“Biggest Loser” trainer Jillian Michaels’ latest book, in bookstores today, tackles the most difficult part of weight loss – keeping it off.
In “Slim for Life” (Harmony, $25), Michaels offers her real-life tips and tricks to losing weight and keeping it off without losing your mind. She says it's how she maintains her own long-term weight loss.
“People think that you have to spend hours in the gym, or you have to meticulously count every calorie, that you’re going to be miserable while you’re trying to lose weight, and God help you if you have to keep it up while you’re keeping it off,” Michaels says in a video intro to the book. “And you know something? None of that is true. I don’t need to count calories anymore, and everything I eat tastes good, and I eat treats as well and still maintain a healthy weight.”
Her book tries to untangle the often conflicting advice of weight-loss information and distill the strategies that will give you success.
You’ll find points assigned to each nugget of advice – 1, 2 or 3 points. By choosing which tips to adhere to in each chapter, you’ll tally up your “slim score” and Michaels will make recommendations based on the category you fall into.
For example, doing a 5-minute warm-up is 1 point, while remodeling your muscles through strength training is 3 points. Communicating your needs is 3 points and asking for feedback is 2 points.
She’s also into myth busting. Believing too much bad information can make losing weight and keeping it off highly frustrating and confusing. One of the dieting myths that Jillian wants to clarify: That you need to eat little meals throughout the day. She’s not a fan of this way of eating and instead suggests a “4 by 4” plan – four meals every four hours. That’s breakfast, lunch, snack and dinner.
She’s also not a fan of cleanses and fasts; she says they’ll actually become counterproductive. Instead, she suggests you “cleanse” your body by simply eating clean food.
But that’s not all quinoa and carrot sticks. Michaels says to stick to an “80/20” rule. Eighty percent of the time, eat clean, whole, nutritious foods. Then make that 20 percent whatever you want. It can either be every fifth meal or 20 percent of your calorie allowance, which works well for weight loss or weight maintenance.
Chapters cover topics such as eating, moving, shopping, cooking, motivation and managing stress, among others.
There are also six pages of references, in case you want to check out the studies mentioned in the book.
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