Books: Finally Thin! by Kim Bensen

Kim Bensen is very unusual - one of the true diet heroes. She lost over 200 pounds and has kept it off. Her book is about motivation and techniques. Her own story is inspirational - too many people who write diet books have never had a serious weight problem. I found it very interesting that she was an experienced and accomplished dieter - she was a classic yo-yo gaining and losing 20 or more pounds at a shot - until she finally lost control and was truly truly fat for some years. The interesting point is what finally gave her the final motivation to keep it off - her husband's health problems rather than her own. And what was different in her final approach - the realization that it would be forever, not for some defined period of time. So the first part of the book is her story.

The next part of the book is her 10 techniques to be able to do it.  Her techniques are simliar to others - plan, have a buddy, plan, and exercise. Nothing eye opening and no silver bullets.  I find the constant reinforcement of the steps and the work to be helpful in my own motivation. She followed Weight Watchers and is now employed by Weight Watchers, but isn't hung up on them as the only way to do it.

No diet book is complete without meal plans and recipes, so she includes some of those.She is big into using "lite" or fat-free versions of ingredients, something which has little appeal to me. (I'd rather have a recipe built from the ground up without oil or cream rather than a cornstarch infused fake ingredient.) She also has a foray into marketing her own brand of foods, Kim's Light Bagels. Since I'm not a bagel fan I haven't thought about going there.

One of her very specific tips has to do with planning: "Know before you go".  Figure out what you will eat at a restaurant before you get there. Easy to do at chain restaurants, where nutrition information is generally available (and linked from her website, Kimbensen.com). Much harder to do at more interesting unique restaurants. Often there is a menu posted on the web, (and often the menu is out of date, I've found) but the nutrition information is your own guess.  Bensen's point is there is a lot of hidden calories in the food and you need to ferret it out before you get there. Plan your choices and their calories into your day's eating plan.  Worthwhile advice.  I followed the links from her website to Quiznos, where I was shocked to find out the Chicken Caesar Salad has nearly twice the calories of the Black and Bleu Salad. I'll definitely be changing my future choices since it's close to my office.

Overall, an easy read. I'll probably refer occasionally back to her 10 steps for tips, so worth owning.

Kim's 10 steps:
1. Choose the diet that's right for you.
2. Set your goals.
3. Plan.
4. Make over your environment.
5. Gather your support.
6. Exercise.
7. Learn to eat light.
8. Learn to handle temptation.
9. Keep yourself motivated.
10. Make it for life.