Have you ever wondered how some people successfully manage to lose weight and maintain it while others never succeed despite repeated attempts? I find myself pondering these questions, quite often in fact. Well why does this book want to reveal. The author, a health coach and motivational speaker who has apparently worked with hundreds of clients in the field of weight loss, has written what he sees as 8 reasons why people succeed at lasting weight loss.
Its principle is simple. If, for example, we look to successful people to learn how to achieve greatness, and to rich people how to manage money, and organized people to learn how to manage their time, then we look to skinny people. How not to look at a healthy weight? I mean, these people are making healthy choices day in and day out. Somehow thin people make choices that keep their weight under control 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 other people 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 in order to change the way we think about food, weight, and happiness. Specifically, there are a number of dominant thought patterns and behaviors that need to be challenged. In what I think is probably one of the most important, Secret #1 talks about the importance of relinquishing self-identity and the connection between your behavior and who you are as a person. Once you can separate them, you can more easily start changing those behaviors while staying true to yourself. This realization can only help people take themselves to the next level of acceptance and positive change.
Other important areas include drilling down on your true motivations for diet and lifestyle change, breaking down change into manageable pieces, learning what your values are and aligning your life with those concepts, working with your body, and your body. Learning to be more in tune with the cues, rather than succumbing to failure, and taking full responsibility for your lifestyle and change.
The focus of this book isn’t to tell you what to do (most of you already know what to do!) In the sense that this isn’t just another diet book. The goal is to help you do exactly this. That’s the hardest part. The mental component is so important. We can talk about healthy nutrition all day long but the key is how to implement it in a way that is sustainable and successful enough to meet your goals. How about we stop obsessing about our weight and instead focus on being healthy and happy? These tips will get you there.
Overall, I completely agree with all the points made by the author. These areas are very important in providing one with the freedom and ability to make lasting changes. It takes the focus off food and calories and puts it on motivations, internal cues and why you’re seeking change in the first place. For someone struggling with yo-yo dieting and feelings of failure, simply realizing that you need to address these areas can be a wonderful first step.
One drawback is that each section is relatively short and leaves much to be desired in terms of instruction and learning how to apply the particular theory. For this reason I would highly encourage anyone attempting to follow these steps to seek the guidance of a dietitian or health coach to ensure that you are implementing each one correctly. Additionally, the author’s website has more material and information that may also be helpful. Sometimes it can be difficult to figure out your true motivations or why you want change without some objective advice to help. If you’ve based your happiness off the scale for years, it may take some time to re-wire your thinking to a new paradigm. But it’s certainly possible with these tips and some guidance.
To bring my personal experience as perspective, I’m fortunate to be one of those people who rarely thinks about my weight. As I was reading this book, I was able to pinpoint different areas that I use as tools to manage my own weight without even thinking about it. I eat to feel good, and so that guides my food choices. I exercise to feel stronger mentally and physically, not to lose weight, and because the motivation is what keeps me going. I was able to recognize why many of my motivations and the things I do were for reasons other than weight. Plus I listen to my internal signals of hunger and fullness and understand which foods work for my body and which don’t. I rarely eat after I’m full and I avoid foods that make me feel weighed down or bloated. That’s not to say I don’t have days where I eat too much, but instead of feeling like a failure, I pick myself up and get back to my healthy lifestyle. I don’t let small failures ruin everything. As someone who has been following these guidelines somewhat subconsciously, it was educational to see this written down on paper in an easy to digest format. This will help me as a practitioner to better educate others to follow these same principles.
So, if you’re going to buy another diet book, please don’t. Read these 8 secrets to keep the weight off forever. Here’s to a healthy holiday season and a successful, diet-free start to 2015!
Source by Danielle VenHuizen
