Think thin to break old habits

HERE'S something different, a book designed to be used as a tool to help you lose weight. It doesn't just tell you what to eat and what not to eat but asks readers to use it to help themselves.

It's like an interactive personal look at what you eat and help you change the way you think about food.

It can be used for sustainable weight loss by individuals or groups, so you can use it on its own or in conjunction with other programmes such as Weight Watchers.

Fat Chance! The no-going-back Weight Loss Workbook, by Susan Maiave, is certainly different.

I really liked the sound and sensible advice in it.

For instance: "Forget about how fat people diet. Concentrate on how slim people eat."

Each day of the week has a theme - for example, establishing new habits and becoming more active.

Maiave says it is all about thinking differently about food. And she should know. Maiave recognised she needed to change her attitude in order to lose weight. She couldn't find a book to help her so decided to write one herself.

Here, Maiave explains her method.

Tell us how the book works?

Fat Chance! is a practical book which the reader works through one day at a time over 12 weeks. This has several advantages.

First, readers must slow down and draw out of themselves the answers to the questions - and some of the questions are pretty deep. In doing this they can identify the changes they must make in their thinking and behaviour at a personal level and what works best for them individually.

Second, it allows change to become embedded over the 12 weeks as readers keep a journal of their progress. Habits take time and practice to change.

Third, the workbook becomes the encourager. The workbook itself - not the author - is the narrator, the friend who walks beside readers on their daily journeys. Fat Chance! is also very comprehensive, with six daily themes.

They are: thinking like a slim person, working with your body, establishing new habits, dealing with emotional hunger, getting active and enjoying a healthy balanced diet.

Day seven is for debriefing and reflection, and a day when groups can come together.

This means each day is interesting and new but the full picture layers and builds week-on-week.

The key change also starts on day one and will continue for the rest of your life. I think that is the key difference here and is why this is not a diet.

Was it trial and error for you or did you just know what you had to do in order to lose weight?

I had a number of insights and help along the way as well as researching the best current knowledge.

My earliest insight was the realisation that if you ate the number of calories to maintain your slim weight - your goal weight - over time you would reach and maintain your slim weight. Second came the importance of self-talk and I make considerable use of cognitive behavioural therapy. Third was dealing with emotional hunger. It wasn't until the end that I was able to put all the pieces of the jigsaw puzzle together.

You say it is very important not to skip to the back of the book and start reading. Why?

Yes, to be most effective I do emphasise that the workbook journey must be undertaken one day at a time. Losing weight, changing your self-talk and changing your lifestyle is not easy. You don't just decide to do it then do it.

It takes time to identify the changes that have to come from within and discipline to slowly and deeply embed the changes.

The discipline is not in resisting food - we know that doesn't work - but in changing your thoughts and habits. And that is where Fat Chance walks with you as you journal your progress.

We all know how easy it is to lose motivation halfway through something. How did you stay focused and resist temptation?

It is important to keep your mind on your end goal and to remind yourself there is no going back.

But your end goal is not to lose weight. Your end goal is to live differently, and that never ends. Ask yourself: Do I want to live differently or do I want to be fat?

But I must add that there are ways to work with your body to reduce hunger and so reduce the desire to eat. One day each week focuses on working with your body to do this.

Dealing with emotional hunger helps, too.

How long is the programme?

The programme is 12 weeks but, as this is not a diet and the changes are permanent, in this sense it never ends.

There is no end point and no going back to old ways. I don't mean that you have to diet forever.

Instead, you reach a new equilibrium with a new lifestyle where you always think and eat like a slim person.

And tips for staying slim?

I don't distinguish between losing weight and staying slim.

If you think and eat like a slim person from day one you will lose weight and stay slim.

Did you lose the weight you wanted to and have you kept it off?

I want to say right now that this book is not about me or how I lost weight. But I do know what it is like to be overweight - and all the emotion and rationalisation.

It is about everything I learned during my process of change.

I did lose most of the weight I wanted to and have kept most of it off, although I'm probably 4kg heavier than I would like to be.

I have made the changes I recommend, although I admit that getting active is the hardest challenge for me, which probably accounts for the last4kg.

Fat Chance! The No-Going-Back Weight Loss Workbook is available online for $39.99, including free delivery in New Zealand.

Visit www.fatchance.co.nz