[.ca] The Secrets of Skinny Chicks (ISBN 007146901X)

A Skinny State of Mind....,:
Although over 50 diet books grace my bookshelves, this truly is one of the best. Skinny Chicks profiles a variety of women and allows the reader a glimpse inside their lives to view "the cost" of being slim. And make NO MISTAKE...to get (and remain) slim usually takes a LOT of effort and work. Yes, there are a very very few women out there who seem to be "naturally" slim, but the vast majority of women who stay slim have learned approximately how many calories they can eat and still stay slim and how much they must exercise. I don't believe that this book sets the expectation that all women need to be a size 2-8. Our society (unfortunately) has already done that. However, if you feel that you need to be this size, this is a great book. It should be noted however, that the author in no way advocates that everyone needs to be (or should be) that small. That said, this book was such a breakthrough for me. Even though the author specifically says that you do not have to be "on a diet" for the rest of your life, I FINALLY got the message that - "Yes. I DO need to be on a diet for the rest of my life. And so does ANYONE who has lost weight...IF they want to remain at that weight. THAT "DIET" MAY NOW INCLUDE 1800 CALORIES A DAY, RATHER THAN 1200 - BUT NEVER ARE YOU GOING TO JUST MINDLESSLY BE ABLE TO EAT ANYTHING YOU WANT WITHOUT HAVING SOME IDEA OF HOW MANY CALORIES YOU ARE CONSUMING." And that "diet" may also include being able to "cheat" or having an off day or two. But the absolute truth is that if you want to remain at the slim weight that you have worked so hard to get to....you can't cheat for weeks at a time or continually eat foods you shouldn't. You have to STILL diet....except you CAN have more calories, but you are STILL going to have to exercise and do the things that helped you reach your goal. This sounds so utterly SIMPLISTIC, but I can't be the only one who didn't "get it" before - because something like 90+% of people who lose weight, gain it back! I am about 1/3 of the way with my weight loss and I KNOW that I will keep it off THIS time. (I just wish that I had read this book the LAST time that I lost weight!) Definitely a book worth reading and quite different from the usual array of diet books!