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"Thin
over 40": How to Have the Body You’ve Always Wanted
Book
Introduction
Thin over 40 - the
holy grail of middle age. Just ask those vainly trying to recapture
the body they had (or wanted to have) at 20, now over 40 with time
running out. The frustration is tremendous. Many of the
weight-loss strategies -- fad diets or rigorous, exercise routines
-- initially successful at age 20 or 30 are no longer as effective.
The overriding question becomes, “Now that
I’m over 40, why can’t I seem to lose weight?”
It
didn’t hit me the day I turned 40, it was a little while after
that. Because of a speaking engagement, I needed to get an updated
photo of myself. Pretty standard. I’d had the last one done about
five years earlier. The photographer came in and took several
shots. I didn’t give it much thought -- until the proofs came
back. The earlier picture was clearly of a man in his 30s. The new
one was of a man obviously in his 40s. I stared at the proofs and
thought, When did this happen?
In just five years,
the two photos told the story. I’d increased in age, and size.
Frankly, I hadn’t paid that much attention. I was busy with work and
family. Even though I counsel people on nutrition, I’d somehow
neglected to pay attention to my own body and weight. At 40, it
showed. I decided it was time to put into practice the lessons I’d
learned over the years working with those struggling to overcome
eating disorders. The result is Thin over 40. My point of
view is professional; it’s also personal.
As the founder of
The Center for Counseling and Health Resources, Inc., I am a
Certified Eating Disorder Specialist, and a nationally-certified
Psychologist. For the past 18 years at The Center, we have treated
nearly 7,000 individuals with weight and food-related issues. I’ve
seen first-hand how these successful strategies help people become
Thin over 40. This book is written from the point of view of
a psychologist and trained eating disorder specialist, and a man
over 40.
If you’re over 40, and think
you’ve lost the Battle of the Bulge, don’t give up! Over the next
twelve weeks, through the Thin Over 40 Plan, you’ll:
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Integrate the 5 Success Essentials
to achieving and maintaining Thin Over 40 as a long-term,
lifestyle change instead of merely a diet or exercise plan for a set
amount of weeks.
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Start each day with a motivational
reading and interactive assignment.
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Appreciate and enjoy your body through
daily moving and stretching.
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Discover what’s holding you back so you
can move forward.
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Focus each week on a different Key
Concept, designed to enhance your Thin Over 40 success.
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Daily engage in the Plan through the
Success in Action section.
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Learn the latest health and nutritional
information specifically targeted to those over 40.
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Gain an understanding of how you can
turn your age from a liability to an asset in your goal to be
Thin Over 40.
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Combat the self-sabotage
practiced by so many over 40 that doom long-term success.
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Strategize intentional
alternatives to counteract the emotional pull of food, especially
sugars and carbohydrates.
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Use the latest research on how
to jump-start metabolism to enhance weight loss through natural,
healthy,
methods.
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Ferret out potential success
busters, such as food allergies and sensitivities.
The Thin
Over 40 Plan
There are 5
Success Essentials to the Thin Over 40 Plan. You may be
surprised to see how simple they are. This isn’t rocket science, but
common sense. (No, it isn’t rocket science – for some of you it’s
been a whole lot harder! But it doesn’t need to be such a
struggle.) Over the next 12 weeks, I’ll help you integrate each of
these 5 Success Essentials into your daily life. They are:
Success Essential
#1 – Intentional, healthy food and eating choices
Success Essential
#2 – Increased physical movement
Success Essential
#3 – Nutritional and hormonal support
Success Essential
#4 – Restful, curative sleep
Success Essential
#5 – Proper hydration
Simply put, the
Plan will help you eat healthy, move more, utilize the right
supplements, get your proper rest, and drink water. This is not the
formula for a fad-diet but rather a life-long strategy for achieving
increased longevity, greater energy, healthy body weight and freedom
from perpetual dieting. It is about enjoying who you are again
instead of constantly fretting over your age and your weight.
The Thin Over 40
Plan is about doing, and it’s also about understanding. Each
week you’ll focus on a different Key Concept, designed to
enlighten you about your over-40 mind, body, and spirit. Here are
the Key Concepts you’ll be focusing on each week, as you
actively and intentionally replace faulty habits with healthy,
proactive lifestyle choices:
Week 1 – Making the Most of You
(Key Concept – Awareness)
We know we need to
live and eat healthier, but few of us are aware of how our habits,
accumulated up to this point in life, are holding us back from
achieving the success we desire. This first week will focus on you
– your habits and choices.
