinity of good health.

Because our feeling of self worth should never be tied to a number on a scale, it's important to remember that diet is all about health.

If we get involved with dieting or surgery or any weight loss strategy because we want to look like someone on TV, or to please someone else, or because we don't like ourselves very much - or for any other reason that's not related to wanting to be healthy - weight loss won't work over the long term.

Think of your own situation. Have you surrounded yourself with people who are proud of you, or people who run you down? When you look in your mirror, who do you see? If you don't look like a model - or even if you do - do you see a good person? Or are you mad at yourself, insecure, hopeless or low? What is it that makes you want to lose weight?

If you see a person that you like and you want to take care of yourself by being as healthy as you can be, the odds are good that you can attain and maintain healthy weight. Believing you are worth the effort can motivate lasting progress through the right combination of - you guessed it - eating right, exercise and sleeping.

Remember that starvations diets won't work for long, expensive diets may not be sustainable and the same plan won't work for everyone.

Not skipping meals, decreasing portions, choosing low over high fat foods, limiting refined sugar, decreasing meat intake in favor of eating more colorful foods (such as vegetables) are elements in plans that work. Support can be important for some people, so groups such as Weight Watchers might help. For some people, surgery may be an option to consider. And exercise helps.

Although weight loss is usually healthy, this is not always the case. It is also important to eat enough. Think of the surprising number of people with eating disorders, whose obsessive desire to be thin poses a life-threatening health risk. And illness sometimes causes unwanted weight loss, so a healthy diet may promote weight gain.

In every case, belief that it's all about health is what spells success in getting to a healthy weight and staying there, over what might turn out to be a longer lifetime.

PEG FALCONE is a member of the Jackson County Healthy Communities Coalition's Mental Health Action Team, is a licensed clinical social worker and works at Southern Illinois Regional Social Services (SIRSS) in Carbondale.