Tops Way to Weight Loss: Beyond Calories and Exercise »

Weight loss is about people, not calories! Interpersonal, emotional, and spiritual factors are the real keys to weight management, but are seldom mentioned in diet and exercise books. Drawing on the inspirational stories of the members of the international nonprofit weight-loss support group Take Off Pounds Sensibly (TOPS), the organization's psychologist, Howard J. Rankin, Ph.D., shows you how to harness your personal power-and the power of others-to lose weight and keep it off.

Successful weight loss has to do with personal transformation. Dr. Rankin shows you how to develop and maintain your motivation by finding the real meaning in your weight-loss efforts. Extracting key principles from incredible success stories, Dr. Rankin not only presents practical steps for achieving your weight-loss goals, but shows how they can be implemented in the context of your everyday, busy life.

In addition to motivational strategies, easy-to-follow advice is given to help develop key attitudes such as resilience, self-acceptance, and responsibility; as well as essential skills such as self-control, adaptive thinking, and temptation management. People don't lose weight in a social vacuum, they lose weight in the context of their relationships. So at each step, Dr. Rankin shows you how to enhance your program by using one of the most valuable resources available-the power of others.

Publishers Weekly

English psychologist Rankin asserts that when it comes to losing weight "information and education are valuable, but they're a small piece of the puzzle." Those who want to slim down would do well to follow the tenets of the TOPS (Take Off Pounds Sensibly) organization, he says, which embrace the emotions involved in weight issues, such as insecurity, fear, hope, self-worth and identity. Although this touchy-feely approach is surely not for everyone-it forces people to thoroughly examine how they perceive themselves and does not delve into specific dietary regimes or exercise plans-it could help those with deep-rooted weight issues. Rankin divides his book into two main sections ("Attitudes" and "Skills") and offers chapters on subjects like self-acceptance, courage, excuses and spirituality, as well as on strengths, such as patience, planning, self-control and setting goals. Contributions from people who have struggled with losing weight lend the book a sobering note that's often absent in weight-loss books. (Jan.) Copyright 2004 Reed Business Information.