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The Joy Choice: How to Finally Achieve Lasting Changes in Eating and Exercise
Learn to live a happier and healthier life with the help of this book—start changing behaviors and create new habits using fun and easy science-based solutions. What if you could easily and joyfully resolve the in-the-moment conflicts that often derail your eating and exercise goals? Much of what we’ve been taught about creating change in eating and exercise is simplistic, outdated, and for many, misguided. Sustainable-behavior-change researcher and lifestyle coach Michelle Segar has devoted decades to the study of how to achieve lasting changes in eating and exercise and other self-care behaviors. Segar explains the surprising reasons why our eating and exercise plans so often crash when they come up against real life. She calls these conflicts “choice points,” and shows that they are the real place of power for achieving lasting changes in eating and exercise. The Joy Choice offers a fresh, brain-based solution that turns the old behavior-change paradigm on its head. This groundbreaking book liberates you from the self-defeating obligations and rigid requirements of past diet and workout regimens and reveals what emerging research suggests really drives the consistent choices that power sustainable change. Designed from cutting-edge decision science and real-world experience coaching clients, you’ll discover the easy, flexible, and three-step joy-infused decision tool that works with the chaos of daily life, guiding you to finally achieve and maintain your eating and exercise goals once and for all—and enjoy doing it! "One of the best health books of 2022”— Washington Post “If you want a smart, science-based, and joyful approach to sustainable behavior change, start here." ―Tom Rath, NYT bestselling author of Eat Move Sleep and StrengthsFinder 2.0 "The Joy Choice...reveals easy and fun ways to stay consistent with our health goals, while still tending to the meaningful people and demands in our lives."―Tina Payne Bryson, Ph.D., NYT bestselling co-author of The Whole-Brain Child and author of The Bottom Line for Baby "If you’re frustrated with your progress in exercising and eating right, this book is for you. Michelle Segar shifts the focus...toward a new approach to our choices that is full of humanity, imperfection, and, yes, joy.” ―Daniel H. Pink, NYT bestselling author of The Power of Regret and Drive
256 pages, Paperback
Published July 11, 2023
88 people are currently reading
654 people want to read
About the author
Michelle Segar
4 books38 followersMICHELLE L. SEGAR is a behavioral sustainability scientist and Director of the Sport, Health, & Activity Research and Policy (SHARP) Center at the University of Michigan. She holds a Ph.D. in Psychology and Master's degrees in Health Behavior and Kinesiology. A sought-after advisor, her expertise has been featured in The New York Times, Forbes, Elle, Prevention, and other major media.
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Displaying 1 - 26 of 26 reviews
August 8, 2022
Peppy, simple, and immediately useful, unlike many such self help books. I enjoyed reading it and plan to implement some of the suggestions immediately.
Summary: When we are trying to cultivate healthy habits, we encounter choice points. Choice points are situations that present temptation, make us feel rebellious, are socially inconvenient, or seem like all-or-nothing decisions between perfection and failure. The author suggests that instead of giving up or trying to grimly bull through, we should pause, consider the imperfect options, and pick the imperfect solution that feels best.
The decision disrupters are temptation, rebellion, accommodation, and perfection (TRAP). The strategy is POP - Pause, Open up your options and play, and Pick the Joy. (I prefer Pause, Options, Pick).
Summary: When we are trying to cultivate healthy habits, we encounter choice points. Choice points are situations that present temptation, make us feel rebellious, are socially inconvenient, or seem like all-or-nothing decisions between perfection and failure. The author suggests that instead of giving up or trying to grimly bull through, we should pause, consider the imperfect options, and pick the imperfect solution that feels best.
The decision disrupters are temptation, rebellion, accommodation, and perfection (TRAP). The strategy is POP - Pause, Open up your options and play, and Pick the Joy. (I prefer Pause, Options, Pick).
July 8, 2022
For those who are new to habits, this book might be helpful. But reading the 'pick the joy choice' multiple times almost on every page was a little too much for me. Don't get me wrong, the 'POP' is great to think about, but it's not really innovative, just common sense for those who have been building habits for years.
This could easily have been a big article instead of a book, explaining the concept. Also a bit too much about weight loss. Not everyone who creates habits, is mainly focused on weight loss. So I can't help but think this book was very niche specific.
This could easily have been a big article instead of a book, explaining the concept. Also a bit too much about weight loss. Not everyone who creates habits, is mainly focused on weight loss. So I can't help but think this book was very niche specific.
January 10, 2022
Not all books that discuss habits are actually practical. This was! Not only that, but there was a good dose of science behind it, Many of the suggestions are new to me and were thought provoking. I don’t want to give spoilers, but this is definitely not your average “just try harder and do it over and over” kind of book. Thank you to NetGalley for the advance copy in exchange for my honest review!
