You find yourself sitting there, a box of cookies in your lap, an empty bag of chips at your feet, a gallon of ice cream half gone. And you wonder, “What happened to my desire to lose weight? What happened to me?”
If you’ve ever found yourself in that situation and asked yourself those questions, local fitness expert and author Helen M. Ryan might just have the answer.
In the new book, “21 Days to Change Your Body (and Your Life),” Ryan breaks weight loss down into easy, manageable steps. “The word diet makes us feel uncomfortable weak and small,” she notes in her book. “Diets in real life don’t work.” What does? A lifestyle change, but one that fits your personality and needs.
Much of Ryan’s book is dedicated to overcoming the mental obstacles that keep us from losing weight, and her advice is so on target that you feel you can truly, finally be successful.
Ryan also shares her own struggles with weight and her eventual weight loss of over 80 pounds, which inspired her to become a certified fitness professional and writer.
This completely honest and oftentimes funny weight loss book engages you from the beginning and keeps you hanging on until the end. No boring drivel or complicated “trainer speak” here. Ryan writes in an easy-to-understand fashion and makes weight loss seem very, very possible. She walks you through proven steps that will help you shed your excess weight, get in better shape, and be healthier, happier, enabling you to enjoy and improve the quality of your life.
The book’s tagline, “Have your cake and lose weight, too” gives you a taste of what you’re in for: start today (not tomorrow), do the work, take care of your health, and still enjoy just a little.
A complete resources section is at the end, giving the reader links to quality weight loss sites and support forums, tips on everything from exercise to healthy snacks, and a funny (and true) glimpse of “diet life” through a 13-day journal, where the author learns that the pickles she just ate had more sugar and calories than frozen yogurt.
It takes 21 days to create a new habit, and this book is filled with great new habits you can use to create a new you and a new life. You might just want to start these new habits today.
Give Back
A big believer in giving back, Ryan is offering “charity book signings” in Southern California through the summer. Groups, individuals, churches or organizations can hold a book signing, where a portion of that day’s book sales will benefit a charitable organization of their choice.
21 Days to Change Your Body (and Your Life) is available on Amazon.com
®2012 Real World Guides 204 pages $14.99 US/$19.50 CAN