Some of you may be aware that I am trying to be good, food wise, and also exercising by going to the gym and circuit training as well. The reason behind this is not just because I am very over weight but because I am determined to be slimmer, fitter and healthier by the time I am 30 (2 months approx.).
This book is an inspiration it's full of good tips on nutrition and fitness too, but it doesn't fall into the "diet" type of thing and to start with food isn't mentioned very much. This book doesn't insist that you eat certain things or not to eat certain things (well it sort of does but I will get to that in a minute) but firstly concentrates on your mind. Then tries to get you more active and then finally concentrates on the food side of things.
In my first paragraph I mentioned "I am determined to be slimmer, fitter and healthier" this is something I have been encouraged by these books to say to myself at least once or twice a day since I started the book, I used to say "I want to lose weight" but this is too negative because I was focusing on the losing weight not gaining health.
When I first started to write this opinion there was only one book out called Lighten up, this original book was the start of Lighten up for me but as it is an 8 week course I got a bit sidetracked and as you will see from below only got to week 5 but the second and newer Lighten up book is called Lighten up the four-week weight loss plan and has a blue, green and pink striped cover.
The ORIGINAL BOOK (you can skip this part if you like and just go onto the second book as I prefer that one) has 3 parts to it the first part has 8 chapters which explain how this course works and how diets don't work and most importantly how to get what you want, it's really important to read the whole of this before starting the course of 8 weeks because there are certain exercises that need to be done first.
The second part to the book is the 8 week course, this consists of eight chapters that should be done a week at a time and Part three consists of three chapters concentrating on the Lighten up food profile, Feel good Fitness and Feel Good Food (more about these in a minute).
The book itself is 415 pages long and has taken me a couple of months to read it thoroughly and I haven't finished the last 3 weeks of the course either.
WEEK ONE
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Having read the first 85 pages you then get to week one of the course at the end of this chapter you will find the challenges, lighten up food diary and checklist this is so you can keep a record of what challenges you have done and the food you have eaten.
The challenges include getting up when sitting down for half an hour say to watch TV or do something on the computer. When you get up you need to take a brisk walk around this is actually quite sensible as I often feel stiff when I have been on the computer for hours on end without a break or when I have just sat through all my soaps one after another.
Mind your language this is the way you talk to yourself as I mentioned before it's the way you say what you want making it sounds more positive, it's your brain you have to convince.
There is also a visualisation exercise which is quite difficult at first but I am finally getting the hang of now, this involves closing your eyes and imagining yourself slimmer but opening your front door and then you walking into this image and experienced this new slimmer you, I have only just got the hang of this and now it's changed!
And the Lighten up Diary is just you listing when you eat, what you eat and what you are doing whilst eating.
At the beginning of the next chapter the book then reviews what you have done in the last one and the you can move on to the next week in the course.
WEEK TWO
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This week you continue to keep the Lighten Up Diary listing your foods as before but with an added column the hunger scale which is a scale of 1-10 that you measure you hunger on 1 being not hungry 6 to 8 being fairly hungry and 9 and 10 being starving. You need to wait until at least the 6 before eating. This I found easy to do and has dramatically cut down my portion sizes because you want to be hungry again to eat as food tastes so nice when you are truly hungry.
The other challenges include two affirmation sessions (saying you are going to be slim, fit and healthy to yourself), visualising the future you (as mentioned in week one) and the fat burning pill which is actually trying to get you more active so instead of taking the car somewhere walk or cycle and every time you do something more active than sitting or driving for at least 15 minutes this is classed as the fat burning pill and you are supposed to put a 5p I a jar to show how well you are doing. My jar is nearly half full so I am very please with this challenge.
This is also the week that the book gets you to fill in the exercise wheel, one per day this is a coloured coded chart that you will see how active or inactive you are being. You should also be introducing more activity to get you active, one per day. I had a shock when I realise that apart from sleeping my next biggest thing was sitting.
(There are other things to do in the chapters but if I was to list all of it I think I would run out of room and bore you all to death.)
WEEK THREE
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So week three includes all of week two in the checklist but add one more fat burning pill, congratulating yourself on an achievement and thinking before you eat (morning, afternoon and evening).
So why congratulate yourself on an achievement now? This is so you keep a track of your triumphs and make yourself feel good about what you are doing, it can be anything and doesn't have to be food or exercise related.
The thinking before you eat just means that you need to be aware of what your body really wants as 99% of the time it doesn't want that choccie bar, your brain is telling you that your body does that's all.
I found that by doing this a turkey sandwich on wholemeal was totally out of this world, it tasted so good and this was because I was
a. hungry and
b. listening to my body
In these last three chapters you are also looking at the different ways of introducing exercise into your life and this means real "feel good" exercise, the book goes onto say that everyone must like at least one type of "feel good" exercise as there are so many different ways to workout;
Sports i.
e. netball, football etc.
Aerobics
Dancing
Climbing
Cycling
Jogging
Martial arts
Power walking
Rowing
Step Classes
Swimming
T'ai chi
Weight training
Yoga
The important thing to remember is to pick something that you will enjoy and then you will hopefully stick to it.
In week three the book also gives you some motivational suggestions but in the end it's your body and only you can change it, so get moving!
WEEK FOUR
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Now it starts to get more technical you have two circles one titled FOODS TO FOCUS ON and the other one FOODS TO LIMIT this is instead of the Food diary (or as well as it's up to you).
In the first one you have 8 sections these are;
Complex Carbs
Proteins
Water
Low fat dairy
Essential Fatty acids
Pulses and beans
Fruit
Vegetables
The second one has 4 sections to it;
Pre-prepared, fast food and takeaways
Stimulants
Saturated Fat
Simple Carbohydrates
These are all explained in more detail later on in the book but basically you put an "x" in the section of the food that you have just eaten and you will be amazed at how much junk you eat I know I was. I drink far too many stimulants (coffee, coke and alcohol) and simple carbohydrates (sugar and fizzy drinks).
