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1 of 1 found the following review helpful:
Weight Manage for Your Lifestyle-A Guideline Jul 23, 2009
Dr. Charles Goldman has written an excellent, easy to read text that can be implemented by health care professionals. This text is also an excellent guide for the lay public seeking common sense easy to understand and follow instructions in adopting a healthy lifestyle.
Highly recommended text to all.
6 of 6 found the following review helpful:
Secrets of Success Aug 18, 2008
"The pleasure-based brain system affecting eating behavior is similar to the pleasure seeking part of the brain that drives some addictive behavior." ~ pg. 107
"Weight Management for Your Life" presents new solutions to the old problem of weight loss. Charles Goldman takes an honest look at the risk factors involved with being overweight. This is not a diet, this is a system to help you eliminate self-defeating patterns.
The well-researched information in this book could change your life by helping you to develop new behaviors and skills. This in turn empowers you and allows you to maintain long-term results. This book reinforced my belief that diets are not the answer to long-term success.
It was also interesting to read that slightly overweight people are actually the healthiest people "according to standard weight tables." By reading this book you can start to take control of your behavior in regards to eating. There is also helpful advice on how to avoid stressful situations where people may encourage you to eat more than you should. This book is really about eating less and exercising more (those two things alone recently helped me lose 25 lbs) but it also addresses psychological issues and helps you to evaluate what is really going on in your life.
I can recommend this book to anyone who is struggling with their weight or to anyone who has seen some results in weight loss and wants to know more secrets of success.
"There is evidence that those people who maintain an active lifestyle are most successful at weight maintenance." ~ pg. 118
~The Rebecca Review
11 of 12 found the following review helpful:
A wise and well-considered Rx for weight loss Aug 13, 2008
Dr. Charles Goldman, who is a psychiatrist, writes about weight management from the point of view of someone who believes that most people can manage their weight and are not, as some authorities believe, at the mercy of their genes. He believes in a rational, studied approach to taking off excess weight and keeping it off. His book is the very embodiment of common sense guided by expertise. As such it will disappoint those looking for a quick fix, and unfortunately will not be able to compete in the bookstores with titles that promise pie in the sky and in your stomach too.
There are 14 chapters in the book. The first ten constitute a "ten step" program for a healthy lifestyle beginning with "Step 1: State a reason to change your behavior," through "Step 2: Choose a realistic weight range," through learning the basics about diet and exercise, to some commentary on alcohol, drugs and addictive behaviors to "Step 10: Create a plan and 'routines.'"
Chapter 11 consists of "easy action steps" related to the steps in the first ten chapters, such as writing out what you want to do, making estimates, consulting with sites on the Internet, consulting with professionals such as doctors, counselors, weighing yourself, doing physical exercises, and diagramming social relationships. Goldman even recommends that you watch the movie Supersize Me (2004).
Chapter 12 is report on research on weight management, while Chapter 13 concentrates on Cognitive Behavioral Therapy. The final chapter is a summary and ends with Goldman's careful and considered statement: "Changing one's health-related behavior occurs in stages, must be based in reality, takes willpower, education, practice, supportive friends (and family), and persistence, and it helps to have some kind of plan with goals. There is no magic and it will be difficult, but becomes much easier the more you do it." (p. 123)
Notice that Dr. Goldman believes in "willpower." One of his exercises is to teach people to say "I won't" when they start to say "I can't." He believes that such a "reframing" can be "a very powerful illustration of taking full responsibility for your behavior." He adds, "Once you get in the habit of saying 'I won't' it is not a difficult transition to learn to say 'I will!' and mean it. Thus, the existence of willpower is affirmed." (p. 30)
Goldman contrasts his position with that of Gina Kolata who wrote Rethinking Thin (2007) in which, Goldman reports, she "makes the argument that people have little control over their weight..." He quotes her as writing, "It must be that free will, when it comes to eating, is an illusion." (p. 109)
From a philosophic point of view the question of whether we have free will or not is a difficult one. However as a practical matter and as social human beings within the framework of a society of laws and responsibilities, there can be no doubt that free will is our reality. Consequently I am in agreement with Goldman that we can and should take responsibility for what and how much we eat, and for other lifestyle choices.
Goldman warns against too rapid weight loss and emphasizes that the hardest part is to maintain the weight loss. To do that requires permanent lifestyle changes. Goldman eschews the term "diet" because diets are something we go on and off of. Diets don't work for this very reason. He writes that research findings "teach us that rapid weight loss, e.g., losing 25 pounds in six months, triggers powerful mechanisms in the brain and body to send signals that we are starving. This results in an outpouring of brain chemicals that trigger strong cravings for food, in some cases irresistible." (p. 24)
One of the detriments to achieving a healthy weight is the influence of friends and family. If they are also aiming for a healthier lifestyle, they can be supportive and very helpful. However it is often the case that they will observe "your healthier lifestyle" and "assume you are in a constant state of self-deprivation, and will want to see you 'loosen up.' It is important for them to feel okay about their own 'indulgences.'" (p. 52) So resist their kind offers and have the wisdom to say, "No, thank you!"
Goldman warns against chisel words like "I need a break," or "I deserve a reward," or "I have accepted my body the way it is." He makes a very important point (and provides an answer to the siren call to backslide) with these words, "adopting a healthy lifestyle of eating less (especially 'junk' food) and exercising more has benefits that are independent of weight loss." (p. 53) I would add that these benefits include better health, a longer life expectancy, greater self-esteem, more energy, being more attractive (especially to yourself), not to mention setting a good example for friends and family.
I have one major disagreement with Dr. Goldman. He writes on page 106 that "common overeating...is neither a disease nor an addiction." But he equivocates on the following page with "The pleasure-based brain system affecting eating behavior is similar to the pleasure seeking part of the brain that drives some addictive behavior." (Note also the quote above from page 24!) I think that not only is overeating an addiction, it is one of the most powerful addictions and one of the hardest to break. You can quit smoking or taking drugs, but you can't stop eating. There's no cold turkey available. So for many people it is like an alcoholic trying to give up alcohol while drinking a little every day. It's tough. The obesity epidemic in America is fired by constant advertizing and relatively cheap food, but it is maintained by people who try but can't stop eating because their brain chemicals only reward them when they eat.
Be that as it may, I believe that the detailed prescription given in this wise and well-considered book will work for most people if followed faithfully.
3 of 3 found the following review helpful:
Informative and Successful Aug 11, 2008
This is a great book with a program that works! It's focused on real results and not fad dieting. I found it to be an easy to execute, step-by-step plan that outlines the commitment required for simple weight loss and weight management. It proposes a practical approach to losing weight and keeping it off.
I highly recommend this book for anyone who is ready to make the commitment to a life enriching program with long-term results. It truly is an inexpensive solution to a happier life.
3 of 3 found the following review helpful:
An easy to read and easy to apply method for losing weight. Aug 06, 2008
Weight Management for your Life is a step by step approach to dieting. It is easy to follow, each chapter leading to the next. It is one of the best approaches to losing weight by motivating the reader to particpate in the program engaging the mind, body, and spirit. By encouraging the reader to play an active role in the process, the focus is not just on what you put in your mouth, but also on the how and why of weight loss.
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