Customer Reviews

Am I Hungry? What to Do When Diets Don't Work

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I never really had any serious weight issues. But at one point in my life, as a short 5'4" guy, I hit the scale at 155 lbs. and thought that I was slowly digging my own grave with a spoon and fork. So, I started to read books about diets and nutrition; but with the plethora of diet programs and the apparent high incidence of failed dieters, I just decided to go on my own and follow a very simple rule: when eating, just listen to your stomach. Basically the rule translated to: eat when you are hungry, stop when you think you have consumed enough to last you for the next scheduled meal, eat only to the point that the stomach "does not stretch" so that it gets used to only being filled with less, and enjoy every bite like it's the last. There were times I broke my rules, and learned valuable lessons in the process, but in less than 4 months I dropped to 115 lbs. Not only that, I was shocked to find out how little food our body actually needs if we just consume food based on our physiological needs. Lots of my acquaintances have always asked me how I did it and how I have been able to maintain my weight for years. And to my increasing annoyance, until I found "Am I Hungry?" at Amazon, I have to lengthily explain and "defend" my eating habits.

This book has really made everything easy for me. Now, every time people ask me about tips on weight loss or dieting, I point them to this book. Everything, and a lot more, is explained in "Am I Hungry?"

This book is a real treasure. It is light reading but heavily loaded with wisdom. No smoke and mirrors. No cheering. Just lots of plain common sense. Basically, it teaches about total eating awareness. From the book's lessons, one re-learns the basic principle that eating correctly is about feeding the body in the most mindful way. And the right way to eat is to be satisfied for the right reasons. One realizes that the most reliable cues of when to eat this and/or that kind of food are not found in the bookstore or the popular opinions of a bestselling diet guru. It is within each of us. Eating right is about having the clearest communication with our body. It is about enjoying food, and not about being constrained by some diet prescriptions. Sensible eating requires no willpower at all, just plain consciousness. Above all, this book teaches eating skills. And from the skills, the student reigns supreme again in making a decision of what to eat, when to eat, how much to eat, ... based on the right reasons why one has to eat in the first place. This book is highly recommended.

"Am I Hungry? What to do When Diets Don't Work" is the first book, system, group, idea, or anything regarding weight management that worked for me. I know it will continue to work long-term. In 3 ½ months of utilizing this book, I have lost 30 pounds and regained confidence and positive body image. It will work for anyone. Dr. May presents the reader with a plan that each person can do starting from page one, and it is truly a lifestyle change, not a diet. The book teaches you all you need to know and do to take charge of your health, feel good, and be happy with yourself.

To me the biggest secret is that diets are always something you enter with the idea in the back of your mind "when I get thin I won't have to do all this awful stuff like exercising and eating carrots instead of real food". Diets tell you at the beginning that you obviously are not doing the right thing now, you must change, and, by the way, here is the whole list of changes, demands for exercise, and food restrictions all at once. To be a success you must do all these things without fail. Of course, being human beings, we all fail on some step somewhere. Most of us feel bad, berate ourselves, and go back to our comfort foods and habits, resigned to stick with our comfortable "fat" clothes.

Dr. May's book helps you from the first pages on. First, you will learn about overeating - I know, you are already an expert at that right? But, with diets you are trying to change the outcome (fat) without learning about and changing the real cause of your overeating. We all know someone who is thin, fit, and able to eat anything and everything whenever they want. Dr. May helps you to understand how that person employs instinctive eating compared to the overeating we do that got us fat in the first place, or the restrictive eating we employ when we try to diet. You start by simply asking yourself "Am I Hungry?".

The good news is that "all foods fit"! So, no more restrictive eating! You will learn how to identify the triggers that lead you to overeating habits, and learn how to deal with the triggers in different ways. You will learn how to make small changes that will increase your activity level and your metabolism. You will learn a bit about nutrition, in fact a lot. Again, you can start on page one learning what you need and taking charge. There is a recurring, simple message of balance, variety, and moderation.

One of the biggest benefits is you will remind yourself that you are your own best friend and re-learn the mental patterns and self-talk you employ. Would you tell your best friend that they are an unworthy fat slob? Of course not! You encourage and help others to be their best. With this book you will be able to truthfully affirm to yourself "I am a fit, active person"! Try it, you will like it!