By this week you are supposed to be on 3 "feel good fitness" sessions a week and as I already was I didn't worry too much about this side of things. The rest of the challenges are the same as last week.
This week the book goes into more detail about what you are eating and mentions Sugar (the secret saboteur) a lot too.
WEEK FIVE
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This week is exactly the same as week four but instead of the usual visualisation techniques that you have been doing for the last 4 weeks this week is the start of your very own movie playing in your head. You are to imagine three pictures one of the slimmer you, and two of you achieving something like getting into a pair of jeans in a particular size or something like that then you play these images in your head like a movie.
This chapter also focuses on drinking more water, displacement activities and gives you more info about food.
The displacement activities are anything to take your mind off eating if you find you are still eating when you aren't at that 6-8 on the hunger scale.
END OF WEEK FIVE FOR ME
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So what do I think so far? I think this is highly effective and even though I have not lost any weight as such I definitely feel better about myself and fitter too.
The nutritional information is amazing I have learnt so much, I mean I knew that fatty sugary foods were bad for me but until reading this book I never really knew why I just thought it was because I was eating too many calories and this in turn helped me put on weight. This book actually tells you what your body does when you eat specific foods not just what happens (i.e. putting on weight).
I have also read part three before finishing the eight week course and I am totally amazed at how much I have learnt from one book. So much so that I won't be buying that pack of doughnuts ever again or drinking alcohol without drinking water in between drinks.
I also won't be going on any more diets because it's true they don't work, they get you to lose muscle as well as fat and this in turn slows down your metabolism even more and then when you eat properly or like you were doing before you went on the diet you put back on the weight you have lost plus more, so that's why weightwatchers (and the like) is a multi million dollar company across the world!
I am looking forward to seeing the results in the form of inch loss and clothes becoming too baggy!
*****
Well that was the first and original book now for the SECOND BOOK which for me is much easier to follow and more intensive instead of giving you challenges for the week this book gives you the challenges every day which I find much easier. All you have to do is set aside half an hour, either the night before or in the morning, to read through that days challenges.
All you need to start with is a comfortable pair of trainers to walk in and a notebook.
The book has 9 chapters and it's in chapter 3 that the four week weight loss plan starts this consists of 6 days of challenges with the last day of each week being a day to go over and think about what you have been learning all week.
Chapter 5 and 6 are about exercise and this might sound scary to some but it's all about finding a type of exercise that you enjoy, chapter 7 is about Food suggesting what foods you should concentrate on and what foods to limit.
Chapter 8 is the recipes and these are different to the 8 week original book which for me is brilliant seeing as I have both books now.
Chapter 9 is for Troubleshooting but if you can't find the answer to a question there is a website which is worth a look and that's www.lightenup.co.uk and you can email them too. I bought the first book from Amazon.co.uk and the second from a local bookshop they both have cover prices of £6.99.
At the moment I am on day 3 of week four and have incorporated most of the suggested things into my life without even noticing that I do them now for example I drink between 1 ½ and 2 litres of water a day I don't eat hardly any sugary simple carbohydrates or saturated fatty foods I don't drink much coffee any more or alcohol and I have given up on take aways and pre-prepared foods.
So what am I eating you might ask? Well this is the great thing about this new way of life for me I can eat exactly what I fancy as long as I am hungry and it's what I really want. Have you ever really tasted something sweet or fatty and I mean really savoured it without any distractions whatsoever so that means no TV or reading so you can really concentrate on every mouthful and see exactly how you feel after eating it. Well I did just that with a bar of what was my favourite chocolate and I found that it was too sweet and left a horrible after taste in my mouth and then about half an hour after eating it I felt really drained. The same thing happens with coffee for me.
The suggestion of carrying around with you some dried fruit, nuts and water everywhere you go is a brilliant idea it saves you buying a chocolate bar or cake and scoffing that instead of waiting until you get home or wherever you are going to eat, also you might just be thirsty and not hungry which I found I was quite a bit.
The exercise side of things is broken down into three parts and introduced gradually so don't be scared of that. It's just simple exercises and suggestions to get you moving at first.
The Fat Jar pills are my favourite because everytime I go for a fifteen minute brisk walk I put 15 pence in a clear jar and I have over £6 in there at the moment this encourages you to get up and it actually stops me eating and makes me more in tune with my hunger.
At first I didn't get hungry in the morning until 10.30am and then again 2.30pm and then 8.30 but that doesn't worry me now as I know that I when I am hungry the food will taste better than if I am not very hungry.
The book explains everything very well but if you have any questions and don't want to go through the website then you can always leave a message for me in my guestbook.
If you like the sound of the Lighten up way of thinking there is another book which is all about his first ever lighten up course and how the people got on its called slimming with Pete and is available thorough the website I mentioned above and they also do courses and workshops which cost a lot more than buying the book!
I already feel better about myself and my clothes are starting to feel very loose so something must be working.
Its just common sense and will sound a little bit strange to anyone that is already slim, fit and healthy but if like me you have a tendancy to over eat then try this book.
I will update this opinion occasionally to let you all know how I am doing.
UPDATE
******
I thought I just better include in this opinion that with this weight loss plan you get to find out the real reason behind your overeating, of course the book cannot tell you this but it can show you how to get to the bottom of your overeating and hopefully you too can stop and actually hear what your body is telling you like I have. I have a headache or heartburn if I eat when not hungry or don't don't drink enough water or eat something too fatty or sugary. I may not be slim yet but I am getting there and I feel better in myself and you can too.
Thanks for reading
Amanda
The last slimming plan you'll ever need 
