Joy Bauer - Your Inner Skinny

Finding Your Inner Skinny E very diet starts with passion for action. It takes time and an ocean of emotional energy to face the reality of excess weight and admit the need for change. Because dieters believe that every encounter with food holds the potential for either accomplishment or diet disaster, they are always alert and on guard. People who have never had to lose weight dont understand how exhausting the process can be. Yes, downright exhausting. Your search for the right diet brought you here, which means you have already done the initial work.

Congratulations you have that passion for action! I believe that if you are going to expend all that energy, you should get something more than broken promises, disappointment, or a temporary drain of water weight. You deserve to get something spectacular for your efforts. Trust me when I tell you that it is possible to transform more than just your waistlineyou can lose weight and improve nearly every aspect of your life. This is by far the absolute best gift youll ever give yourself. Thats why I created my diet and Your Inner Skinny . Isnt that what we all want, what drives our optimism each time we make a New Years resolution or buy a new swimsuit? Of course it is! Imagine waking up each morning feeling rested and alert, loving the way your body looks, fitting perfectly in all your clothes, and enjoying a steady flow of energy and enthusiasm.

If you are willing to invest even a fraction of the energy youve given to all the other diets youve probably already tried, you can look incredible and feel extraordinary every single day. Expectations I know the power of my diet firsthand (after all, I eat food, too!) and from an overwhelming amount of positive feedback from countless personal clients. Over the years, the men and women who followed my diet principles have collectively dropped more than 250,000 poundsthe heft equivalent of the population of a small town! I also learned the effect weight loss can have from Joy Fit Club members, those determined dieters whoon their own, without my helptook off between 100 and 300 pounds and kept it off. They went from channel surfing to paddling a kayak, running marathons and triathlons, and hiking across Europe. They feel so healthy and energized that they get remarried on a Caribbean beach, play ball with their kids, go back to college, discover hidden talents, and even forge new careers. They have inspired friends and family to lose weight.

Dont believe me? You can meet them yourselfscattered throughout this book are twenty profiles of inspiring people (most are Joy Fit Club members) who challenged themselves to change their diets, never expecting that so much of the rest of their lives would end up altered as well. If all that sounds like a lot to promise, it is. But its hard to argue with thousands of similar success stories, large and small. The best part is that you can be one of them . Your Inner Skinny takes you through your transformation in four easy, spelled-out, mistake-proof steps. In each step, I give you general guidance, specific menus for each day of the week, portion control, and balanced nutrients in the right amounts and combinations to help you look incredible and feel extraordinary.

Heres what you can expect, beginning as early as the first week and increasing for as long as you stick with it: Weight loss (of course) More energy Strength and stamina Less bloating Greater self-confidence Better sleep Fewer mood swings Better memory Clearer thinking The ability to move with greater ease Improved relationships with others The experience of waking up with enjoyment and excitement every day Sounds good, doesnt it? All these goodies dont happen by magic, though. You also have to bring something to the table (both literally and metaphorically). 1. Change your mind. It is important that you realize that starting a diet is not a mark of failure, but is in reality a sign that you have already succeeded. It is so easy to fall into the trap of thinking that you are somehow defective for being overweight and that going on a diet says to the worldand to your own inner criticthat you couldnt get this one aspect of your life under control on your own.

Although many people begin a diet in desperation when they have hit rock bottom in some weight-related way, beginning this diet is not an act of defeat. It is an act of courage and hopefulness and success! It means you havent given up on yourself. What could be more positive than that? 2. Change your eating style. Im sure its obvious that unhealthy habits are not worth keeping, but ditching them can be tricky. Habits are ingrained in the brain.

They are familiar and comfortable, and sometimes they serve to make other people happy. Every family has a set of rituals, recipes, and cooking styles passed down from generation to generation. While these are a part of who you are, you may have to reevaluate and adapt them to twenty-first-century health standards so they work for you and dont continue to translate into extra pounds. Throughout this book, youll find specific tips on how to make better food choices and how to substitute healthier versions of some of your diets worst offenders. I also give waistline-friendly recipe makeovers of many family favorites, such as Chicken Parmesan, Turkey Sausage with Sauted Peppers and Onions, even Creamy Chocolate Pudding. 3.

Change your loyalties. If you identify with food, separate yourself. You are not an afternoon chocolate bar. You are not a supersized meal. You are not family dinner. Anytime you find yourself defending poor food choices because they are something you always do, stop.

You are not a collection of bad habits. What you are is a person who wants to lose a few pounds and become healthier. That may sound like funny advice, but you will probably run into situations in which food seems to define you. For example, maybe you are the office candy machine because youve got a jar of snacks on your desk. (If you take away the candy, I guarantee your coworkers will notice and ask you whats wrong.) You dont have to remain loyal to who you have always been. There is a new you ready to emerge.

Always remember: You are more than food. You are stronger than a craving. You are more complicated than a habit. You are more thoughtful than mindless eating. You are just as successful on day 1 of a diet as you are on day 301because success is in the doing. With each passing day, youll look more incredible, and feel even more extraordinary.

Food Choice Basics I have made it my lifes work to make weight loss as easy as possible. With my diet, you dont have to think about exactly which foods to eat because my meal plans do it for you. I tell you exactly what to eat (and how much to eat) at every meal for the first six weeks. Its almost as easy as ordering from a menu. Im often asked what kind of diet this is, what is the nutritional shorthandis it low-fat, low-carb, no-meat? My diet doesnt conform to that kind of simplification because it contains a rich diversity of foods from all categories. Steps Two, Three, and Four even allow you to have fun foods yes, that includes chocolate! Really, its just good food in the right amounts, with room for snacks and indulgences.