Off the shelf

Since I last blogged I've hit a, not entirely unexpected, plateau and now my weight has began a slow creep up. In an effort to discover what I might be able to do about it, I hit the health shelves at my local library. There I found three books that looked like they might be of some help.

1. Dr Sandra Cobot: The Body Shaping Diet. According to the back of the book All women's bodies belong to one of four types. These determine your trouble spots, and the foods that spell danger for your figure...With your own simple never-feel-hungry-body shaping diet plan, you'll dicover the tools to attack those problem areas and overcome uyour cravings. And as well as fighting the flab, you'll learn how to banish cellutlite, boost your immune system and eat for a healthy heart. I admit upfront that I only read through the section related to my body type (gynaeoid), so cannot comment on the whole book. What I found was a suggestion to avoid fats, sugars and refined foods in general (nothing new here). And a recommendation to keep to approximately 1000 calories a day while trying to lose weight. Hmmm. At least the role of hormones in weight gain and distribution is explained a bit.
2. Edward Abramson: Body Intelligence. In this book Dr. Abramson helps you identify the emotional and psychological knots that keep you tied up in an unhappy cycle of dieting and guilty overeating. More important, he arms you with a simple, three-step program for opening your mind and transforming your body-without diets. I skimmed through this book which is basically about emotional eating, and to be honest didn't read anything I haven't read before. While I believe the psychological aspects of eating play a huge role in weight gain, I don't know that any book can go a long way toward dealing with those issues, since books must by their very nature be general and cannot address any specific issues in detail. It was nice to see it acknowleged that exercise is more difficult for larger people and that overeating isn't only due to hunger but anybody who has ever struggled with weight could have told you that.
3. Villepigue & Rivera: The Boldy Sculpting Bible for Women. This comprehensive guide includes not only exercises but also nutrional tips, psychological tricks, meal charts, workout graphs, different fitness plans, the inside scoop on supplements and vitamins, advice on keeping fit while traveling and fitness information for teens, seniors and expectant mothers. This book sings the praises of weight training intervals, and here I am something of a convert. However I quickly got bored with the repetativeness of the information presented and found myself skipping about the pages. The 14 day body sculpting program advertised prominently on the cover could be a good one but much of it requires gym access, though there are a few free weight options given.

Skimming through the pages of these books I came away with the shocking advice not to eat high fat/high sugar foods, be vigilent about eating only when hungry and exercise is best for body shaping. All stuff I already know but that seems so difficult to put into practice, especially when my efforts are not rewarded by results. And I mean sustained efforts of months, not a couple of weeks.
I know there's no simple way to achieve my weight loss goals and if nothing else this confirms that I am on the right track with what I'm doing. I just wish my body would respond in a more positive way.