Grand Theft Weight Loss

A health book that gives alternatives to dieting, such as delayed gratification and the use of rituals before eating. A thought provoking book. Thanks to Netgalley and the publishers for giving me a copy of the book.

An interesting take on losing diet mentality and switching our thoughts around food to better suit our health. A deep dive is done on the ambiance of eating, plating, gratification, and eating mindfully. Definite, this book is full if gold nuggets of knowledge on how to switch your relationship with food.

This is a brilliant antidote to the problem of overeating and persistent diet culture. I wish I had had access to this information years ago. The author applies scientific discoveries from other areas of research to the problems most Americans have with losing weight. The only caveat being simple does not mean EASY. Extremely helpful to people on a quest to lead more healthful lives.

This book gave some different strategies on how to lose weight, including, mindfulness, rituals and looking at how much pleasure I get from eating each food.
I will try and use these tips to help me achieve a healthier lifestyle.
Thank you to NetGalley and BooksGoSocial for my e-copy in exchange for an honest review.

Thank you to Books Go Social and Net Galley for an e-ARC of this title in exchange for my honest review. This book had some interesting concepts about weight loss, and they make sense. It's a quick, easy read, and I'd recommend this book. All opinions are my own.

A practical application of psychology that can be applied to weight loss. Honestly, its annoying I didn't find this book sooner.

A look at a few ideas from the Alvear's background at how people process information, and how these processes can be used to lose weight, or cut back on sugar/alcohol, or living healthier in general.

Everything in the book can be used starting today.

This is an excellent, highly readable resource for anyone pursuing wellness, whether or not that actually includes weight loss. The scientific basis for the author's ideas seems solid and well-documented, but the overall tone is conversational and actually quite funny. I appreciated that there was no harsh judgment, demands for perfection, or black and white thinking. Instead this was a realistic guide about how to work with ourselves as humans, with all our inherent foibles, to support our overall wellness and happiness.

While the author rightfully identifies the overall goals as health and joyful living, there are some slips into fat-shaming and diet culture. Sometimes foods are labeled as "bad" or "problem" or "unhealthy" and there were a few times "fat" had a negative implication instead of being a neutral descriptor. I wish these weren't in there, but, for me at least, they didn't totally ruin the overall good message of this book.

Many thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for the opportunity to read and review!

Completely refreshing, my background is scientific and I was very sceptical that this book would teach me anything I didn’t already (realistically) know even if I’d been slightly in denial. I’ve never had a major problem with my weight but am aware of fluctuations, which don’t always seem fair or make any sense so I thought I’d give this a read.
The author is brilliantly honest, including giving very frank personal insights into his own relationships with food which all resonate strongly. He also has a no nonsense approach and has a sense of humour to match. His whole manner made me relax and trust him and be less harsh on myself, overall feeling less guilt and ready to embrace a new mindset and not worried about what I’d previously probably stress about as failings.
I love the way the science is applied and borrowed from other areas of life, as is the psychology. Weight loss should be science based and rigid fact based but it’s also, annoyingly, a bit mystic and unreliable for no apparent reason, which makes me cross and more likely to give up and fail. The way the author relates our body weight mechanism to evolutionary matters one hundred per cent resonates with me as this is how I rationalise most things too. Some of techniques he mentions and reasoning he applies are therefore total lightbulb moments for me. Love this and completely recommend it.

Grand Theft Weight Loss by Michael Alvear
How Stealing Scientific Discoveries Outside The Diet Industry Helps You Lose Weight

Becoming aware of “weight” issues in the late 60’s in the time of Twiggy-esque beauty, going on my first “diet” in the 80’s, and having been on and off diets since then I have read much, tried many eating plans, applied nursing school education to more recent science through the years, and always finding th topic interesting – I still managed to find some new and interesting ideas to consider moving forward in my quest for health and wellbeing. Over the past two years of the pandemic I have dropped fifty pounds using some of the ideas in this book and habituated my taste buds in ways that remind me of a suggestion in this book…before even reading it. This is a book that will definitely be of value to those interested in the subject whether they need to lose weight or want to assist others in doing and are newbies or old hands in the field.

What I liked:
* The writing style was easy to follow with enough science but not so much it would overwhelm the layman
* Information made sense, had scientific backing, and made sense
* Ideas to implement were doable, painless, and worth trying
* The charts, illustrations and photos were excellent…those plates of Oreos and the suggestion on how to reduce intake of them over time were…VERY interesting
* The idea that weight loss should NOT be the goal…why and what should replace it was intriguing
* Each chapter was succinct and well crafted
* There was a linear progression to the book
* There was a synopsis and chapter review at the end
* I was able to enjoy the information and understand it easily

What I didn’t like:
* Not sure it is a dislike but a personal question…can a person actually “stop dieting” and lose weight? Something for me to consider some more.

Did I enjoy this book? Yes
Would I recommend it to others? Yes

Thank you to NetGalley for the ARC – This is my honest review.

4-5 Stars

A very readable NON diet book that gives you practical, behavioral changes to gradually reach habituation - a state where your brain no longer responds to changes in eating habits or food desire by creating more hunger or slowing metabolism. There are several easy to remember, easy to implement practices, such as Pause-Rate-Decide - a rating scale for determining how much fulfillment you would get from eating certain foods at certain times. Alvear borrows from other disciplines (such as drug addiction therapy) to show how they can be adapted in the field of weight loss. With so much conflicting information about diet, supplements, medical interventions, and exercise for weight loss, this is a book that makes sense.

I'm very grateful to NetGalley and BooksGoSocial for this review copy.

Loved this book!

