James Fell - Lose It Right: A Brutally Honest 3-Stage Program to Help You Get Fit and Lose Weight Without Losing Your Mind

After I quit bike racing I imperceptibly put on 15 pounds in a decade. But then I expected to lose them all in a couple of months. When that didnt happen I got discouraged and gave up. Now I understand why and what I need to do thanks to James Fells firm but fair program to lose it right, keep it off, and shed my guilt along with my pounds. In an ocean of diet books, Lose It Right is the most rational and reasonable one Ive read.

Michael Shermer, publisher of Skeptic magazine, monthly columnist for Scientific American, author of The Believing Brain

Reading a weight loss book can virtually never be described as entertaining, but then again, most weight loss books dont have James Fell as an author! With his trademark brash and often laugh-out-loud funny writing style, James and his co-author Margaret combine humor and evidence to provide a useable and science-based blueprint to inspire beginners and experts alike to be healthier, happier and more fit.

Yoni Freedhoff, MD, author of The Diet Fix

James Fell has just done everyone a favor. In heroic fashion without regard for his own safety, Fell jumps into the $70 billion a year tub of crap known as the weight loss industry. Sifting through all the foul-smelling nonsense he separates the gimmicks most experts try to sell you and identifies the most realistic and sensible approach to long-term weight loss. If your goal is to achieve a healthy weight for the rest of your life with intelligent advice, read this book.

Paul Plakas, Fitness Expert on Gemini Awardwinning shows Taking It Off and X-Weighted

You will learn and laugh out loud. An outstanding book that will engage you right away with its straight talk, clarity and practical applications derived from latest research. Essential reading for anybody interested in losing weight today.

Miguel Alonso-Alonso, MD, Instructor in Neurology, Harvard Medical School

James Fell has written a truly engaging, pragmatic and epiphanic book. Lose It Right is not just a healthy lifestyle plan that you do, but a person you become.

Sue D. Pedersen, MD, FRCP(C), Specialist in Endocrinology and Metabolism, C-ENDO Clinic, Calgary

James Fell says his book Lose It Right is not a weight-loss book or get in shape book but a lifestyle overhaul book. What he doesnt say is his book is easy to read and entertaining; funny yet factual; informative but inspirational. Lose It Right is the perfect book for the person who has failed at fad diets and now wants to learn how to manage food, weight and exercise for the long run. Fell will take you on a journey that is based on science, but couched in realityalong with a good dose of humor.

Nancy Clark, MS, RD, author of Nancy Clarks Sports Nutrition Guidebook

PUBLISHED BY RANDOM HOUSE CANADA

Copyright 2014 James Fell

All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without permission in writing from the publisher, except by a reviewer, who may quote brief passages in a review. Published in 2014 by Random House Canada, a division of Random House of Canada Limited, Toronto. Distributed in Canada by Random House of Canada Limited.

www.randomhouse.ca

Random House Canada and colophon are registered trademarks.

This book is intended as a reference volume only and not as a medical manual. It is not intended as a substitute for any treatment that may have been prescribed by a doctor. The author is not responsible for your specific health or allergy needs that may require medical supervision, or for any adverse reactions to the recipes contained in this book.

The recommendations in this book are generic, since nutritional needs vary depending on age, sex, and health status. If you suspect that you have a serious medical problem, the author strongly recommends seeking proper medical treatment.

Library and Archives Canada Cataloguing in Publication

Fell, James, 1968
Lose it right : a brutally honest 3-stage program to help you get fit and lose weight without losing your mind / James Fell and Margaret Yfera-Leitch.

ISBN 978-0-345-81246-9
eBook ISBN 978-0-345-81247-6

1. Physical fitness. 2. Weight loss. 3. Exercise. 1. Nutrition. I. Yfera-Leitch, Margaret
II. Title.

RA781.F445 2014 613.7 C2013-900749-0

Cover design by Leah Springate

Cover image: Lori Andrews

v3.1

International law dictates that I dedicate my first book to my wife. In compliance, this ones for the lovely Dr. Heidi Fell.

Margaret Yfera-Leitch and I bonded over Oprah.

I wrote an Open Letter to Oprah for my fitness column in the Los Angeles Times. In it, I told Ms. Winfrey I thought her health and nutrition gurus were not helping. Margaret sent me an email, all the way from Spain, to tell me she thought the column was awesome.

Then I met Margaret, and I thought she was awesome. Shes a respected obesity researcher with a real PhD in psychology from a real university. The focus of her studies has been eating behaviors and their link to body weight.

We bonded over Oprah and our mutual disdain for the mass of male bovine droppings scattered all over the weight loss industry. This book represents our desire to bring sanity and honesty to an industry sorely lacking in both.

Youre not a real journalist until someone threatens to sue you.

An editor once said this to me. It was comforting at the time, because the person doing the threatening was a famous weight loss guru. Our war of words made international news. And by international I mean they even covered it in the Ethiopian press.

That column led to much fan mail, moderate hate mail, and one threat to cave [my] head in with a kettlebell.

Although Ive made enemies through my writing about fitness and health, Ive also made friends. World-renowned obesity researchers have sung my praises and shared my work, and Ive lost count of how many medical doctors have told me they recommend my writing to their patients.

In Lose It Right, Margaret and I have distilled the best of our combined knowledge of healthy weight loss into a guide you can use in your own life. Weve come up with a three-stage program that will help transform your eating behaviors and your lifestyle to create a leaner, healthier and higher-performing you. No miracles, secrets or magic; we rely on science and big-picture planning to help you achieve your goals.

Final warning: take note of the words brutally and honest in the subtitle.

Okay. Now that all the wimps are gone, lets do this.

The first principle is that you must not fool yourselfand you are the easiest person to fool.

RICHARD FEYNMAN , Nobel laureate in physics

Here is part of a rejection letter I received in the early days of pitching this book, sent to my agent from the editor of a major publishing house:

Theres so much I really like here, David. James has a brash and audacious voice, and a sensible and straightforward message. His column in the