Have you ever wondered how some people manage to successfully lose weight and keep it off while others never do despite repeated attempts? I ponder these questions myself, often in fact. Well, this book seeks to find out why. The author, a health coach and motivational speaker who has clearly worked with hundreds of clients in the area of weight loss, wrote what she has seen as the 8 reasons people succeed in permanent weight loss.
His theory is simple. If, for example, we look at successful people to learn how to achieve greatness, wealthy people about how to manage money, and organized people about how to manage our time, why don’t we look to thin people about how to do it? have a healthy weight? I mean, these are the people who make healthy choices every day. Somehow, slim people make decisions that keep their weight in check and their lifestyle in line with their goals and values. The author’s premise, then, is that we need to dig into some of these behaviors to see how they might apply to others who are struggling. Clearly another diet book is not the answer, so this approach is a breath of fresh air.
The book is divided into 8 key areas or “secrets” that must be addressed to change thinking about diet, weight and happiness. Specifically, there are several key thought patterns and behaviors that need to be challenged. In what I think is probably one of the most important, Secret # 1 talks about personal identity and the importance of giving up the connection between your behaviors and who you are as a person. Once you can separate them, you can more easily begin to change those behaviors while remaining true to yourself. That understanding alone can help people move to the next level of accepting themselves and making positive changes.
Other important areas that she hits on include delving into her true motivations for the diet and lifestyle change, breaking the change down into manageable chunks, learning what her values are and aligning her life with those concepts, tuning in more to the signs of his own body. , learn from failure rather than succumb to it, and take full responsibility for your lifestyle and change.
The point of this book is not to tell you what to do (most of you already know WHAT to do!). In that sense, it is not another diet book. The goal is to help you actually DO IT. That is the hardest part. The mental component is so critical. We can talk about healthy nutrition throughout the day, but the key is how to implement that in a way that is sustainable and successful in reaching your goals. How do we stop thinking about our weight and instead focus on being healthy and happy? These tips will help you get there.
In general, I fully agree with all the points the author makes. These areas are very important in allowing someone the freedom and the ability to make lasting change. It takes the focus off food and calories and puts it on motivations, internal cues, and WHY you’re looking for a change in the first place. Simply realizing that you need to address these areas can be an amazing first step for someone struggling with yo-yo dieting and feelings of failure.
The only downside is that each section is quite short and leaves much more to be desired in the areas of education and learning how to apply the particular principle. For this reason, I highly recommend that anyone trying these steps seek the guidance of a dietitian or health advisor to walk this path with them to ensure that you are applying each of them correctly. Also, the author’s website has more materials and information that may also be helpful. Sometimes it can be difficult to discover your true motivations or why you want to change without objective advice to help you. If you’ve been weighing your happiness for years, it may take some time to reconnect your thinking to a new paradigm. But it is certainly possible with these tips and some guidance.
To bring my own personal experience as a perspective, I am fortunate to be one of those people who rarely obsess over my weight. While reading this book, I was able to identify the different areas that she mentions as tools that I use to control my own weight without even thinking about it. Like to feel good, that guides my food choices. I exercise to feel strong both mentally and physically, not to lose weight, and for motivation to keep me moving. I was able to recognize that many of my motivations and WHY to do what I do are for reasons other than weight. Also, I listen to my internal hunger and satiety signals and understand which foods work for my body and which do not. I rarely eat after being full and avoid foods that make me feel heavy or bloated. That doesn’t mean I don’t have days where I eat terribly, but instead of feeling like a failure, I wake up and go back to my healthy lifestyle. I don’t let little mishaps ruin everything. As someone who has been following these guidelines somewhat subconsciously, it was educational to see them written down on paper in an easy-to-digest format. This will help me, as a practitioner, to better educate others on how to follow these same principles.
So if you are about to buy another diet book, don’t do it. Read these 8 secrets to keep the weight lost forever. To a healthy holiday season and a successful, diet-free start to 2015!