The Weight Escape: How to Stop Dieting and Start Living

by Joseph V. Ciarrochi, Ann Bailey, Russ Harris

Diet fads and fitness trends may offer the prospect of losing weight, but they rarely work out long-term. The Weight Escape offers something life-changingly different.

Using the mindfulness-based method called Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT), Dr. Russ Harris, author of the best-selling Happiness Trap; psychological practitioner Ann Bailey; and scientist Joseph Ciarrochi show you how to make the lasting changes you want. Focusing on the mental barriers that can keep us from setting and achieving our goals, they promote a holistic approach to well-being and weight loss—one that goes beyond meal plans and calorie counting to apply mindfulness to how you live as well as to what you eat. Through practical exercises and personal stories they show you how to:

•••Set goals and give direction to your life
•••Overcome destructive habits and exercise self-control
•••Deal with cravings and stressful situations
•••Develop self-acceptance

This book contains the tools you need not only to get the weight-loss results you want but to maintain a healthy weight—and a healthy sense of well-being—for the rest of your life.

Genres: Health, Nonfiction, Psychology, Self Help

256 pages, Paperback

First published December 2, 2014

About the author

Dr. Ciarrochi is speaker, researcher, author, and Professor of Psychology. He has published many books and over 80 scientific papers on the causes of well-being and interpersonal effectiveness. Ciarrochi has been honored with over a million dollars in research funding and a prestigious Future Fellowship. His work has been discussed in magazines, newspaper articles, and radio.

Reviews

[Jason Schofield · Rating 5 out of 5]

Obviously, for any self-help book, the proof of its worth will be in its usefulness. I can't speak to that, as I just finished reading The weight Escape. However, the writing is clear, the ACT concepts have proven useful to me in other aspects of my life (and, in a limited way, in this one), and I finished the book feeling hopeful. Take that for what it is, but definitely consider giving this book a chance.

[Lisa C. · Rating 5 out of 5]

I LOVE this book! I have struggled with weight my entire life and especially with eating for comfort or temporarily fulfilling other emotional needs. This is the first book on dealing with weight issues that really makes sense to me and I finally feel like I might find a path to success focusing more on living according to my values rather than a number on the scale.

[Sylwia · Rating 5 out of 5]

najlepsza książka o odchudzaniu, jaką czytałam.

[Maria C · Rating 5 out of 5]

Not actually a diet / weight loss book. It's a mindfulness & psychology book on habits and underlying values of our actions -- so helpful for life as a whole. This book is so much more insightful than "Atomic Habits," in my opinion. A worthy read.

[Daniel Facchin · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is an excellent book not just for weight loss, but building habits to improve any part of your life you want to improve. I like the 'no BS' approach this book has on weight loss and how it provides fundamentals to weight loss and not just specific examples to follow, which may not suit your life.

The end of chapter reviews are very useful for when you need to go back and give yourself a refresher on what ever part of your weight loss journey you are struggling with.

I highly recommend this for any one is is struggling with weight or anyone who has an addiction problem.

[Lily Heron · Rating 3 out of 5]

The book does a good job of condensing complex ideas into bitesize, manageable advice. Kind of like a Happiness Trap for healthful living (it's not about weight loss per se), but you could take out the focus on weight and adapt the advice to any habit you're trying to cultivate.

[Kate · Rating 4 out of 5]

I love ACT - this book is everything that is good about it and it's not a fad cray cray diet book.

Enough said.

[Thu Tran · Rating 4 out of 5]

"They tell you to eat this, not that. They act as if you’re nothing more than an eating machine. If it were so simple, there’d be no weight problems."

[Teresa · Rating 4 out of 5]

It didn't help me lose weight, but it did help me get a better understanding of ACT therapy.

[Luiz Fabricio Calland Cerqueira · Rating 4 out of 5]

It’s a great ACT book. As for “weight escaping”, time will say.

[Fateme · Rating 1 out of 5]

Bullshit

[Jill · Rating 4 out of 5]

If you want to read a diet book, read this one. A pro recommended this book to me, and it was very helpful. There are lots of writing exercises and other activities that made me feel very ceebs, but the advice is solid and helpful and won't make you feel like a stressed-out terrible person or tell you to eat only plain spinach.

On its own, I'm not sure how much weight it would help you lose. It's more of a starting point to do your own work around the psychology of why you eat poorly or don't exercise, and I'm assuming it will take time to show results. If you wanted to lose lots of weight or had never tried to lose weight before (like haha who are you hasn't everyone), I'd definitely still recommend it but you might need more advice on the actuality of what to eat or what exercise to do.

[Susan Austin · Rating 4 out of 5]

Being familiar with ACT, there was a lot in this book that wasn’t new to me, and I’m not a fan of the energy density approach to diet planning, but this book spells out a very good approach to considering weight, goals, barriers and strategies to stick to values when it comes to food and exercise. Lots of good ideas I can potentially use with the people I work with.

[Martin · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a fantastic read.

The choice point is a simple but effective way to add a 'pause' before making choices that do not align to your values - this results in weight loss naturally.

I've also read the 'Diet Trap' which is also based on ACT, but prefer the way this book was written.

Highly recommended.

[Rikke · Rating 4 out of 5]

Deals with the root causes and helps with creating a sustainable well-being-plan and provides the tools to overcome mental obstacles on the way.