It might not be willpower holding you back from cutting the fat you so desperately want to lose. It may be your environment. Check out these eight big fat traps. Could they be what ails you?

Food, Food, Everywhere. Everywhere you turn, there's a food counter. Malls, gas stations, Target. My new Super Wal-Mart even has its own built-in McDonald's.

Bulk Buying. When we buy food in bulk, we eat twice as much in the first eight days. Only when quantities shrink to normal sizes do we slow our consumption.

Salting and Sweetening. Salt is often added to sweet products, and sugar to salty products. Science says this makes it harder to stop eating.

Cozy Restaurants. People who linger in a relaxed, dimly-lit restaurant often order drinks and desserts they wouldn't order in a brighter setting.

Free Refills. These may appear to a be a good deal, but the cost goes right to your thighs. Same goes for that free dessert that comes with your meal.

Variety Overload. The more variety, the more we eat. People ate 43% more candy in one study when they had lots of color choices.

Weekends. Weekends often involve more food and can throw off entire weeks of healthy eating.

Office Supplies. If you keep chocolates on your desk at work, you'll eat them. There's also doughnuts from the staff meeting, cake from your co-worker's birthday party, and candy in the vending machine.

How can we survive with these eight forces working against us. Not willpower, says Woman's Day, but skillpower. We need to make choices that make it easier to pass on these temptations. We can eat a healthy snack or meal before heading to the mall, split our bulk foods into smaller packages, keep variety to a minimum, and ditch the desk-top candy. All in a day's work, right? Just make sure it's the work of your every day and you won't be caught in the fat trap.