'Grand theft Weight Loss' is a very clever book because it uses scientific findings and anecdotal evidence to get us using clever strategies to manage our diet without having to 'diet'. This ticks lots of boxes for me!

I have tried some of the strategies suggested and can definitely report results and greater enjoyment of my food. I am a big reader in the weight loss / diet / nutrition genre and was delighted that this had some content that I hadn't read before or considered.

In addition to having some great content, it is also very well written so reading it is a pleasure rather than a chore (not always easy to acheive in this genre!!)

My thanks to Netgalley, author and publisher for the opportunity to review this book in exchange for an honest review.

This is a non-diet book that presents an interesting take on losing diet mentality and switching our thoughts around food to better suit our health. The ideas presented were straightforward and science based.

Another way to look at weight loss. I thought it was thought-provoking and different. The concepts the author presents are certainly worthy to try.

I thought it refreshing this book is not about strict rules to lose weight but looks at the human mind and discusses things like cutting sugar and reducing portions (the Oreo-example).

Thanks to the author and publisher for giving me a chance to read this book and try it out!

This was a really interesting read and definitely not diet-y at all , this book gives practical help to change gradually and shows your brain or trains it to non diet ways. Fab guidance in steps and practices, Alvear also adapts help from other therapies and shows how they can be adapted. I loved this book so much, in a world with so conflicting information about diet and people wanting to just make money and keep you addicted to dieting and feeling bad, this is a book that makes sense and will work if you commit to change, just like therapy it will take time but you get the reward back

Thanks to netgalley and the publisher for a free copy for an honest opinion

This is a very different type of weight loss book. It's innovative in the way that it compares drug addiction to strong food cravings. The book also suggests some creative ways to approach weight loss that will benefit readers.

This book is very exciting! The author takes research from all types of different fields, and applies the findings to weight loss. Since the scientists weren't researching weight loss, they just discarded the findings. The author took all these results, and combined them into a weight loss plan that you can taylor to you specifically. It's a very scientific approach, and one we haven't seen ever! This book is a must have for anyone struggling to lose weight!

Not your typical weight loss book.
This book takes business and science and applies it to weight loss. But for the long haul. You won't lose ten pounds by Friday.
Science shows that going from your usual ( got you chunky ) diet directly to a low cal, low fat diet actually causes your body to SAVE YOUR FAT because it thinks you are starving so if you use a more gradual approach you can convince your body you are not starving and don't have to save your fat.
Although I have not tried every method here, I did read them all and there are some gems such as " If there is food in your mouth, there shouldn't be any on your fork" a subtle way to remember to eat mindfully.
Also, The Oreo method to reducing your junk food intake...believe me this has some truth to it.
Then there is the " how to make food that is good for you...actually appeal to you."
The only thing I would have liked added to this book is maybe an actual idea of what a person needs for a healthy diet for the purpose of life in general, vitamins and minerals, not necessarily weight loss so the average person knows what a well rounded diet looks like.
I very much recommend

I found this book fascinating! filled with really useful nuggets of information and lots of concepts to consider. the premise is fascinating, it takes research from scientific research fields then applies those findings to health and weight loss - so interesting! There are a million and one diet books available. This is not a diet, this is genuinely a game-changing read. I'll be buying the physical book

This book made so much sense.It gives tips and hints on how to be healthy and well, not just the national obsession with losing weight. The ideas are sensible and rational and I can't understand why more health professionals are not saying the same things. I was recommended a very popular weight loss program by my G.P. and couldn't understand why there was so many unhealthy chemicals on the diet (a can of coke in a sweet and sour sauce ?!). Get a grip folks and read this book.

A fascinating read and great to pick up and put down - a reference book for sure. I found that there were some fab tips in here to help me have a better relationship with food. No need to 'ban' a certain food - on a scale of 1-10 how desparate are you for it - less than a 7? save the treat for another day.

An enjoyable book to read on weight loss. It isn’t focused on the what to eat thankfully, as so many book are, but on the how to eat, mindfully.

Infused with humour and kindness this was an enjoyable read.
Thank you Booksgosocial and NetGalley for this ARC.

Losing weight is tough. Honestly. But it can be easier with tips found in this book. I like the compassionate approach and the reminder to be gentle with ourselves. Eating is supposed to be pleasurable, and we eat less when we focus on the pleasure. The also shares practical tips like how to condition ourselves to eat less and still enjoy food. I highly recommend this book, especially for groups to work through and support each other.

Many thanks to NetGalley, the author, and BooksGoSocial for letting me see an advance reader’s copy of Grand Theft Weight Loss.

Here is another book I loved before I even started to read it. I’ve said it before, but any book that sets out to debunk the multi-mega-bucks dieting industry gets my vote.

This is a book that does exactly what it says on the cover: “How stealing scientific discoveries outside the diet industry helps you lose weight.” Everything the author writes makes complete and total sense, and it’s all written in a positive, upbeat way that makes the reader want to try things out NOW.

There are a couple of very personal tales about how the author beat his own two addictions: prescription painkillers… and Oreos.

It is true that there are no footnotes to support the author’s findings, but this is a commercial work and not an academic journal. The absence of such notes made it so much more enjoyable for me, as they would have simply bogged it down and made reading the book more of an ordeal.

Weight loss should not be a chore to be endured, and nor should reading a book on how best to lose that weight.

The only thing wrong with this book is that the link to a worksheet didn’t work for me. I kept getting an error message saying the page doesn’t exist. But that in no way detracted from the enjoyment, the entertainment and the information packed into this book.

If you’re sick of the diet industry and want to wean yourself off the diet mentality, buy this book. It’s one I’ll be keeping, and I’ll refer to it over and over again.

Five stars.