Description:
Diet? Don't diet? Eat low-fat? Count calories? Exercise? Just as there's no one reason for every fever or headache, there's no one reason that all women gain weight, and there's no one right way to lose it, says medical reporter Sue Ellin Browder, winner of five investigative medical-journalism awards. She read the extensive research and interviewed women who were successful at losing weight and keeping it off. In The Power, Browder's mission is to share what science has learned about weight control and show women how to match that information to their own individual cause of being overweight, resulting in an individualized weight-loss program. "The main reason women are still so stressed about our weight is that we're continually told how important it is for our health, yet we're never given all the information we need to take charge," she says. Weight-loss winners, Browder discovered, are confident and keep making an effort to find solutions to their problems, rather than being defeated and emotionally distraught by setbacks. They are scientists of their own bodies, experimenting with different methods until they find what works for them. Browder shows you how to figure out if your fat is healthy or unhealthy, and, if unhealthy, what to do about it. She identifies 11 different reasons women gain unhealthy fat, including daily hassles, stress, depression, having a lazy thyroid, anger, binge eating, polycystic ovary syndrome (a metabolic disorder), night-eating syndrome, and others. For each, she gives pages of strategies for taking charge. For example, if you're a binge eater, you need to "find your true triggers" (the pattern or chain of events that sends you into chaotic eating), then decide which links in the chain you can change, and how. You need to plan your food (meals and snacks) and stay mindful when you eat (no eating in bed or in front of the TV). She also teaches you how to replace negative thinking patterns with positive, confident ones. This is a highly recommended, valuable, practical, and thought-provoking book for all overweight people (not just women) who have tried to lose weight but have not succeeded. --Joan Price
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