Lighten Up is presented in two main sections. The first part of the book sets out to help you understand your relationship with food and how to view yourself. The author Pete Cohen is a life coach you may recognise from appearances on GMTV and the BBC2 series Confidence Lab. He applies motivational techniques he uses to train athletes to the Lighten Up programme and actually makes the whole thing fun. The second part of the book focuses on habits and how to change. It gives food, nutrition and exercise advice. There are no strict rules, no weighing, no measuring, no gimmicks and no calorie counting--just pure choices for you to make.

You may well be tempted to skip to the second part of the book where the eight-week programme actually starts. However, should you do that you will miss out on the very important preparation section, that will not only help you, but will teach you how to feel better about yourself.

The programme is approached as "slimming from the head down". Throughout the book you will find challenges and questionnaires that help you to gradually introduce changes that will stay with you for life. If you have reached the point in your life where you are fed up and nothing else has worked Lighten Up could be the approach for you.--Nicky Chapman

Synopsis
How many diets have you tried? Five? Six? How many have worked forever? Chances are: None. Did you know that 85 per cent of people who diet gain the weight again as soon as the diet is over? Did you know that most diet programmes have a long-term success rate of only 5-15 per cent? Did you know that 80 per cent of people who have followed that Lighten Up programme have achieved their ideal size and weight and, what's more a year later, they've kept it! So the "Lighten Up" programme must be agony, correct? Absolutely not. By dealing honestly and sympathetically with your relationship with food, cutting out the obsessive calorie-counting and frantic workouts that make dieting so painful, learning a new way of eating and following this easy-to-follow, lifestyle-friendly programme, it's simple to conquer the hold food has over you - and lose weight forever.