What’s Keeping You From Having the Body You Want?

• Do you have a slow metabolism?

• Is willpower missing from your genes?

• Have you decided that you’re destined to be overweight?

• Or is your school cafeteria destined to serve the same fattening foods until you graduate?

• Have you tried a diet or two (or five) and felt disappointed?

• Have you tried a diet or two that made you disappointed in yourself?

• Is it too hard give up McDonald’s Big Mac and large fries?

• Or is it too hard to imagine you could ever actually be in shape?

No matter what the reason, something—maybe everything—is keeping you from that body you wish you had. And right now you’re probably wondering, can this book help? Can anything?

I’m here to tell you that at this very moment, you hold the key to getting your wish. You are completely capable of putting that extra weight—whether it’s five pounds or fifty—behind you for good, sooner than you think. And this book is going to give you everything you need.

Before you ask if I’m going to promise you a fancy car and a mansion in Hollywood, too, let me explain!

If you’ve tried dieting, you know that lots of diets help you lose weight: the problem is that you always end up gaining it back. Most diets give you a list of rules designed by someone who doesn’t know you. Almost all diets make you feel deprived of the things you like—until you give in to temptation and end up thinking, “If only I had enough willpower….” Well, the fact is that trying to find an extra-amazing stash of willpower is a lot like trying to land a date with Orlando Bloom or Keira Knightley for the senior prom: it’s probably not going to happen. Not for me, you, or anyone else.

To get the body you want, you don’t have to deprive yourself of the foods you love, or go on a quick-fix diet you can’t stick to, or dig up a dose of monster-size willpower. All you have to do is change the way you think about eating. Once you do that, changing the way you eat will become automatic.

That’s where this book comes in. Lightening up is not about willpower, or rules, or sacrifices. It’s not about passing trends or empty promises. It’s about a diet that’s easy enough and satisfying enough to stick with forever because you’re making the compromises you choose. And it works for real, and for good.

Empower, Not Willpower

Most people try to use willpower to make changes that really require empowerment. What do I mean by that? Empowerment means giving yourself the power to lose weight, and you can do that by changing your behavior.We’re not talking huge, overwhelming changes. Just small ones you can live with. You’re about to learn how.

Most diets leave out one crucial ingredient: you. Lighten Up works because it’s all about you.

SO HOW DO I KNOW ALL THIS?

Before I figured out the steps I’ll give you in this book, I spent way too much time being overweight…and miserable about it. I know only too well that if you’ve never been thin, it’s hard to imagine it’s really possible (it is!)—and it’s hard to visualize how much better life can be with a thin, healthy body. That’s not superficial—it’s just a fact.

From my tenth birthday on, I was trying every diet out there, including Dr. Atkins’ diet book (yeah, it actually came out that many years ago). Some of the diets seemed foolproof…at first. Lots of them helped me lose the weight…for a while. But the weight always came back, over and over, like the world’s most depressing diet yo-yo.

Once I learned to build a diet that was automatic—a diet that fit me—I lost the weight and kept it off for good. Getting and keeping a thin, healthy body had such a major impact on my life that I realized I wanted to help other people do the same thing. Since then, I’ve founded a health company, written lots of articles, and helped tons of people get into top shape.I guess you could call nutrition and fitness my passion.

I don’t think of myself as a “diet guru.” And I’m not sellinga trendy diet. More than anything, I’m a guy who’s been there—and found a way to triumph over my weight. I’m someone who figured out there was a simple, real way to get thin and stay there—and I’ve been told by countless people that I’m good at helping others do the same thing. I know I can help you.

TEN STEPS: YOUR STYLE

Here’s how it works.

I’ve created ten steps that will help you make the small changes—in your eating, in your thinking, in your day-today activities—that will create big changes in your weight. It starts with the basics. In Step 1, I’ll talk about trendy diets—how they work and don’t work. From there we’ll move on to building your real, automatic diet from the ground up. I’ll ask you to fill in all sorts of stuff about yourself, including quizzes and questionnaires, so have a pen or pencil ready. And by the way, feel free to jump around the book. Lighten Up is all about your own pace and your own style.

You might say, “I don’t want to have to ‘work’ out the details of a diet. That sounds too hard! I’d rather follow someone else’s diet.” My answer to that comes in two parts. First, creating an automatic diet is not hard at all—it’s just a matter of reading this book. And second, other people’s rules don’t work! The only person who can make a diet that works for you forever is you!