The simple way to lose weight without losing your mind - cook yourself thin
(15/01/2009)

Dieticians and nutritionists agree that low-fat, low-calorie cooking skills, along with a basic knowledge of food labels and portion sizes are the key to keeping trim. The fact is, most of us don’t need to revolutionise our eating habits, we just need to tweak a few things. To drop a dress size in 6 weeks the average woman only needs to lose between 1 + 2lbs a week.

The first ‘Cook Yourself Thin’ book was the sensation of 2007, selling 135, 000 copies in less than a year, making it the highest selling debut health book of the year. Following the success of the first book comes this brand-new collection of over 120 recipes, plus fantastic tips and real-life success stories: ‘Cook Yourself Thin: Quick and Easy’.

You can eat all your favourite foods, but you have to cook clever. All the recipes in the book are flexible and easily adaptable, don’t involve hundreds of ingredients you’ve never heard of and are quick and easy to make. There’s only one simple way to lose weight without losing your mind: cook yourself thin.

A number of the ‘Cook Yourself Thin’ case studies show how women from all walks of life, aged from 22 to 62, and from size 10 to 20 have lost weight, post pregnancy, pre wedding, post break up, or post operation:

Pamela is 34 and recently separated. She has been heavy ever since childhood, and was told she was fat even at the age of 5. She decided to do something about it when she realised she was 30 and couldn’t fit into a size 24, despite being the smallest by a long way of all her female cousins. Pamela started to lose weight, but wanted to do it in a healthy way – so the concept of Cook Yourself Thin really resonated with her. Pamela was a size 24 (16 stone), and is currently a size 16 (13 stone 3). She is still working on losing a further 1.5 stone.

Trish is 62 and recently widowed. She has one daughter, who has also done Cook Yourself Thin with her. Trish took her daughter on a once in a lifetime trip to Morocco after the death of her husband, and then embarked on a life change after feeling really breathless at certain points during the trip and then seeing the photos. Trish used to run a pub restaurant, so hates to compromise on good food – this is the only healthy eating plan she’s ever stuck to. Trish was a size 28 before (19 stone), and is currently a size 20 (14.5 stone).

Ejemhen is 33, and one of the four case studies featured in the book. She put on weight during puberty because she ate the wrong things in huge portions. She wanted to lose weight after getting married, so that she and her husband could start trying for a baby. Ejemhen was previously 14 stone, and now weighs 12 stone.

Kelly is 22 and is an HR manager. She has been a yoyo dieter for years with no lasting results. She put on a lot of weight eating the same size portions as her boyfriend, lost all confidence, which in turn led to the break up of the relationship. She starting ‘cooking herself thin’, moved out, got a new job and a new man, and is now really happy. Kelly went from a size 12/14 to a size 10/12.

‘Cook Yourself Thin Quick and Easy’ is priced £14.99 / Michael Joseph / Penguin Books.