Week 2 – Making the Most of Your
Future (Key Concept – Longevity)
Diets don’t work
because they are about restriction and deprivation. The Thin
Over 40 Plan is not a diet, but a way of life that emphasizes
good health and belief in a vibrant future. This vision for your
personal future will provide a foundation for continued success.
Week 3 – Making the Most of
Moving (Key Concept – Metabolism)
You’ve got to get
your metabolism back on track. As we age, we have a tendency to
slow down. It’s time to get back into gear and our bodies in motion
again with enjoyable, uplifting physical activities, as well as
strategic nutrition to assist the body in returning to youthful
metabolic levels.
Week 4 – Making the Most of
Nutrition (Key Concept – Food and Mood)
What you eat affects
how you feel. The latest research proves a definitive link between
proper nutrition and a positive, optimistic mindset. It’s time to
get your body and mind working together to support your desire to
change!
Week 5 – Making the Most of
Supplements (Key Concept – Adrenal Health)
Often our over 40
stressful lifestyles take a toll on our adrenal and thyroid systems,
contributing to frustrating weight gain. When your adrenal system is
stressed or overworked, it automatically causes your thyroid to
“turn down” your metabolic rate to calm your system. A reduced
metabolism can mean increased weight.
Week 6 – Making the Most of Your
Brain (Key Concept – Brain Power)
Four powerful brain
chemicals – GABA, endorphins, dopamine, and serotonin – regulate how
you respond to pleasure, stress, and pain. For many, food has
become a way to deal with those situations instead. By putting your
neurotransmitters back in charge, food loses its draw.
Week 7 – Making the Most of Rest
(Key Concept – Rest)
For many of us, the
difficulties and stresses of life over 40 sap our energy. We’re
tired and depressed and it seems too hard to make needed changes.
Though there are many reasons for fatigue, sometimes it’s as simple
as not getting the rest we need each day. There’s tremendous power
in a good night’s sleep.
Week 8 – Making the Most of “The
Change” (Key Concept – Hormones)
This week is devoted
to the physiological effects of both menopause and the male version,
adropause. When hormone levels drop, especially after age 40, the
body is significantly affected and these changes must be factored
into the Thin Over 40 lifestyle.
Week 9 – Making the Most of
Balance (Key Concept – Balance)
Sometimes a craving
is just a craving. Sometimes, impulsive eating is caused by hidden
food allergies or food sensitivities that sabotage our best
intentions. By cutting down on the number and severity of cravings,
you can feel better, think clearer, and weight less.
Week 10 – Making the Most of
Relationships (Key Concept – Relationships)
Many of those over
40 have developed a convenient yet unhealthy relationship with
food. It provides comfort, stress-relief, affirmation, a break from
boredom. Under the Thin Over 40 Plan, food returns to being
nutrition, leaving plenty of room for healthy, positive
relationships with the important people in your life.
Week 11 – Making the Most of
Forgiveness (Key Concept – Forgiveness)
Thin Over 40
is a not a diet, but a lifestyle. You will experience times of
forward momentum and you will backslide a time or two. This is
normal yet many people respond to a step backwards by stopping
altogether. Don’t forget that two steps forward and one step back
is still progress. Each step backward can provide valuable lessons
for navigating future roadblocks.
Week 12 – Making the Most of
Life (Key Concept – Success)
As a life-long
commitment to your health and future, it’s important to take time to
remember and appreciate your success. This celebration of your
progress will help motivate you to continue to reinforce your areas
of success and strengthen those areas that may still persist as
challenges.
Twelve weeks – three
months. That’s the length of time I’m asking for. Here’s what else
I’m asking for:
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Start on a Monday.
Begin the Thin Over 40 Plan on a Monday, as
weekends can be a difficult time to begin changing habits.
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Stick with it.
If you find you’ve gone off of the Plan, get back on it and
start again.
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Be the
Plan. Don’t just read about it, actually do it. Don’t
shortchange yourself by shortchanging the Plan.
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Trust me.
Trust me until you can trust yourself.
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Don’t put it off.
Start right now, not next month or some unnamed date in the future,
because your health and your tomorrow are so worth it.
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Expect success.
Your attitude will be the driving factor in so many of the positive
changes you’ll be making. The smaller your expectations, the
smaller your success. The greater your optimism, the greater your
ability to implement these life-enhancing actions.
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Give it one more shot.
