Stop Lying: The Truth About Weight Loss ... but you''re not going to like it.

Further Titles by Deborah Nicholson

Novels:

House Report, A Kate Carpenter Mystery

Evening the Score, A Kate Carpenter Mystery

Flirting With Disaster, A Kate Carpenter Mystery

Liar, Liar, A Kate Carpenter Mystery

A Very Bad Day, a bloody sexy short story

The Pain Diaries: A Love Story, adapted from the play

Mind Games, a medical thriller

Charlie the Cello

Plays:

The Pain Diaries, a love story.

Charlie the Cello, a children’s concert.

STOP LYING

The Truth About Weight Loss

… but you’re not going to like it!

Deborah Nicholson

Arlene D. