Amazon.com Review
From one of the nation's leading weight-loss specialists, the diet and nutrition expert from the
Today show, and iVillage.com tools that
really work to lose weight and keep it off.
As a clinician, researcher, and media expert, Dr. Madelyn Fernstrom knows how you can lose weight. Her toolbox approach to weight loss is different from standard one-size-fits-all programs because you don't need to adapt to the plan; this plan adapts to you. It introduces you to the four types of tools that must work together for effective weight loss: eating, activity, behavior, and medical/biological. Do you overeat from stress or boredom? Do you like to exercise alone or with a group? The answers to these questions and others will unlock the unique weight-loss toolkit that's right for you. With some honest self-evaluation, you'll be able to explore and compare all of the options for weight loss in a single book. The right combination of tools, hand-picked by you, will support your weight loss and, later, weight stability over the long haul.
- Helps you develop your own unique path to weight loss, not a one-size-fits-all approach
- Addresses the four key areas for successful weight loss: eating, activity, behavior, and medical/biology
- Includes self-assessment quizzes and mini-tools to put into action right away
- Shows you how to keep going through plateaus and how to overcome obstacles
Fernstrom guides you through each step of your weight-loss journey to help you make and keep a personal connection and commitment to your goals as you work to achieve them your way.
Set Goals for the Real You Amazon-exclusive content from Madelyn Fernstrom, Ph.D., C.N.S., author of
The Real You Diet We all make fantastic promises to ourselves, but when real life intervenes and derails our good intentions, it can seriously demoralize us. Your strategy should be to set goals that will work in the real world, not the perfect one. Once you’ve agreed to that plan, your tools will fall right into place. Here are many of my favorites. Once you get started, you’ll be able to think of many others that work for you.
The Perfect World versus the Real World
Perfect world: Never eat after 7 p.m.
Real world: Allow one mini-meal at night (up to 200 calories).
Perfect world: Avoid all fast food.
Real world: Choose a kids’ meal.
Perfect world: Visit the gym every day.
Real world: Go to the gym at least three days a week.
Perfect world: Cook a low-calorie dinner every night.
Real world: Keep calorie-controlled frozen entrees on hand.
Perfect world: Eliminate a late-afternoon snack to save calories.
Real world: Plan your dinner hour and allow yourself 100 to 200 calories when dinner is two or three hours away.
Perfect world: Walk and or/jog four miles on the treadmill daily.
Real world: Wear a pedometer and monitor your steps during your daily living activity. Make up the daily difference on the treadmill (10,000 steps is about 4 miles).
Once you’ve mastered the best tools for personal goal setting, you’ll be able to incorporate your own good intentions into the Real You plan. Learn more about these and other goal-setting techniques in my book, The Real You Diet.
From the Inside Flap
Do you overeat when you feel bored or stressed out? Do you like to exercise alone or with a group? When it comes to diet and weight loss, no two people are alike. That's why one-size-fits-all programs that use the same approach for everyone are doomed to fail—and why The Real You Diet can help you succeed.
Created by Dr. Madelyn Fernstrom, one of the nation's leading weight-loss specialists and a regular diet and nutrition expert for the Today show and iVillage.com, The Real You Diet helps you develop a personalized program to lose weight and keep it off for good. First, Dr. Fernstrom guides you through a self-evaluation process to pinpoint the areas you need to focus on most and honestly assess the body, mind-set, and lifestyle factors that may be sabotaging your weight-loss efforts. She gives you a comprehensive set of tools to effect change in the four major areas that are crucial to losing weight: behavior, eating, activity, and medical/biological. The right combination of these tools, hand-picked by you for your personal toolkit, will support your weight loss and, later, weight stability for the long haul.
Each area tackles major stumbling blocks you may encounter and shows you how to overcome them. You'll make the most of:
Behavioral tools. Change habits, minimize mindless eating, and reward yourself without using food.
Eating/food tools. Avoid portion distortion, use reverse calorie counting, and become a positive snacker.
Activity tools. Understand your physical activity, temperament, start moving every day, and much more.
Medical/biological tools. Learn how to talk to your doctor, identify your biological barriers to weight loss, and make sense of supplements and medications.
Once you assemble your toolkit and put it to work, you can begin to see results in just eight weeks, and a twenty-one-day meal plan will help you get started. Along the way, you can add or take away tools as needed. Bored with your plan? Just replace some worn-out tools with new, more effective ones. Dr. Fernstrom guides you through each step of your journey to help you make, and keep, a personal connection and commitment to your goals as you work to achieve them—your way—and discover the beauty of the real you.
