Weight Management for Your Life: Review

The title is simple and so is the cover. It’s pretty plain-looking – no ripped guy or gal on the cover, no bold statements, no celebrity endorsement and no ambitious promises. Now let’s take a look at Dr. Charles Goldman’s work (available at Amazon) and see what we find.

The purpose of the book is to provide basic information and skills necessary for attaining a healthy weight range. It is centered on behavior change and does not go into specific eating or exercise guidelines. Goldman outlines a 10 step approach that covers everything from willpower and stress management to social networks and addictive behavior.

The book is filled with some very useful information and tools to help build the psychological armor people will need for long term success. Most weight loss books do not address this all-important issue and for this reason alone, this book is stands above most others that I’ve seen in the category of “weight management”.

Strengths of the Book

• Non-faddish, simple and succinct information that most anyone can follow.
• One of the book’s highlights was the section on willpower and self-change. Goldman introduces concepts such as “willpower fatigue” and relates our willpower to our muscles in that it gets stronger when we exercise it.
• An impacting section on emotional eating and binging. He gets into why we are prone to it and how to break away from the cycle.
• He provides some pretty sound basic information on portion control, exercise the reality of dieting and where to find decent information on the subjects.
• The information in the book is very current, with many references from within the year.

Weaknesses of the Book

• While I have high praise for the simplicity of the book, it comes across to me as being a little too clinical. With all the great information on changing behavior, I think there is more room for some inspiring dialogue
• Although Goldman only gets into the basics of exercise and diet, perhaps a little more information may be warranted to leave the reader with a little better stepping stone on how to proceed.

Final Thoughts

This is a very important book for anyone who is serious about making healthy living a lifelong pursuit. I would classify Weight Management for your Life as a book to read BEFORE you follow another program. This book will not be enough for those looking for dietary and/or exercise strategies.

All in all I think this book will serve as a great primer to help people develop positive habits towards attaining and maintaining healthy weight. But like anything else, you have to be willing to learn and apply the strategies.

Reviewed by Mike Howard