The book in overview ii To be fair to Tony ’ s normally loving and supportive wife , she had lived through dozens of failed diets that he had tried over the years . She had , quite understandably , become rather skeptical . She refused to shop differently for him this time around – unless he proved he would stick to it – but that time had not yet come . In a particularly scathing tone she responded , ‘ Sounds like psychobabble BS to me . How could you lose weight eating cereal that is more colorful than the packet it came in !?’ ‘ Darling , I think that the question you ’ re asking me should be : “ How have you lost weight eating that rubbish ?”’ Tony stood up and with great pride pointed to the wear mark on his belt . ‘ What do you notice ?’ Somewhat contrite , his wife said , ‘ Two notches ! What ’ s going on ?!’ I share Tony ’ s story with you because it highlights the psychological issues around weight loss , including some of the issues with partners . The most important point was that when I asked him how hard he was finding it and whether he thought he could do it long-term his response was : ‘ Are you kidding me ? While I have lost weight more quickly , this is the easiest weight I have ever lost . I can ’ t see why I can ’ t do this forever !’ And that is my goal : helping people to bring to life a new eating lifestyle that they can continue for life . Navigating this book Gone are the days when people read a book in order , from cover to cover – if they ever existed . While this book is loosely sequential – it can be read by jumping from chapter to chapter . What follows is an overview as to how the book is laid out to assist those of you who might not wish to read the book in the traditional way . Chapter 1 explores our deep attachment to food and how we must respect this so we do not set ourselves up to fail . It is just not good enough for doctors and dietitians to tell overweight patients they ‘ should exercise more and eat less fattening food ’. I have not met an overweight person in my clinical practice , or outside it , who did not know this . As a psychotherapist I have spent two decades helping people to change , permanently . I could not be more uninterested in short-term