I spent over 35 years trying every possible diet plan out there. I cannot tell you how many total pounds I have lost and regained over the years. I knew what I needed to do for my health, but struggled for years in the how to do it. Am I Hungry? is the secret - from learning to identify overeating triggers, through learning to incorporate nutrition and exercise, to manage hunger and fullness - it all comes together and works. And, starting with just 5 minutes of exercise, over time it has become automatic that I want to exercise, something I have almost studiously avoided! I truly feel I have cured myself of life-long overeating. Do I still overeat sometimes? Yes. Do I still eat pizza when I want to? Yes. And I have lost 30 pounds. Each time I might overeat or "make a mistake" it is just a learning step and takes me that much closer to my goal of optimal health. This book helps you overcome the diet mentality.

I carry my copy of Am I Hungry? with me on work travels, read on planes, or just taking a few moments for myself. It is dog-eared and well-worn by now, because the simple messages contained are so valuable and they bear repeating and re-reading and sharing with others.

I hope you will purchase this book and open your own door to optimal health and lifelong weight management. You will love it and love the new you!

I would give this book 10 stars if I could! I had done every diet known to man, and I lost weight, but I kept putting it back on. I realized that "diets" don't work for me. I had completly given up any hope for attaining a lean figure. How could I live without Starbucks Mocha Chip ice cream in my life? Then I read "Am I Hungry" and my life is turned around! Michelle's easy step-by-step methods have taught me how to understand my hunger and eating cycles, and also how to give my body what it needs and wants. I have lost 16 pounds in a few short months and I get to eat ice cream, too! All I need to ask myself is "Am I Hungry?".

What a difference a book makes! I cannot BELIEVE how much this book spoke to my lifelong eating habits. I have always had a love/hate relationship with food, and for the first time, after well over 15 years, I feel hopeful that I can change this! I've always thought of food as something that was either "good" or "bad", hence leading me to battle with endless diets, binges, and other eating disorders. "Food as fuel" for your body, being neither good nor bad, is a concept that this book stresses, and it presents this in a way that finally doesn't seem so tough!

I have read so much on "diets" (entire books including Adkins NDR, South Beach, Zone, Eat Right for Your Blood/Body Type, Body for Life, Scientific Juice Fasting, and many others). I have tried all of them too, sometimes for a year or more each. The biggest problem I've always had is portion control! This book is right on- diets that encourage unlimted chomping on "good" foods and the total elimination of "bad foods" do not help eradicate the habit of overeating!

I've always known what to eat, and I generally do eat great foods. In fact, I particularly enjoy and buy lots of outright health nut foods like fresh organic veggies, fruits, sprouted grain breads, high fiber no sugar cereals, raw nuts and seeds, tofu, olive oil, etc.- but in copious amounts! With all of the research I've done, I possess an exorbitant amount of macro and even some micronutrient profiles of various foods right there in my head! However, like many Americans, I am extremely adverse to depravation. I would just watch thin people eat
chips and cakes and think "WHY can't I eat like that and LOOK like that?" Every time i would diet (I've been yo-yoing between since i was 11), I'd set myself up for failure, thinking I just couldn't enjoy food so much, period, or I would never look like the slender women I so envied. Well, I enjoy food a lot, so I would get mad, QUIT dieting and just go anarchic with the food again.

The guilt of possessing a high level of nutrition knowledge but not having the logical output of such knowledge- the healthy physique- has been enormous. I'm so glad the guilt over overeating when "you know better" is addressed in the book. I've never seen anyone address that. Every other book has been
so condescending, saying, "just do what you now know" and "if you overeat, it MUST be emotional". Well, it's not for me, and every single source I read tried to make me believe it was. I would search for what ailed me emotionally, and because I never found anything that connected with my eating I never solved the problem! My overeating is a combo of several things, all of which are addressed in this amazing book, specifically, childhood
patterns which became lifelong habits, boredom, eating too quickly, hopelessness associated with not being a "thin" person, etc.

I was stuck in the notion that snacking is bad for me, and I should always wait until "mealtime". I pictured "mealtime" in my head to equal some large plate full of various foods, with maybe even some seconds, which would be much more than what my body would need at one sitting. No wonder I'm overweight.

