The Ultimate Weight Solution by Dr. Phil McGraw (2003, Hardcover)

Dr. Phil McGraw is a psychologist with a number of books under his belt.
In The Ultimate Weight Solution Dr. Phil lighten up from his book, Self Matters. His Dr. Phil isms come out in his famous words like "you either get it or you don't" "get real." The Ultimate Solution gives tools, techniques and real hands on work that he believes has cracked the code to overeating.

Dr. Phil's emphasis on working from the inside out rather then the outside in makes perfect sense once you read the book. Dr. Phil makes the point that you can choose to think the cake looks delicious and eat two slices or you can take a bite and say that was good. He works with us to figure out why it is that we cannot stop at that one bite and unlike a medical doctor he does so from a psychologist's standpoint. For example, he makes the point that we, for the most part, can't just stop eating. Most of us will need to replace food with something else.

The book is chock full of information and tools. It has three parts. In Part One "Unlocking the Doors to Permanent Weight Loss" he starts telling us that we need to think differently. He goes into great detail in this section and some of it will be boring. He makes the point, though, not to skip over anything. I found his hands-on techniques and approaches very helpful in Part One. He has us answering questions in the book like a manual or workbook would do. One question for example is "Describe what you will do (the behaviors or actions you must commence, change, or stop in order to lose weight" and there are lines to fill in your answer.

Part Two is the very important 7 Keys to Permanent Weight Loss. Although he summarizes them nicely in Part One, this is where he goes into detail about every key.

This book focuses on what your internal dialogue is that is keeping you overeating. You’ll find tables in this section that are very helpful.

I think that most of us will be able to identify with much of this book. He will have you analyzing and responding to your self talk in chart form. One of the reasons for his questionnaire asking if you are ready is because this is work.

A few points that Dr. Phil makes in his book:
1. Get rid of clothes that are too large on you. Plan to never fit in them again.
2. Realize that you may not be hungry, you may be sad or lonely.
3. Recognize impulse eating such as eating late at night. Identify when you do the most damage to yourself and take a bubble bath.
4. Willpower is a myth. Everyone has January firsts.
5. Make a deal with yourself such as you can't watch television until you've taken a walk.