Publication date:
01 November 2017Length of book:
216 pagesPublisher
Rowman & Littlefield PublishersISBN-13: 9780810896314
Forget every tactic you’ve ever tried to lose weight and feel better. Put down your weapons once and for all, and step out of the field of battle. Despite how it may seem, your brain and body are not unsupportive beasts bent on undermining your fitness goals. They just want some chips and dip, that’s all. They aren’t the problem. The way you’re trying to manipulate them is.
In Lightness of Body and Mind: A Radical Approach to Weight and Wellness, personal trainer Sarah Hays Coomer offers a different approach. She proposes that you will never be able to achieve a body you love by doing things that you hate, that deprivation and limitation will never set you free, and that punishing workouts and strict diets are dead end roads. The way to a body that works is by doing more of what you authentically love.
Through memoir and intimate client stories, this book encourages you to dance with your demons, to choose and cherish the ones you have no intention of giving up, and to build a solid infrastructure, dedicated to good health, in which wellness and indulgence spring from the same source.
You don’t need more control. You just need functional knowledge of how habits are formed; a reverent, dizzy appreciation for falling apart when necessary; and laser focus on what brings you to life.
In Lightness of Body and Mind: A Radical Approach to Weight and Wellness, personal trainer Sarah Hays Coomer offers a different approach. She proposes that you will never be able to achieve a body you love by doing things that you hate, that deprivation and limitation will never set you free, and that punishing workouts and strict diets are dead end roads. The way to a body that works is by doing more of what you authentically love.
Through memoir and intimate client stories, this book encourages you to dance with your demons, to choose and cherish the ones you have no intention of giving up, and to build a solid infrastructure, dedicated to good health, in which wellness and indulgence spring from the same source.
You don’t need more control. You just need functional knowledge of how habits are formed; a reverent, dizzy appreciation for falling apart when necessary; and laser focus on what brings you to life.
Coomer, a personal trainer and health coach, takes a novel approach to weight loss that rejects calorie counting, dieting, and strenuous workouts. In this inspiring and compassionate book, she shares her own struggles with weight and body image, as well as her realization that deprivation and treating the body as the enemy rarely work. Coomer asserts that the more effective approach is to replace poor eating habits with small, positive changes. Instead of restricting foods, she argues, one should supplement them with healthy choices; rather than working out in a gym, find a pastime that you love, and then stick to it relentlessly. Coomer shares illustrative stories from her clients, noting that those who emphasized enjoyment of life fared better than those who followed restrictive diet or exercise plans, which often were eventually abandoned. Slow, constant weight loss, she contends, is the more effective route; in a chapter called 'The Tortoise Totally Wins,' she demonstrates how 'slow and steady' wins the weight-loss race. Readers seeking quick fixes and recipes won’t find them here. Though Coomer does include some familiar, practical tips (e.g., pack a lunch rather than eating out; reduce portion sizes), she mostly digs deeper, focusing on transformation and long-term well-being.