The Diet Fix: Why Diets Fail and How to Make Yours Work

I heard about this book on the My Favorite Murder podcast.I've only just started this book, but I've lost a couple of pounds already. It's getting easier, not harder as I go along. I kinda want to recommend it to everyone I know. You need a scale to weigh your food. But that's kinda fun. It's like chemistry class.

This book is filled with boring, tired advice that either makes no sense or directly contradicts the most recent advances in nutrition science. A lot of it sounds suspiciously like the diets (and diet diaries) I used when I was in my twenties (40 years ago). Forcing yourself to eat when you're not hungry?!?! That is beyond ridiculous. What a waste of time and money.

Were you ever at a doctor's appointment where they told you you were too heavy and needed to lose weight, then just got up and walked out? Can you imagine a doctor telling a patient they have cancer or heart disease, then just walking out of the exam room without giving them some sort of guidance or treatment? At 400 pounds, it happened to me many times, and from others I have talked to, it happens often. The Diet Fix has the information those doctors should be telling their patients. This book is some of the best money I have ever spent. I weighed 400 pounds for much of my adult life. After reading the book and starting to follow it, I lost nine pounds by the time I started Weight Watchers about a week later. It's been over a year and I am down over 130 pounds, and many, many clothes sizes (size 56 pants to presently size 40). By now, everyone knows that to lose weight you have to expend more calories than you take in. Easy in theory, but not so easy in practice! The Diet Fix tells you how to do it, then how to keep it off. It tells you how to do it in a realistic DOABLE fashion. It teaches you what people who were successful did, and how to do those things. It tells you how to lose weight in a healthy way. There is nothing Freedhoff recommends that your doctor would be concerned about. It makes healthy living a lifestyle you want to do so that it lasts a lifetime. It gives you realistic expectations of your weightloss so that you understand what is going on. It helps you to understand the changes you are making both physically and emotionally. Although I am also going to Weight Watchers, I credit this book mostly for my weight loss, as it has helped me to tweek their program. I never could have been as successful as I've been without this book. Most importantly, you are not going to starve while you are losing weight. You are not going to deprive yourself, but you will learn how to get control and stay in control. The amazing thing about weight loss is that what you have to push yourself to do at the start, like tracking everything (with smartphone apps, not difficult or time consuming), becomes things you want to do because you want the benefits it rewards you with. Presently, I'm at 259 lbs, continuing to lose a few more pounds, wearing sizes I wore in college, and enjoying life more than I have in a long time. Thanks Dr. Freedhoff!

I think the best part about this book is how it stresses that in order for any "diet" or new eating plan to be successful long-term, it has to be enjoyable, it has to be sustainable. Anyone can suffer for 6 months and lose a lot of weight, only to gain it all back when the program they chose just isn't sustainable anymore. Willpower runs out when suffering is involved, that's just a fact of life. The same goes for exercise. He said you must *enjoy* the exercise that you choose and be able to do it consistently over the years.That said, I'm not into the calorie-counting thing. For me, *that's* not sustainable and that's where this book loses a star. Maybe for a short while in order to get a clear-eyed picture of how many calories you're eating everyday, but a lifetime of calculating and recording calories??? I'd rather use the portion-control method of using your fists to determine how much you should be eating at a meal (one fist-sized portion of veggies and one half-and-half fist-sized portion of protein and carbs). The calorie-counting is a deal breaker for me in terms of following his methods to the letter.There are many good tidbits throughout the book, though, that make it worth reading and/or skimming through. For example, he believes that you're setting yourself up for failure if you allow yourself to get too hungry at any point during the day, so you should plan snacks into your day so that you don't become so ravenous that you end up inhaling your daily calories all in one sitting. He also advocates for eating before an event, again, so that you don't overindulge in rich party food. He believes that people should be cooking and eating most of their meals at home to avoid highly caloric and overly-seasoned (with fat and sugar) restaurant food.He also does a good job spelling out the variety of ways in which dieting can be traumatic to people. Trauma does not equal long-term results, quite the opposite. He's very much oriented towards "slow and steady wins the race." Nothing that he recommends is a quick fix. His plan for lifelong weight loss requires time, planning, and mindfulness (as it should). He's more interested in how people keep the weight off than in how they lose the weight, and for good reason. Keeping it off is oftentimes harder than losing it, and most diet books don't talk about that.

It's hard for me to express how valuable this book is. It is not a diet, it's an approach to dieting and changing your lifestyle that is real. If you have ever dieted and gained back the weight this book is for you. If you diet, and have a hard time sticking to it, this book is for you. If you want lasting change that will not only help you lose weight and keep it off, but you will actually be happy doing it? This book is for you. I am a huge fan, and as a retired publicist, I'm rarely a 'huge' fan of anything. Dr. Yoni Freedhoff's book is worth more than the price of the book and your time reading it. It's seriously important to your efforts.

This book is just phenomenal. It all makes so much sense. I have been able to maintain a 50lbs+ loss (via calorie counting and MyFitnessPal) and decided to read this book based on it being so popular with MFP users. The answer lies within the book's most simple catchphrase: Live the healthiest life you can enjoy. If you have had trouble losing weight in the past, read this book and you will be well on your way.

Very down to earth, and a good way to look at weight loss.

This book is well worth a read. The concept of eating as little as you can to be satisfied and happy is very different from eating as little as possible. When satisfied and happy it must be much easier to continue to manage weight loss on a continuing basis. As a long time dieter who is at her highest weight ever I can attest that all diets work but that so far no diet has been possible to stay on. Here's hoping that a new perspective will bring different results!

Everyone should read this book. As a serial dieter since I was 14, I have a lot of trauma around food. This book has helped me re-center. I've joined a gym after a year's hiatus and I just bought some protein powder to get more protein in my diet. I want to share this book with all my friends because its message is so important.

A very practical approach to changing your lifestyle and living healthier. This is NOT another diet but a commentary and guidebook on what works. The author has studied weight-loss programs, gleaned the best ideas and discarded practices that actually cause peole to evenually fail. Following the regimin (where yes, I can still eat things I love, just in moderation), I have not been the least bit hungry in over six weeks, have lost 17 pounds so far, and really believe that my lifestyle is HAPPILY changing for the better.

What a wonderful book, used and in perfect shape. I love the contents, also, a very good read, if you are having to lose some weight, very insightful, and lots of great ideas to help, also!!