Get with the Program!: Getting Real about Your Weight, Health, and Emotional Well-Being

Congratulations! Whether you realize it or not, simply by picking up this book you have taken the first of what I hope will be many steps, both large and small, simple and challenging, toward the most rewarding journey of all -- the road to reclaiming your physical health, well-being, and happiness.

Living the best life possible is everyone's dream, and that includes maintaining a healthy weight; getting in shape; achieving strength, fitness, and self-assurance; and attaining a sense of feeling a whole lot better in general. Those goals are exactly what Get with the Program is all about.

This is not a diet book.

This is not a fitness book.

This is a book about moving -- in the right direction. It's a book about getting real about getting back in shape, physically and emotionally, realistically and gradually. It's also a wake-up call and a reminder about many things that you may have already learned over the years but have, for whatever reason, put on the back burner for a while or let slide. It's a book about tuning into and tuning up your body day by day and little by little, until, before you know it, your extra weight begins melting away. It's also a book about changing the way you think -- not only to help you make intelligent, healthy choices about how best to nourish and strengthen your body and to nurture your sense of well-being and self-esteem, but how to help you literally move out of your own way.

For as you probably already know, the best reason in the world to move -- perhaps the most difficult exercise of all -- is to learn how to push away the emotional obstacles that have been holding you back from accomplishing your personal goals. We all struggle with that challenge, believe me. The ultimate goal of Get with the Program is to help you get real about the changes you want to make in your life -- once and for all. Do that at your own pace but with complete commitment to this program, and I promise that you will soon become slimmer, stronger, and brimming with self-assurance.

When you get with the program, you will get in touch with your inner self. When you acknowledge and identify the emotional issues and triggers that have caused you to overeat when you are no longer physically hungry and begin losing weight through sensible eating and exercise, you will have achieved one of the greatest accomplishments of all. In doing so, the personal benefits and physical rewards that will follow will be lifelong and life changing. Emotional overeating is an epidemic in the United States, and simply acknowledging that it might also be an issue for you is a major milestone along your journey to renewed health and happiness.

So, once again, I want to congratulate you for taking your first step toward becoming the best that you can be: stronger, slimmer, healthier, and happier. One step at a time. Realistically. Gradually. Consciously. Finally.

If you're serious about losing weight and keeping it off for good, I'm going to show you exactly how to do it -- and why to do it. I can assure you that you are capable of doing everything that I teach you and -- best of all -- you will happily be able to do it for the rest of your life. I'm not selling anything trendy or something that promises unbelievable results with little or no work. There are no gimmicks here. You're going to be challenged in many different ways; that's always the case when you make meaningful changes to your life. What I'm offering you is good, sound, honest advice. And should you decide to follow this advice, it will change your life!

Get with the Program is not a quick fix. Let's face it, you've probably tried the quick-fix approach to dieting and know it never really works for long. My philosophy with this program is more along the lines of "slow and steady wins the race." It's about putting one foot in the front of the other, at your own pace, in your own time frame.