CONTENTS

      Title Page

      Dedication

      Epigraph

      ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

      PREFACE: HOW I FOUND MY OWN SECRETS

      SECRET 1: TAKE ON THE ‘R’ WORD

      SECRET 2: FIND YOUR MOTIVATION

      SECRET 3: BE IN CONTROL OF FOOD

      SECRET 4: PLAN

      SECRET 5: DITCH DEAD RELATIONSHIPS

      SECRET 6: USE THE 80–20 RULE

      SECRET 7: MANAGE EMOTIONAL EATING

      SECRET 8: PROGRAM YOUR MIND

      SECRET 9: CONSIDER THE VIRTUAL GASTRIC BAND

      SECRET 10: MAKE EXERCISE A PLEASURE

      SECRET 11: DO IT AS A FAMILY

      SECRET 12: ENJOY LOOKING GORGEOUS

      SECRET 13: PLAN TO KEEP IT OFF

      SECRET 14: TAKE THE IMMEDIATE STEPS

      Copyright

       ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

      I would like to thank the following people for making this book possible: Alan Possart for his constant support and for putting up with me in more ways than one. Terry Brookes for his support and friendship, and for making the best cup of tea in the world. Alison Carman, a fantastic consultant nutritionist, for her support in making things real world. My beloved cats, Jack and Jamie, who sadly passed away recently – I still hear you purr! My mum and dad, who raised me in such a way to help make my dreams come true. My Auntie Margaret, who sadly passed away – she supported me from a young boy. Amy and Ryan, my niece and nephew, who are the apples of my eyes. Blax and Minnie, my cats, who still run around while I’m writing. Lindsey Gibson, my stylist, who helps to keep me looking crisp. Jean Wilde for being such a great mate and believing in me. Matt Rowland for, once again, playing his part so well. Thanks to Sara Cywinski, my editor. The Bell Lomax Moreton Agency for helping to make it happen. Kirsty Milner and Vicki Mellor at Billy Marsh. All my wonderful friends and clients and finally to you, enjoy the book!

       ‘What’s wonderful about the future is that we can change; something you can never do in the past.’

      Steve Miller

       PREFACE

       HOW I FOUND MY OWN SECRETS

      It’s 1999 and I’m driving down the motorway when suddenly my heart begins to pound. I become dizzy and have to pull over onto the hard shoulder. Life has become all too much as blood and emotions course through my body. There’s a whirlwind tying my stomach in knots and my head feels like a time bomb about to explode. That was the day of reckoning for me, over fifteen years ago, and it was to mark the beginning of my own radical life change. I resigned from a well-paid job, took action to sort out my flagging confidence and took a long, hard look in the mirror. And then, in no uncertain terms, I told myself to do something about the gut-busting barrel I’d become.

      I’d ‘tried’ many times to lose weight before, but all previous attempts to shed the flab had come to nothing as I carried on eating too much, enjoyed far too many take-aways and couldn’t be bothered to get my backside off the sofa and do some exercise. Like many people, I’d munched my way through tons of salad and followed loads of faddy diets only to fail after the first few weeks. I even went down the route of getting a ‘helping hand’ by joining slimming clubs, but they completely depressed me. Time after time, I heard how ‘our Michelle hadn’t lost any weight because she still enjoyed raiding the bicky jar and eating her favourite chocolate digestives’. The conclusion stared me in the face: diets were boring and restrictive, and so my weight loss was doomed if I continued trying to comply with a menu plan that made me feel as if I was in a straitjacket. I decided to leave my slimming club because for me, the only thin thing there was, was the stark lack of available motivation. Don’t get me wrong, there are some excellent ones out there, but much depends on the motivational style of the club leader. Unfortunately, the leaders I had could not have encouraged someone dying from thirst to drink the coldest bottle of mineral water in the fridge.

      I guess many of you also face similar challenges and struggles to the ones I have had to overcome. On many occasions, I would make excuses not to go out with friends because I felt too fat and ugly. Often, I would feel guilty ordering a fatty dessert off the menu as people looked on thinking, as many do, that I could do without the pudding because, well, I looked rather like one myself. It all began to spiral out of control as the depression kicked in and I stayed put in the house. And yes, you’ve guessed it, this triggered a cycle of emotional eating. It was simple: I felt bad about myself so I would eat more, and, of course, the first signs of stress made me run to the freezer for ice cream, which incidentally, I mixed with chocolate cookies. Emotional eating made me fatter and at this point, my stomach was so big I was unable to see the floor below. It wasn’t as though I didn’t know what to eat to become slimmer. For me, the ‘what to eat’ part has always been common sense and to be honest, I think the majority would be in agreement with me. There are brigades of middle-class nutritionists out there who always make me cringe because they don’t live in the real world. They advise the nation on the latest and best super foods to eat, emphasising how they can be used to conquer any health problem. Fortunately, I have managed to find a few who do live in the real world, and who don’t waste their energy on blaming food manufacturers, or treat people like idiots.

      Okay, rant over! The missing ingredient for me personally was the control I had over food and the inability to make a lifestyle change conducive to weight loss and, equally important, the ability to maintain a healthy weight through sensible eating and exercise. Back then, food controlled me. The chocolate muffin would speak out to me, saying, ‘eat me – go on, eat me!’ Yes, in those days, food was the boss and I was the subordinate who carried out all its instructions, rarely questioning what I was doing. Fortunately, through a range of practical techniques that I will be sharing with you in this book, I managed to change my situation and regain self-control.

      As time passed, enough was enough, I realised that only I could do something about losing weight, not my family, friends or GP. Eventually I managed to remove the unwanted weight, not by surgery, and not by restrictive diets, but entirely through adopting a new lifestyle, which made weight loss both bearable – and wait for it, enjoyable. It wasn’t hard any more. I developed a plan of secrets that I will share with you, as we go through this book together. Over the last few years, I have supported thousands of people to move from a world of fat into a world of slim and my mission to help more and more people be the person they really want to be came together in the hit Sky1 and Sky Living TV show, Fat Families.

      I want you to keep this book with you at all times because I understand the struggles and the negative emotions that being overweight brings. From these pages, I want to bring you hope, but I also want you to understand that at times I will be