SNEAK PEAK
Introduction


Someone, please wake me up. I am a UK-registered full-time dietitian and a mom of four adorable, energetic young children, and I never dreamed I would have the time to compile everything I want so desperately to share with you over these next pages. But here I am because of you, who have successfully triumphed to maintain a proper weight over these years and insisted (and inspired me) to share your words, your learnings, my learnings, and widely share it with those who struggle, those who want to feel free of the roller coaster of dieting and free of a demoralizing relationship with food.


If you are reading this book, you might still be uncertain about losing weight efficiently and keeping it off for good. Almost 70% of adult Americans are overweight (or pathologically obese), and the forecast is no better. Sadly, only 20% will succeed in losing weight and keeping it off. Almost anyone can tell you what to eat to lose weight. Prescribing a diet to lose weight for my clients is the simple part but getting them to stick to it is entirely different. You might easily know how to lose 8 pounds in 10 days, but just because the pounds are dropping off doesn’t mean your problem won’t be there anymore.
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​It’s the food thinking and your relationship with food that makes you fat. The same thinking and attitude toward food will bring your weight back eventually. Losing weight is not the problem; it is only the symptom—an indicator of being out of control with food. Being overweight (or obese) is a behavioral problem, an addiction, a tendency to eat more than necessary, with relapses and problems overcoming it. To lose weight and keep it off, you will have to change your thinking and behavior that got you fat in the first place. Thus, what you put in your mouth should always be secondary to what you put in your head.
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​Over the years as an RD, I have taught and seen the patterns of those clients who would end their awful cycle of dieting to become part of that 20% elite group that moves on. I don’t believe in dieting. For me, a diet is a short-term restriction in food consumption that will eventually end. I believe in three essential things to lose weight efficiently and keep it off: (1) Shifting thinking. If I don’t confront the reality of how I behave around certain foods, I will hardly stop my destructive cycle of dropping and regaining my weight. (Neurology plays a big role, which we will see later.) (2) I believe in adjusting eating habits to reach fit and healthy. (Understanding the physiology behind weight management is crucial.) (3) I strongly believe in losing weight to change habits and not in changing habits to then be able to lose weight. As we lose weight, patterns are modified thanks to the stimulus of looking good and feeling awesome (we will see behavioral psychology in later chapters too).
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I can guarantee that if you don’t change your food thinking and feelings about food, don’t stick to an eating plan that’s doable and becomes part of your lifestyle, and you don’t adopt new eating habits, then you will end up as one of the 80% who continuously fails.
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​As a sustainable weight loss expert, I have written this book for anyone who wants to live young, fit, and present at every moment of their lives. You have got in your hands a magnificent book that will bring you pure happiness


THE SCIENCE