Now, even though it's been a week, and I am doing pretty well at only eating when I'm hungry, and I'm trying really hard to stop at the point of satisfaction without being full. Already I have succeeded because I used to eat to the point of discomfort at least once a day (after starving for hours of course)! I feel like I'm doing right by my body, and I hope it remains so easy for me!

THIS BOOK represents renewed hope. Recently I have been toying with going back on a starvation diet again, knowing full well how
detrimental it is but feeling like it would be the only way to drop a few of these pounds...and I'm NOT going to do that now!

Plus, the book is so affordable, DO NOT WAIT another day!

This may be the best "diet" book I've ever read. I was naturally thin until I hit my mid-fifties, when I started to put on weight for no apparent reason. This book identifies three types of eating: Overeating, Restrictive Eating, and Instinctive Eating (with Instinctive Eating being the elusive goal). I'm now a Restrictive Eater (meaning I only allow myself small amounts of certain foods at particular times). But after the initial explanation, the authors seem to let the problems of Restrictive Eaters fall by the wayside and focus the rest of the book on Overeaters. (Thus the three stars.)

This book is freeing. It honestly explains why diets don't work, and what to do about overeating. So if overeating is your main problem, by all means, buy this book!

The women who wrote "Am I Hungry?" also have a website. The two e-books offered are worth buying and downloading. They give information not included in the original book, and are helpful to anyone trying to lose weight, improve self-awareness, or deal with any sorts of problems concerning food.

Regardless of your food and/or diet issues, this book will give you insight and sound advice.

As a physician and psychiatrist, I have longed to offer my patients a weight management program which is comprehensive, psychologically-minded and grounded in real science. This book takes you where no diet can - into the emotions and behaviors which drive disordered eating in the first place. Dieting is an obsolete, low-tech approach to a complex problem, which is why it doesn't work! Am I Hungry? gives you the tools to change what goes on in your brain: the way you think about food. And that's powerful medicine.

This is an excellent book that deals with the reasons why people overeat, not just another diet. Most people do not overeat because they're hungry. This book actually teaches people what hunger feels like again. It also incorporates good nutrition and increased activity.

Do you want to stop thinking about food all the time? Do you want to stop beating yourself up about food? DO YOU WANT TO NEVER DIET AGAIN? Then, read this book! This book has changed the way I look at food forever. Dr. May's sensible approach changes the way you think and deal with food. Her teaching is about never dieting again, but eat mindfully. There are no "bad" foods, everything is allowed. It's about learning to listen to our bodies and go back to instinctual eating....like we all did when we were small children. Think about it. How many times have you watched a toddler eat three bites and then not want any more? All of us once had the ability to eat as our bodies told us to, stopping when we were satisfied....not full....satisfied. Somewhere our instinctual process gets short-circuited. Dr. May teaches that we're not heavy because we eat when we're hungry. We're heavy because we eat when our bodies are not hungry and then eat beyond what our bodies need. She teaches you to ask one question before you eat--Am I Hungry? She then gives real life solutions if you're not. She teaches you how to fill the other "needs" you may have which have nothing to do with hunger. Her non-judgmental, non-rigid approach was music to my ears! I've spent a lifetime asking what was wrong with me and why couldn't I take the weight off? Why did diets only make me fatter? The truth is, there is nothing wrong with me. It's what's wrong with the diet!

This book is a welcome change in a market stuffed with books about the latest miracle diet. If you're finally realizing that diets don't work, this book is for you. It helped me tune into my own needs and see that my body has the wisdom to control my weight. I am now able to assess how hungry I am, decide what and how much to eat, and eat it mindfully- and I don't feel deprived! It feels very natural, I no longer obsess about food, and the weight is coming off. What a relief! Weight control does not have to be about willpower and rigid adherence to rules!

Dr. May and her colleagues will disabuse you of trendy diets that may work for the moment but don't offer solutions once you return to "normal" eating. The book offers a novel concept in eating in America - only eat when you're actually hungry and only eat as much as it takes to satisfy your stomach - not your brain. In the land of "super-size me," this sensible approach to eating combines excellent information about nutrition and fitness with maintaining awareness about your hunger level before, during and after eating. You can end yo-yo dieting and not feel deprived with this concept.