If I'm So Smart, Why Can't I Lose Weight?: Tools to Get it Done (Paperback)

by Brooke Castillo (Author) "Eating. Yes, eating has been the hardest part of every attempt to lose weight..." (more)
Key Phrases: fog eating, hunger scale, storm eating, Possible Thought, Eating Tool (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Product Description
Since applying the tools I learned in Brooke's program to my everyday life, I have already released 35 pounds of fat from my body. I no longer struggle with food and exercising has become a joy that I look forward to doing every day. Shopping in the stores I once used to walk by fills me with great delight, because I can finally wear the kinds of cute clothes that better fit my personality. Once I was able to create a new mind set that I am worth taking great care of myself, I experienced more happiness than I have ever known. For me, freedom from the weight struggle has been worth taking the risk to try again just one more time.' Suyin N. Client San Mateo, CA

About the Author
Innovative and inspiring, Brooke Castillo has been studying weight loss for over fifteen years. Always interested in helping people and in understanding what makes them tick, she studied psychology at Santa Clara University. Her own struggles and frustration with losing seventy-five pounds guided her into putting together her unique weight-loss program, which quickly showed astonishing results. A certified North Star Coach, trained by Dr. Martha Beck and her associates, Brooke has a thriving coaching practice where she works one-on-one with clients. Brooke Castillo also offers seminars and online weight loss packages. Brooke, her husband and her two children live in Folsom, California.

Product Details

• Paperback: 248 pages
• Publisher: BookSurge Publishing (April 27, 2006)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1419618474
• ISBN-13: 978-1419618475
• Product Dimensions: 7.9 x 5.3 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 11.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars See all reviews (34 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #8,732 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

45 of 46 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great Book, March 13, 2007

By	L. Burnett (italy) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This is a great book. I have referred friends to it. The first day I was only able to read 30 pages and learned A LOT just in those 30 pages. Simple ideas, but put into action, my friend and I each lost 4 lbs the first week. And we've walked for an hour every day for a year and a half, gone to the gym. But it was a simple change of eating fuel food when you are hungry.I am excited to continue eating like this to reach my goal weight. Love the book!

25 of 25 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars More than just a weight-loss book!, August 17, 2007

By	Aquaheather (Jacksonville, FL) - See all my reviews

There are SO many books on this subject to choose from. If I had to choose just one, this would be it. It comes from a very loving place and offers some very real advice about why you are overweight and some real suggestions about what you can do about it. It goes deep at times, but once you realize that the outside is just a symptom, you can start focusing on what really matters and make changes that will last. The author suggests that you eat when you are hungry and stop when you're full, from -2 to 2 on a scale from -10 to 10 (so about every 2 or 3 hours). She encourages you to really pay attention to your body because it will let you know what it wants and needs. She asks you to commit to exercising at least 3 times a week for 5 minutes, and not eating or doing anything else to avoid your feelings. She wants her clients and readers to work with their bodies and no longer against them. It sounds simple, and it is, it's just that the whole subject has gotten so complicated we feel that there needs to be an elaborate answer. Here are a few of my favorite quotes from the book:
~"We have been trained not to waste food in the garbage, but to waste it on our bodies. Either way it is wasted. In one way, we just carry the waste with us."
~"Fat is merely tissue, stored potential energy."
****~If you believe that you will always be overweight, it will be very difficult to lose weight permanently. Beliefs and reality like to be reflective of each other. When reality starts to contradict a belief, a tension is created in our life and this tension makes us uncomfortable...At this point, we have two choices to reduce the tension: change the belief system or change the reality...to sabotage our reality and gain our weight back in order to be back in line with what we believe...It's not until we get hold of the belief and change it that we find any permanent weight-loss results."****
This would explain why most "diets" fail, because they are just treating the symptom and not the underlying problem.
This book is amazing and it was a total surprise, since I stumbled on it "accidentally." It works from the inside out, which is the best way to go about a permanent change. There are a lot of great exercises and suggestions. It was definitely worth my time and money, and I've already made a lot of the changes suggested in this book, and I feel more in control of my life and healthier already. A paradigm shift and a Fabulous book! =)

28 of 29 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Intelligent and motivating, April 3, 2007

By	Nora L. Ishibashi (Chicago, IL USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

Among the many diet and weight loss books published each year, this is one that provides a realistic and effective program for changing your thinking about eating and dieting. Some of the book is about feelings, some of the book is about goal setting, some of the book is about self management and some of the book is about eating itself. While there are questions to write about, it is not just a book of self awareness exercises. The book explains a viewpoint that frees you from old habits of thinking related to food as well as your feelings about yourself. The process described helps you examine the deeper reasons it is hard to regulate yourself in any area of your life.