Barbara Berkeley - Refuse to Regain!: 12 Tough Rules to Maintain the Body Youve Earned

Praise for

Refuse to Regain!

Losing weight is incredibly difficult, and keeping it off is even harder. In Refuse to Regain!, Dr. Berkeley combines equal parts science, experience as a practicing physician, and common sense to offer a no-nonsense prescription for success.

Mitchell A. Lazar, M.D., Ph.D.; Director, Institute for Diabetes, Obesity, and Metabolism, University of Pennsylvania

Do you honestly want to keep off the weight youve lost? You will find this ground-breaking book your best friend and guide to accomplish that goal. Based on a wealth of experience, sound reasoning, a keen understanding of human nature (as it functions in our modern food-rich environment), and a firm grasp of the best in nutritional science, Dr. Barbara Berkeley has developed an intelligent and effective formula.

Anthony Sebastian, M.D.; Professor of Medicine, University of California San Francisco

After 25 years of books about losing weight, there is finally a resource to guide patients and the dietitians who work with them during weight maintenance. This book gives nutritionists the tools to help clients fully understand what lifestyle changes need to be made to ensure success. A must-read for health care professionals working in weight management.

Darlene Paluf, RDLD

Dr. Berkeley has done a superb job of presenting a practical, easy to follow lifetime plan for eating that is virtually consistent with the diet to which humans are genetically adapted. This book is lively, to the point, and transforms difficult scientific concepts into easily understood explanations.

Loren Cordain, author of The Paleo Diet, The Paleo Diet for Athletes, and The Dietary Cure for Acne

Patient Praise for

Refuse to Regain!

I was concerned about permanent weight control after my diet. Dr. Berkeley reassured me that, once on the other side of the weight loss, I would continue healthy eating as a lifestyle choice. Now, 47 pounds lighter and 9 months later, I find that I have a sixth sense about what I can eat. I still enjoy cooking for my family while maintaining my current weight.

Barbara Rudolph

After twelve months under Dr. Berkeleys supervision, I lost more weight than many bariatric surgery patients and I am the size that I was thirty years ago. Seven months later, I have comfortably maintained the loss thanks to her twelve principles.

Jeffrey Wyner

After a life-long battle with my weight, losing and putting back the same pounds (and more) in an endless cycle, I finally learned how to avoid regain! Thanks to Dr. Berkeleys guidance, I have managed to lose and maintain a 60-pound weight-loss for almost 3 years. Her teaching, advice, and wisdom are now in print and available to everyone. I heartily recommend this book to anyone who wants to learn the truth about how to stay at the weight they want to be.

Linda Koenig

12 Tough Rules to
Maintain the Body Youve Earned!

by Barbara Berkeley, M.D.

Copyright 2013 by Barbara Berkeley
All rights reserved.

Printed in the United States of America.

Published by
Quill Driver Books
2006 S. Mary, Fresno, CA 93721
559-233-6633 / 800-345-4447
QuillDriverBooks.com

Quill Driver Books may be purchased for educational, fund-raising, business or promotional use. Please contact Special Markets, Quill Driver Books, at the above address or phone numbers.

Quill Driver Books Project Cadre:
Doris Hall, Linda Kay Hardie, Christine Hernandez,
Stephen Blake Mettee, Kent Sorsky, Cassandra Williams

First Printing

ISBN 978-1-61035-209-3

To order a copy of this book, please call
1-800-345-4447.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Berkeley, Barbara, 1948

Refuse to regain! : 12 tough rules to maintain the body youve earned!
/ by Barbara Berkeley.
p. cm.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN-13: 978-1-61035-209-3 (paperback)
1. Weight loss. I. Title.

RM222.2.B4527 2008

613.25--dc22

2008029704

For my daughters,
Ariel and Kayla

And in memory of my father, Jerry Berkeley, who taught me
how to live with joy

The production staff moved quickly and quietly, guiding me to my mark behind the closed stage door. Dressed in skinny black jeans, a tight off-the-shoulder knit shirt, a wide-studded belt and suede knee boots, I looked nothing like the woman in the photo montage playing for the audience on the other side. For a moment I felt like I was her againsadness filled me as I watched my photos on the monitor fade one into another as my voice told the story of how I got to be nearly 300 pounds.

I looked away and took a deep breath. This was no time for self-doubt. I was meeting Oprah in a few seconds and the producers expected me to walk out on stage with attitude and confidence.

I exhaled. Come on out! said Oprah, and the stage door sprung up. The audience gaspedand then cheered. The energy of their applause propelled me on to the stage and I left behind the insecure woman in the monitor. With a broad smile and hips swaying, I walked over to weight-loss expert Bob Greene and gave him a hug; then Oprah embraced me and said privately, You look great.

I was one of twenty-one people on the show that day who had lost a significant amount of weight through diet and exercise. Standing on stage with everyone at the end of the show, I looked around at their happy faces and it dawned on me that, as wonderful as this was, losing the weight was merely the ship revving up its engine, and being on Oprah was no more than the bon voyage party for the real journey ahead: maintenance.

I reached my weight-loss goal on a cloudy March day in 2007. I was at my doctors office for a routine checkup. I weighed 138 pounds. I said to my doctor, So, do you suppose Im done? She said, I think you can stop now. And that boring little exchange was how I became what Dr. Berkeley calls a POWPrevious Overweight Person. There was no fanfare, no confetti, no fireworks, no angels flying around the room singing Hallelujah. Just me, my doctor, and my medical file, in which my doctor wrote, Lost 158 pounds in two years, two months and twelve days.

I walked out of her office no longer a person losing weight, but a person maintaining my weight. I got in my car, sat there for a moment, and thought, Now what?

Id been on countless diets in the past and the few times I reached my goal I celebrated with food, essentially saying, Finally! I can go back to the way things used to be. But this time was different. I was different. I didnt want to celebrate with a Dairy Queen Oreo Blizzard and a corn dog. I wanted to figure out what to do next so I wouldnt go back to the way I used to be, regaining weight. I wanted off that merry-go-round.

I went to the book store and found it woefully lacking in texts pertaining to weight maintenance. One could get lost in the shelves of diet books and still spend fruitless hours searching for a comprehensive plan on what to do when the dieting is over.

I researched the Internet and found bits and pieces of information about maintenance, mostly mixed in with the larger topic of weight loss. I increased my food intake by a few hundred calories a day and yet in the ensuing weeks was still losing weight. I worried to the point of obsession about every food choice, each minute of exercise. Was it enough? Too much? Was it normal to still lose weight even though I was eating more?