An FDA panel has given its thumbs-up to diet drug Qnexa, clearing the way for a final decision on whether or not the drug should be approved.

Qnexa is designed to help those struggling with obesity. Tests have shown that it helps, but they’ve also shown side effects that include heart problems and birth defects.

I’m no doctor, lawyer or pharmacist. I don’t know whether the risks outweigh the benefits or vice-versa. I’m not an expert and don’t claim to be.

But I’m a coach, and I know there’s another way to address obesity: act differently than you feel. Just because you feel like eating something doesn’t mean you have to do so.

I’m not passing judgment on overweight people. I’m one of them. And I’m sure not dismissing the strength of addiction. All I’m saying is that people who are best in the world at what they do have found a way to act differently than they feel.

They practice when they don’t feel like it. They work out when they don’t feel like it. They perform when they don’t feel like it. This puts them ahead to those who act according to their feelings.

Take baseball teams as an example. They’re in spring training preparing for a 162-game season that stretches over six months. Do you think that those players will feel like playing every day? No way. Think back to the last concert you saw. If performers are any good, they seem like they’re totally into it. That’s how they’re acting. They may feel differently.

You do this every day. You get up when you don’t feel like it. You go to work when you don’t feel like it. Sometimes you even pass up a snack that you feel like eating.

That means there’s another way besides Qnexa to address obesity. When you feel like eating, you can act differently. It’s not easy, but it’s possible.

Remember the difference between winners and others. Some people say, “It may be possible, but it’s too difficult.” Winners say, “It may be difficult, but it’s possible.”
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