May 4, 2024
As someone who found ways to like working out this book didn’t necessarily help with that but it provided meta cognitive pieces that worked well with some personal behavior coaching I’ve participated in. It continued my own personal work in being flexible, finding options and losing even more of the perfectionism I can experience when it comes to my own personal journey.
October 19, 2023
Some people naturally gravitate toward a more disciplined lifestyle with habits and routines, while others wrestle to a greater extent with self-control and focus. If you struggle to maintain healthy lifelong habits and are looking for a simple strategy, this book might be right for you.
The book's first part exposes barriers to lasting change—i.e., decision disrupters—and how we can understand and avoid them. The second part presents the solution with graphic-based strategies, decision shortcuts, and choices that keep us moving forward and achieving lasting change.
The key to lasting change is to be mindful when faced with a challenging situation and avoid derailing through temptation, rebellion, accommodation, and perfection (TRAP). The strategy used is POP!—pause, open up your options and play, and pick the joy choice.
The advice is straightforward. Instead of all-or-nothing and giving up, you learn to make trade-offs that keep you moving toward your goals. The graphics reinforce the concepts and break up the text. Appendix A showcases an eating example, which is helpful, and I recommend reading before jumping into chapter one. Appendix B is written for health care professionals and is well-thought-out.
There are a lot of psychological terms that are defined but may cause the reader to skim over sections. The concepts are simple and repeated often throughout the book. The approach and strategies may not appeal or work for everyone; however, reflecting and honoring what may work for others is equally important.
The book's first part exposes barriers to lasting change—i.e., decision disrupters—and how we can understand and avoid them. The second part presents the solution with graphic-based strategies, decision shortcuts, and choices that keep us moving forward and achieving lasting change.
The key to lasting change is to be mindful when faced with a challenging situation and avoid derailing through temptation, rebellion, accommodation, and perfection (TRAP). The strategy used is POP!—pause, open up your options and play, and pick the joy choice.
The advice is straightforward. Instead of all-or-nothing and giving up, you learn to make trade-offs that keep you moving toward your goals. The graphics reinforce the concepts and break up the text. Appendix A showcases an eating example, which is helpful, and I recommend reading before jumping into chapter one. Appendix B is written for health care professionals and is well-thought-out.
There are a lot of psychological terms that are defined but may cause the reader to skim over sections. The concepts are simple and repeated often throughout the book. The approach and strategies may not appeal or work for everyone; however, reflecting and honoring what may work for others is equally important.
July 5, 2023
This was an interesting read because it was trying to be a book on habits, diet/exercise, and intuitive eating without successfully doing justice to any of the aforementioned topics. She debunked what we think of common knowledge of habits but never really explains how to successfully form them. There is no diet or exercise prescription in the book if that's what your looking for, and her described clients do typical uninspired exercises such as walking/running, and dancing in various scenarios (in the pool, while cooking, etc.). And lastly she describes intuitive eating (founded by Evelyn Triole and Elyse Resch) without actually using any of the originator's principles, for example, there is no good or bad food in intuitive eating, get the author constantly refers to diet culture's "bad foods" and making "better choices" throughout the book. Additionally, the author gets so close to the point that diet culture and fatphobia is to blame for her client's reluctance to exercise and is the root of many of their food relationship issues. The one redeeming factor was the author's POP acronym, but even this is basic problem solving and is not worth the read.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
November 21, 2022
The Joy Choice offers a fresh, brain-based solution that turns the old behavior-change paradigm on its head. This groundbreaking book liberates you from the self-defeating obligations and rigid requirements of past diet and workout regimens and reveals what emerging research suggests really drives the consistent choices that power sustainable change.
Thank you to Hachette Books for the opportunity to read and review an advanced readers copy of this book. This in no way affects my review, all opinions are my own.
I read this book a few weeks ago and honestly, it's a little forgettable. Like most self-help books, this one quickly became repetitive and I think could've easily been trimmed down to be more straightforward. I appreciated the real life application examples, but I feel like there were some gaps in the teachings that could've been addressed in regards to healthy eating behaviors. Overall, it was okay, but not something I think will be applicable to my life in the long term.
Thank you to Hachette Books for the opportunity to read and review an advanced readers copy of this book. This in no way affects my review, all opinions are my own.
I read this book a few weeks ago and honestly, it's a little forgettable. Like most self-help books, this one quickly became repetitive and I think could've easily been trimmed down to be more straightforward. I appreciated the real life application examples, but I feel like there were some gaps in the teachings that could've been addressed in regards to healthy eating behaviors. Overall, it was okay, but not something I think will be applicable to my life in the long term.
