Adore Yourself Slim [Paperback]

Since I received this book, I have not been able to put it down.

The author gives freely of herself and her own life experiences. It has useful, healthy, sensible information which is always expressed in a positive, encouraging and refreshing tone - the colourful, quirky illustrations are fun too. Some of the motivational fill-in sections delve into the reader's lifestyle and habits which have led them into losing their way with exercise and becoming overweight. Adore Yourself Slim offers strategies to cope with what life throws at you and to take control of eating habits and ways to reengage with exercise. The reader is also encouraged to love themselves for who they are right now.

There are several chapters with advice on the subject matter, hypnosis, healthier food, encouraging exercises, sneaky workouts, more intensive exercise programmes and also invaluable guidance with clever dressing, shopping advice and beauty tips. Then, if that wasn't enough there is a diary for following 12 weeks of the programme at the back of the book which is a fantastic useful tool to keep the reader in control and audit each day. I would recommend the book in its own right however, this book comes with a fabulous CD to accompany and work alongside the book. Lisa's voice is very comforting, calm and soothing. I was able to self-hynotise with ease. This book is my "bible" and I cannot recommend this inspirational book highly enough. Thank you Lisa.

I'm not usually one for gushing about books on Amazon (this is my first review in fact), but Adore Yourself Slim has really worked for me and so I wanted to let other people know that this really isn't just another gimmicky weight-loss book.
I bought a copy in mid-January when I was feeling like an overgrown stuffed turkey, having put on the usual few pounds over Christmas. And since then I've lost half a stone, all thanks to this book - and I really don't lose weight easily either. Yes, the book has great tips and advice on diet, exercise, staying motivated etc, just like a lot of other weight-loss books - the author, Lisa Jackson, is a health journalist so you'd expect her to be able to cover all the usual weight-loss topics in a thorough, succinct way, and she certainly sounds like she knows what she's talking about. But the reason this has really worked for me is because of the hypnosis CD. Don't think it's like Paul McKenna's I Can Make You Thin - when I saw Adore Yourself Slim had a hypnosis CD, I must admit that I was slightly put off because of my past experience with the Paul McKenna one. Not only did I not lose any weight with that product, but I found his voice so irritating, plus I really dislike the way he sounds like he's bullying you into losing weight - and he doesn't give any fitness or nutritional advice either (well, what would he know about that really, seeing as he's just a hypnotist!). Lisa Jackson, however, has such a soothing, calming, nurturing voice that it makes being brainwashed into dropping the pounds a complete pleasure.
This book has also really made me think about and realise what's made me put on weight in the first place and why I've failed to lose weight in the past, so I've been able to work out where I've been going wrong and have made some changes that I can hopefully maintain.
The other main reason I really like this book is because the author has such an infectious upbeat attitude - as l was reading it and listening to the CD, I felt like she was there with me, cheering me on every step of the way, as if I had my very own positive thinking coach next to me. In the end Lisa Jackson made me feel that if she can lose weight, so can I - and I have done. It's all mind over matter, and now I finally feel like I'm on the way to losing the stone I've wanted to shed for as long as I can remember.

This book is divided into 9 chapters - 1. think yourself slim, 2. learn to adore yourself slim, 3. set your slimming goals, 4. eat yourself slim, 5. exercise yourself slim, 6. get yourself over a plateau, 7. dress yourself slim, 8. celebrate your slim self and 9. write yourself slim. My favourite chapters are 2, 3 and 7. In Chapter 2, for example, there is a body map that helped me to appreciate the many positive things about my body. In chapter 3, what I liked most is that we have to think about the reasons why we want to be slim, which I was a bit clueless about the real reasons, but then Lisa wrote her own reasons and I thought that most of them were my reasons also. So, great help there. I love also the spaces for your own notes such as measurements and reward schedule. Great! About the CDs, I am not sure. Although I love her voice, I felt that I still need to listen to PM, maybe because the technique he uses to get you to relax works better for me. The track about slim, I though was too short. I think it was because when I started to relax deeply, it was time to "wake up". For this reason I heard it just once. On the other hand, I also loved "The Ten Slimming Commandments" and just by reading commandments 6 and 8, I finally think that I got a grip of myself. It was a huge change because before, when dieting I always had that fear that I was going to fail and invariably I failed. Now, if the thought crosses my mind I read the commandments and some other interesting bits that I highlighted and it works. The truth is, the whole book is a gem and I believe there's something for everybody.