Jenny's Book Bag

This book is a solid 4 stars based on content alone since I haven’t completed the weight loss plan yet. What I love most about this book is that Dr. Phil McGraw focuses a lot on correcting mind and behavior issues that prevent people from reaching their weight loss goals in addition to social, environmental and nutritional issues. This is where most diet books fail because they don’t address all areas that cause us to gain weight and finally, somebody got it right.

He also addresses all of the triggers that cause me to cheat on my weight loss plan (there are seven) and all of the different types of hunger that I experience — physical, mind (phantom), habit and trigger hunger. He has techniques to deal with all of these issues.

He’s already corrected a few mistakes I’ve made in the past. One mistake is regarding breaking bad habits. He says you don’t just break a bad habit. You have to replace one behavior with a new one that’s healthy and incompatible with the old habit. I spent so much time in the past just trying to break a bad habit without replacing it and then wondering why I was struggling. Two, he talks a lot about controlling your thoughts. This is a big issue if you're an emotional eater like me.

My weight loss issue is body composition, not necessarily weight, but Dr. Phil McGraw completely understands me. He even says that body composition is critical.

There are three phases of the diet with phases one and two lasting five days each and phase three lasting twenty days. The food selection for phase one is limited to 20 foods, but fortunately it’s only for five days. The purpose is to reset your taste buds and to learn to appreciate the natural taste of foods since we’re all so addicted to the taste of fat, salt and sugar.

If you enjoy learning about the geeky science behind weight loss, you’ll love this book. He gets into detail about the types of thermogenesis.

I’m a firm believer in using visualization to achieve my goals and Dr. Phil McGraw prescribes to the same belief.

He addresses food addiction and giving in to food cues if you suffer from this as I do.

There are short writing assignments in this book along with taking photos of yourself and taking measurements. You’ll be looking at all areas of your life to achieve your weight loss goals, not just what you eat, how much and what exercises you do.

Speaking of exercise, I love his high intensity resistance training workout. He wants you to complete it in 30 – 45 minutes. I followed it up with 20 minutes of high intensity interval training and afterwards, I felt amazing.

I highly recommend this book to anyone who wants to lose weight, get in better shape and correct any behavioral issues that have held you back in the past. Give this book a try. It’s worth reading.