4 Good Books To Guide You To a Healthier Weight

These books don’t tell you to eat something different. They teach you to train the way you think.

I always had an issue with body image. It’s something I struggled with my whole life. I had come to a place where I was just so sick and tired of dieting. I started Weight Watchers at age 9.  I did South Beach, I did Atkins, I did everything, I did a shake diet in 12th grade and lost 30 pounds. I had a long and torturous history with dieting. It came to a point, I think I was turning 30, that I said I had it. I don’t want to live this kind of life anymore. I want to start loving my body, learn to eat in a normal way, and not keep fighting it.

Though I never became as thin that I wanted to become, after implementing changes found in all these different diet books, I’ve come to a place where I’m perfectly ok to stop eating and not feel like I have to finish my plate.

1. Seven Secrets of Thin People

This is the book that started me off. When I began researching, it came up. I loved it!  It really opened my eyes to this way of thinking. It’s the easiest book to read. Each chapter is just a few pages, and it gives you these seven little secrets. I feel like that was the beginning and origin of all the other books that later came out on the topic of intuitive and mindful eating. All the other diet books on this concept came after this one. The book teaches you to recognize your body’s cues of eating only when you’re hungry, only eat what you love, sit when you eat, chew slowly, and to stop eating when you’re full.

2. The Beck Diet Solution: Train Your Brain to Think Like a Thin Person

This is real cognitive behavioral therapy and you need to be able to focus on it. You really need to take a chunk off your schedule and put your mind to it if you want to implement this. Sometimes, our minds think, “I had such a hard day, I deserve that muffin.” Why do you think you deserve that muffin? Sit down. Journal about it. The book retrains our minds to think a different way. One of the therapists in town has a support group that’s based on this diet. I know a few people who are very successful, and this is the way they’ve changed their way of thinking about eating.

Let’s here from one of them below:

“I’ve pretty much tried every diet out there. I might have been successful at some for few weeks or so, but nothing has ever been long lasting. A friend of mine kept suggesting I buy this book about how to think like a thin person. I thought, “Oh ya…Another one of those books.” A few weeks later, we were together and she pretty much took my phone, opened the Amazon app, and just clicked “Buy Now.” When it showed up at my door two days later, I had no choice but to start reading and I have to say it is so brilliant. The Beck Diet Solution is a psychological approach to losing weight. Judith Beck is the daughter of the original creator of Cognitive Behavior Therapy also known as CBT. This book is a workbook that walks you through a 6 week program of CBT to help you change lifelong habits for good. It’s like having a personal diet therapist and it’s so easy to follow. I don’t know if just by reading the book the magic will happen. But I do know that  if I follow the program I definitely will get there.” -Mrs. W.

3. Four Day Win: Achieve Thinner Peace

I love this one! It’s very funny and easy to get started right away. The author is hysterical with a dry sense of humor, and she’s very down to earth. She’s really good in psychology so she gets that whole part of it. A lot of diet books are about major life changes, and in this, you’re able to implement little changes for four days at a time, and that can make a difference. She’s open and honest about body image so you can learn to love your body. Some things she’ll recommend is to stay away from things that make you want more. She also calls attention to different things people don’t realize they’re doing to themselves. She also helps you work from a place of positivity so you can love yourself while bringing about change.

4. Slim by Design

I didn’t read this one, so let’s hear from someone who did:

“This one is a fun book to read. It talks about all the little things that we might not realize can cause us to eat less. The author, a food psychologist, was hired by chains of all-you-can-eat buffets to figure out how to get people to take less food. For example, if you walk around the whole buffet and see everything that’s there before you choose, you’ll take less. You’ll also take less if the plate is smaller. It’s a fun, enjoyable read, there are different tips that you can incorporate into your life.” -Mrs. S.