December 31, 2023
If you've struggled to form habits, then this is probably worth a read/listen. Having already read Atomic Habits: An Easy & Proven Way to Build Good Habits & Break Bad Ones and realizing that it wasn't going to work for me, I was curious to see how Segar would approach habits. And, in the end, after a whole bunch of research-based stuff about why building habits is hard, she tells you to remember "POP" which is the choice you'll make when you need to make a decision (and by remembering to do it and doing it repeatedly, it'll get easier, almost like... a habit).
Will I implement what I read? Maybe? IDK. But I appreciate that the author repeatedly pointed out that most diets and exercise routines are unsustainable long-term and that you need to come up with something that is realistic and sustainable.
Will I implement what I read? Maybe? IDK. But I appreciate that the author repeatedly pointed out that most diets and exercise routines are unsustainable long-term and that you need to come up with something that is realistic and sustainable.
January 23, 2024
coming from her previous book No Sweat i had higher expectations for this one. i am definitely disappointed and i believe it could have been a book with way fewer pages.
the huge takeaway though would be the emphasis of conflict = choice point that she mentioned countless times and i can definitely see it as a piece of valuable information.
with regards to all the rest? well, it felt like every other book. so much theory and no practice. so many pages and analyses with information that i have either already forgotten or already knew. it's been over half the book to get to the actual point (Chapter 12 + Epilogue + Appendix A). and to be honest, even the POP! method seems pretty theoretical to me as well.
that being said, I'll try to implement it and i hope that the conflict = choice point will be actually helpful from now on.
the huge takeaway though would be the emphasis of conflict = choice point that she mentioned countless times and i can definitely see it as a piece of valuable information.
with regards to all the rest? well, it felt like every other book. so much theory and no practice. so many pages and analyses with information that i have either already forgotten or already knew. it's been over half the book to get to the actual point (Chapter 12 + Epilogue + Appendix A). and to be honest, even the POP! method seems pretty theoretical to me as well.
that being said, I'll try to implement it and i hope that the conflict = choice point will be actually helpful from now on.
August 16, 2024
A good start to approaching long lasting behavioral change from a neuropsych perspective. I felt seen with the author’s description of busy life and the to-do tornado, and thank you for acknowledging all the baggage we collectively have in regard to weight stigma, impossible beauty standards, exercise and restriction as punishment, etc. Is the text repetitive? Oh my gosh yes. Are the cartoons cheesy? Yes. Will these things help me remember the info? Hopefully.
Cons: I feel like this barely scratched the surface with how executive functioning can support the changes we want to make, but maybe the whole point was to be more mindful about our greater purpose and by thinking about possibilities we engage our executive functions? Left feeling a little confused about that, and as someone with working memory challenges, I’d appreciate more clarity there.
Cons: I feel like this barely scratched the surface with how executive functioning can support the changes we want to make, but maybe the whole point was to be more mindful about our greater purpose and by thinking about possibilities we engage our executive functions? Left feeling a little confused about that, and as someone with working memory challenges, I’d appreciate more clarity there.
April 16, 2022
The subtitle of this books explains the whole concept: How to finally achieve lasing changes in eating and exercise. So basically what I have learned from this book is that I have been approaching it all wrong. And my husband has been telling me for years. Once again he is mad that I don't listen to him and I listen to an author I don't know, haha. But joking aside, but book focuses on improving your eating, health and lifestyle and with that weight loss will come. We focus too much on the scale and the weight. When we do that, we yo-yo diet, which is what many people do, including me.
This book goes over four different disruptors that can cause a person to derail from their journey. I am definitely going to try to take some of these methods and apply them to my life to find joy in my choices.
Thanks so mcuh to Hachett Publishers for a gifted copy!
This book goes over four different disruptors that can cause a person to derail from their journey. I am definitely going to try to take some of these methods and apply them to my life to find joy in my choices.
Thanks so mcuh to Hachett Publishers for a gifted copy!
April 5, 2024
In our world of striving to create healthy habits in eating and exercise, The Joy Choice truly creates a mindset of Joy in this journey of flexibility and meta cognition that brings the calm we all need. It starts a bit slow but builds and truly delivers! The processes are easy to recall and create for a lifetime of learning and creativity. We can lean on the Joy Choice in this journey of our best self.
March 31, 2022
I found this book to be extraordinarily helpful and practical in its scope. The author does an excellent job of weaving science in with daily life matters. I particularly found the POP exercise/tool to be useful in helping me with creating my own joy choices!
Thanks to NetGalley, the author and publisher for an advanced reading copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.
Thanks to NetGalley, the author and publisher for an advanced reading copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.
July 23, 2022
An unnecessary, disappointing and frustrating book.
In summary, this book says the following: If you have difficulty following your plan because you have a craving for junk food, then don't eat but take a break (mindfulness) and then find a compromise. Question: Why are there so many Mindfulness trainings if it were as simple as described in this book?
