100 Days of Weight Loss: The Secret to Being Successful on Any Diet Plan Paperback – August 1, 2007

(This may be lengthy, but it may be the turning point you need...)I firmly believe you have to be at "the right place" to achieve successful, long-term anything. That holds especially true for changing habits and addictions. Food is one of the most difficult "habits" to break because it is essential to exsistance.I am on the journey to permanently loose 160lbs. At one point I was 65# down, but ended up gaining 5# back (putting me in the 250# range). I gave up for a year, too frustrated, too willing to believe an MD who told me I would never be able to lose that amount of weight without becoming obsessive.I maintained at 250# for that year, but then suddenly gained an additional 10# last fall. I struggled for several months to lose it, but wasn't seeing the scale move.Not being able to loose those 10# terrified me. It meant my body had a new set point and it was very content to stay there.That was my turning point, being 47, wanting to look the way I feel and the way my husband makes me feel, wanting to move the way I know I can, and knowing that the older I got, the more difficult it would be to lose weight and minimize loose skin that comes from dropping 150+ pounds.I went to a second MD to inquire about phentermine. His first response was to ask if I'd ever considered stomach banding. I work in healthcare and have not known anyone who's gone through the procedure without complications and know the majority have regained most of what they've lost (my personal observations). Not something I wanted or could afford to try.My choice to utilize prescription medication was to lose some pounds so I could exercise without pain, and to have a fairly immediate way to be motivated while I worked on rewiring my relationship with food. My way of going cold turkey and having time to restructure my habits.I have been on phentermine for 3 weeks and have lost 10# without thinking too much. I am in process of committing to daily exercise and finding out how to eat like a "normal" person who can maintain a healthy body weight. I hope, too, I'm retraining my body to function normally instead of on the roller coaster of eating and drinking orgies I've ridden for over 25 years.Like a good fat girl, I have shelves of books on diet and weight, blah, blah, blah, Ginger... It's the old, "you have to kiss a lot of frogs to find your prince" thing. I am grateful Amazon has a secondary book market that I can purchase and then re-sell all those frogs.This book, 100 Days of Weight Loss, is my prince. It's helping me rework my thought process and relationship with food. I'm not one to buy into gimmicky, psychological stuff. I don't have Post-its on my bathroom mirror with, "You're good enough, you're smart enough, and gosh darn it, people like you."But what this book is selling sticks with me. It's made me take the step to being committed. It's played into my tenacious nature by making me say, "I'm going to do it anyway." I'm beginning to analyze my eating as to whether I'm fueling or filling. It's making me analyze the emotions I'm struggling with when I do just "fill". And a HUGE step for me, I'm throwing away food!!I've looked a long time for the resources that will compliment a turning point in my weight-loss life and lead me to the body I want. I feel strongly this book is the most valuable I've found. It's a watershed time for me and this book is motivating me to live my life differently. That's crucial because my life needs to be different then what I'm living as an obese woman.I don't know if 100 Days of Weight Loss can have the same effect for you. Perhaps it's your toad. But, I think it's worth buying to see if it's your prince.All I can say is, thanks Linda Spangle for making me a princess. I am heartfelt grateful.(And about that loose skin issue, you can read my 5/8/09 10:19 and 12:24 duel postings to:[...]to see what I'm doing and recommend to minimize your need for surgery. I know this is a major issue for people with an substantial amount of weight to lose.}My best to all of my sisters on the journey,missy soo

I highly recommend this book. I've been working through it for the last 7+ months. It has quick, 2-page "chapters" focusing on one tiny aspect of the weight management journey. There's a little section at the end of each day's chapter where it asks a few questions and/or proposes a few easy introspective exercises, and encourages journaling in a separate notebook.When I first got this book a few years ago, I would just read it, but never did the actual journaling work, and only made it through the first few weeks of the chapters, and didn't stick with reading it. This go-round, I'm journaling each chapter, and somehow writing the stuff down and not just thinking about it for 10 seconds, forces me to dig deeper, (which I have needed), and it is also keeping me on task. I typically read and journal my chapter after eating breakfast on days when I don't need to rush out the door, so, not everyday. I average 2-3 chapters a week, which is why after 7+ months I'm only on Day 74, but I'm fine with that, because I am taking my time to absorb each chapter rather than skimming and not retaining.Edited to add: regarding the "journaling" aspect, sometimes, I don't have much in the way of original thought to write about the actual topic, or much in the way of responses to the questions posed in the exercises, even if the topic itself is impactful and thought-provoking. In those cases (in every case, actually), my journaling consists of just taking notes on the chapter highlights in my notebook. The actual effort of writing down the key points which speak to me helps to reinforce them in my brain a little more permanently; (I think they call that "kinetic learning", or some such).Some chapters are "Duh!", (and typically only because it's a topic that I've already worked through previously, or is not something I personally struggle with), but most are fairly thought-provoking, and some are extra "meaty", so I end up spending a few days on those - first absorbing the topic and mulling it over for a day or so, and then actually journaling on the topic the next time I can get back to it. There are probably dozens of similarly-structured weight loss books out there, so this isn't necessarily the only option. It's just one of the things I'm currently doing in my weight management efforts that works for me and seems to fit my needs, and may not be for everyone, or the right time (it wasn't the right time for me 4 years ago when I first bought it).I've been enjoying this process so much that am now trying to figure out what will be my next "after breakfast" workbook. It may be another one of Linda's books, as long as they don't go over the same ground I've already covered. Or it may be something completely different....

I thought this was a very good book, with quick, easy, practical lessons. I found it motivating and insightful. Not every lesson resonated with me and I found some of the examples to be irritating and irrelevant, but I'm only one part of her audience and I'm sure those lessons and examples spoke to someone else. As far as the lessons go, you can do as much or as little as you want with them. Some days, I wrote a lot. Some days I wrote just a few sentences. If I missed a day, I just picked it up the next day. If you can't commit to that, I'm not sure if you're ready to commit to long-term weight loss or maintenance. The most important lessons, I think, are around managing long term weight loss. It really is a rest of your life challenge!