I know that many of you have tried a myriad of other methods and
even now you’re listening to that “nothing’s worked” voice in your
mind. Don’t listen. I’ve reviewed over 75 books and read reams of
research. The elements of Thin Over 40 are effective. I’ve
seen it in others and am living it myself today. This will work!
Over the next twelve
weeks, you’re going to start each morning with this book. It will
motivate you, keep you on track, and give you direction. For that
reason, don’t put off reading! Do it the first thing when you wake
up in the morning and give yourself adequate time to go over each
day’s Thin Thought, Setting the Day for Success, Success
in Action and other information provided. You’re setting the
tone for each day to become Thin Over 40.
Please remember that
the Thin Over 40 Plan is not a
lose-weight-quick-only-to-gain-it-back-and-more system. Will you
lose weight? Yes, but for many of you, the amount of weight you
need to lose in order to achieve a healthy goal will take longer
than the twelve weeks. And that’s perfectly fine. It is what you
are learning, doing, and understanding during the twelve
weeks that will set you on a course for success to lose that weight
– no matter how much it is. Haven’t we all had enough of those
get-thin-quick diets that work for a brief moment in time but then
return us to our previous weight, and more?
Self-imposed
restrictive diets that produce quick and dramatic results have a
tendency to boomerang with a subsequent weight gain. The best
results are achieved through a long-term, realistic drop of 1-2
pounds per week. The goal of this plan is not to help you take off
20 pounds in May so you’ll be ready for summer, or drop ten pounds
before your daughter’s wedding or upcoming high-school reunion.
It’s not a panic, event-driven, diet. Rather, it’s a plan to
redirect you toward re-nurturing your body through healthy living
and renewing your mind through a positive self-image.
The key person
involved in the Plan is not me, it’s you. You are the one to
take the information and concepts presented and put them into
practice for yourself. For this reason, there is not a regimented
daily list of what to eat and how much. Rather, over the course of
the next twelve weeks, you’ll gain insight based into what you eat
and why. Then, you can decide for yourself how you want to
implement the necessary changes into your every day life. It is not
up to me to tell you to eat a broccoli salad every Wednesday for
lunch. It is up to me to warn you of the dangers of consuming too
high a percentage of unhealthy fat calories each day. Granted,
there are things to do every day but they’re designed to allow you
to explore your own reasons for eating and to develop personal
solutions, tailored to your life.
Why not just tell
you what to eat every day? Because I want you to develop the
ability over the next twelve weeks to create each day’s menu for
yourself, using the information and insights provided. In this way,
even when you put the book down, you’ll have gained the skills to
continue on your own. That is the goal – for you to keep with this
Plan for life! I recently read a study that said women stay
on a diet an average of only four weeks, and men only six weeks –
with the specific goal of losing weight. The diets are generally
restrictive in nature and they do lose weight. However, they
immediately gain the weight back as soon as they go off the diet.
This is not beneficial. This is not the Thin Over 40 way.
Allow yourself the freedom to try different foods, become more
informed about what you eat and why, and integrate these choices –
your choices – over the next twelve weeks.
Over the next twelve
weeks, you’re going to receive a great deal of information,
inspiration, and motivation. These will be provided in small, daily
amounts instead of in chapter form, as many books use. The reason
for doing it this way is very intentional: it’s not just about
giving you the information, it’s also about developing habits,
integrating changes and learning to take daily baby steps toward a
Thin Over 40 life. It’s also about delayed gratification.
Read each section each day. Take in the information and the
insights and allow them to work their way down into your core
convictions. It’s more than about information; it’s about
understanding. It’s also about time – give yourself the time to
practice these concepts in your own life. Be patient. Be
diligent. Be optimistic!
Before we get
started, I want you to purchase a journal. You can choose anything
from a plain spiral bound version to a fancy, fabric covered book
style. The outside isn’t what’s important. I want you to use this
journal over the next twelve weeks. You’re going to be writing down
how you feel about yourself, your life, your body, your future.
This is really a case of you helping yourself succeed.
Let’s face it, one
of the advantages of being over 40 is the maturity we’ve gained
along the way, which allows us to make intentional, positive
changes. We’ve learned how to work hard toward a goal. We’ve
learned how to say no to some things in order to say yes to others.
We’ve experienced success and gratification in many aspects of our
lives and careers. Now it’s time to take all of that knowledge,
experience and maturity, and put them to work on the one thing
you’ve probably neglected in attaining the others – your body and
your health.
It’s time. Let’s
get started!
Book Price: $6.99
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Order by phone
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