In summary, this book says the following: If you have difficulty following your plan because you have a craving for junk food, then don't eat but take a break (mindfulness) and then find a compromise. Question: Why are there so many Mindfulness trainings if it were as simple as described in this book?
March 16, 2023
The whole message of this book is "stop trying to achieve perfection in your goals. Doing something on them every day is better than nothing." There-I have saved you several hours of reading. If, however, you don't believe the above, you can read this book and it will walk you through it in
agonizing, excruciating detail
complete with cheesy cartoons.
September 12, 2024
The Joy Choice by Michelle Segar is well written. The book explains how we can improve our health, memory, and experiences with conscious decision making tools. The tools are given acronyms, for readers to remember easily. I really enjoyed the fact that getting your mind going in the right direction leads to behavior change that is positive.
May 25, 2022
Like A Breath of Fresh Air
Dr. Seger’s refreshing approach to diet and exercise feels like opening a window that’s been painted shut for years. I guarantee it will have you stopping to breathe it all in and marvel at what a difference a little fresh air makes.
Dr. Seger’s refreshing approach to diet and exercise feels like opening a window that’s been painted shut for years. I guarantee it will have you stopping to breathe it all in and marvel at what a difference a little fresh air makes.
Read
April 11, 2023I’m having a hard time giving this book a rating. At times I thought this book was enlightening. I’m the picture child for her section on perfectionism. On the other hand, I felt this book was a little too peppy for my taste.
Basically this is the antithesis of Can’t Hurt Me by David Goggins.
Basically this is the antithesis of Can’t Hurt Me by David Goggins.
August 13, 2024
I loved this book, it incorporated the science of our motivations for achieving lasting changes in exercise and eating. The joy choice is giving yourself grace through flexibility in how you eat and exercise that most bring you joy while still reaching your goals!!
July 19, 2022
Mostly common sense re-branded. Nothing new.
July 22, 2022
The idea of this book is to stay on track with your goals, when you get to a choice point, pause and pick the best option.
December 23, 2022
Acronyms
TRAPS-Temptation
Rebellion
Accommodation
Perfection
POP-Pause
Open up the options and play
Pick the joy choice
3 Big Ideas
Testing
TRAPS-Temptation
Rebellion
Accommodation
Perfection
POP-Pause
Open up the options and play
Pick the joy choice
3 Big Ideas
Testing
March 11, 2023
I absolutely lived it,practical tips to help you achieve lasting results
October 20, 2023
don't be so hide-bound. flex & expand. support the joy choice
November 23, 2023
I definitely learned things from the book. As I read a little bit at a time it helped me start building a consistent gym routine. And at the same time this book was slow and felt very drawn out.
October 3, 2022
This was a book club read. It may be something for absolute habit beginners or people who really just start out to understand human behaviour. The content is not wrong, i.e. one most certainly can learn from it. But it is far too simple and superficial and as such will not help everyone and even if it helps someone short-term, it likely will not help long-term (and in all situations). There's neither depth nor breadth in the treatment of the topic. And the suggestions are not wholistic. And sadly, I don't trust the author that she is aware of what is missing in her treatment of the topic.
Nevertheless, the simplicity of the framework does have some appeal. It is proposed in a way that allows it to easily slip into memory with the acronyms TRAP and POP. I couldn't help but started to notice TRAPs and then even without intention and totally effortlessly I started to also POP plans at (conflict) choice points even with things not related to eating and exercise. However, I am perfectly aware of what is missing in the book and it may well be that this is why it works for me really well.
I did enjoy the scientific references, but I found them to be quite biased. Also sometimes publication titles are not complete and neither the publication platform nor the publication year is mentioned. These are very sloppy pre-bachelor mistakes that I would not expect from someone with a PhD. I was torn between 3 and 4 stars and would have rounded up to 4, but the sloppy citing made me round down in the end.
The audiobook is well narrated.
Nevertheless, the simplicity of the framework does have some appeal. It is proposed in a way that allows it to easily slip into memory with the acronyms TRAP and POP. I couldn't help but started to notice TRAPs and then even without intention and totally effortlessly I started to also POP plans at (conflict) choice points even with things not related to eating and exercise. However, I am perfectly aware of what is missing in the book and it may well be that this is why it works for me really well.
I did enjoy the scientific references, but I found them to be quite biased. Also sometimes publication titles are not complete and neither the publication platform nor the publication year is mentioned. These are very sloppy pre-bachelor mistakes that I would not expect from someone with a PhD. I was torn between 3 and 4 stars and would have rounded up to 4, but the sloppy citing made me round down in the end.
The audiobook is well narrated.
Displaying 1 - 26 of 26 reviews