Fit from Within: 101 Simple Secrets to Change Your Body and Your Life--Starting Today and Lasting Forever [Hardcover]

Victoria Moran (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: March 28, 2002

A bestselling self-help author's proven prescription for losing weight and keeping it off with no pills, no gadgets, no gimmicks, and no dieting

Each year, Americans invest more time, more energy, and more money--$33 billion! --trying to lose weight. Yet, the rates of obesity and related illnesses, such as diabetes and heart disease, continue to climb at an alarming pace. Statistically, heroin addicts have better odds of kicking their habit than food junkies do of kicking theirs. After decades of crash dieting and self-recrimination, Victoria Moran chanced upon a very basic truth about weight loss that allowed her to lose 60 pounds and keep it off for 17 years and counting. In Fit from Within, she shares with you what she learned and outlines a complete mind-body approach to attaining and maintaining your ideal weight.

Writing with the sensitivity of one who's been there, she helps you to understand and confront the emotional and spiritual roots of your unhealthy relationship with food and to make the personal transformation from a prisoner of food to being free to live a happier, healthier, more fulfilling life.

"This is the book everyone plagued with extra pounds has been waiting for. Fresh, clear, and compassionate, and--this is the clincher--it works." --Richard Carlson, author of Don't Sweat the Small Stuff

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

Victoria Moran wasn't always as slim and serene as she appears now. For 33 years, she "lunged" at food, bingeing and dieting, rarely losing weight for more than a few weeks at a time. Then 18 years ago, she adopted the principles of self-acceptance, self-nurturing, and spirituality she describes in this book--and lost 60 pounds for good. She learned to live without obsessing about either weight or food, relying on "grace and good sense."

Moran's 101 "simple secrets"--each two to three pages long--are sometimes obvious, sometimes provocative, sometimes profound. Some, like "accept yourself today," "walk more," and "get a support system" seem self-evident, but Moran digs into the psychological components that might be holding you back. A few seem unusual, such as "in the beginning, eat out" (reason: when you eat in a restaurant, it's clear when the meal is over) and "visit an art museum" (to recognize the beauty of voluptuous women).

Moran's style is warm, welcoming, and strong, like a good friend who has found the answers you seek and won't let you off the hook. Highly recommended for emotional eaters who are ready to change the behavior and attitudes that are stopping them from reaching their goals. --Joan Price

Review

I read a chapter a day. I love the one titled "Get Up, Get Dressed, Get Going." -- Michael Moore, author of --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 224 pages
• Publisher: McGraw-Hill; 1 edition (March 28, 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 007138426X
• ISBN-13: 978-0071384261
• Product Dimensions: 7.3 x 5.3 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (37 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #957,312 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

I have eleven books to my credit. The biggest seller is Creating a Charmed Life (it's not new, but people still love it), and my current offering is Main Street Vegan, which is the present focus of my life and work. I'm doing a great deal of speaking on the vegan/health/animal rights/green circuit; co-hosting the Main Street Vegan radio show/podcast on Unity.FM (http://www.unity.fm/programs/mainstreetvegan); and serving as director of Main Street Vegan Academy, a 5-day intensive to train vegan lifestyle coaches (see http://www.mainstreetvegan.net/academy).

I live with my husband, William Melton, in a green condo in NYC. My daughter, Adair (who helped with the writing of Main Street Vegan), and her husband live nearby (they have a yard and garden: in Manhattan! -- incredible). When I'm not writing, speaking, teaching, or working with my own vegan lifestyle coaching clients, I enjoy indie cinema (especially documentaries), reading (nonfiction mostly -- I'm currently fascinated by alternative healthcare and I like reading about raw foods, fitness, and aging well), working out, conversations with friends, vegan fashion and beauty, feng shui, and experiencing the movable feast that is life in New York City. You can read more about what I'm up to -- and subscribe to my newsletter, The Main Street Minute -- at http://www.mainstreetvegan.net.

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

57 of 57 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Change your body FOREVER October 6, 2002

By W. Rashed

Format:Hardcover

Fit from within is a must read for everyone trying to lose weight and keep it off. It is not a regular diet book; actually it is far from a diet book, as it tells you not to diet but to eat as a healthy person. There are no menus, recipes or success stories but there is plenty of good advice that will provide you with everything you need to know to change your body and your life. To let go of the diet mentality and start eating as a healthy person is an important message in this book. You do this by eating three meals a day while sitting down, eating good delicious food that you enjoy, in portions that will satisfy your hunger, and making water your beverage of choice. But remember healthy people do not stuff themselves with salty greasy fast food! The author guides you to realizing your spiritual self and surrendering your life to God to be able to come to grips with your life and your eating habits. Don't worry, no breaching here, but do give thanks before and after meals! Another focus of the book is on living a good quality life all the way and not postponing your life till you reach your target weight. Stay centered in today, wear clothes that you like in your current size, groom yourself like a racehorse, develop your mind and talents, laugh and play and get plenty of sleep. As for exercise, walk more, join a friendly gym or discover yoga, don't do too much too soon or it will backfire! Above all be patient, this has to be for the long haul. As the author puts it " If you want only a different body, and not a different way of life, you can't expect the body changes to last, because there will be nothing to sustain them. In other words, you can't just lose weight and go to business as usual without becoming overweight as usual. This has to be for the long haul."
Other recommended books for more details on eating and staying healthy for life are:
1. Eating well for optimum health by Dr. Andrew Weil
2. Fight Fat after Forty by Pamela Peeke
3. Volumetrics by Barbara Rolls and Robert Barnett

37 of 37 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars One book may not be enough for some July 8, 2003

By kyara

Format:Hardcover

Reading this book reminded me of all the titbits of wisdom I have gleaned from many books over the years regarding overcoming eating problems and getting back to "normal" eating and "normal" weight. Those that come to mind include: Twelve Steps for Overeaters (L. Elisabeth), The Seven Secrets of Slim People (Vikki Hanson, Shawn Goodman), Fat is a Feminist Issue (Susie Orbach), Feeding the Hungry Heart (Geneen Roth), The Goddess Diet (Larrian Gillespie), Intuitive Eating (Evelyne Tribole, Elyse Rech) etc. Reading the other reviews, I can see there seem to be two main views - either 1) this book is great or 2) this book lacks something. As someone with long-term eating problems (over 25-years' worth!), my advice to prospective readers/purchasers is this. If you do not have a big issue with eating and/or being overweight, this may be the perfect book for you to get back on track. But if you have had long-term eating problems, one book may not necessarily be enough, it may be better to read this as well as a selection of books on related topics and work slowly step by step in your own time and in your own way towards your goal. Becoming fit from within is a very personal issue.

41 of 42 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars My Best Friend April 9, 2002

By eatplants

Format:Hardcover|Amazon Verified Purchase

This book has become my best friend. It supports and guides me in my decisions, it cheers me in my smallest and most grand accomplishments, it encourages me to be kind to myself. It offers me practical advice that really works. I love this book as I would a dear friend, and I recommend it sincerely to anyone who is not 100% accepting of the way she feels, looks, or thinks she is perceived in the world.

I recommend it also as an alternative to protein diets, low-carb diets, special supplements, and other diet gimmicks. This is about real life and real food and living in the real world. It is really a helpful book.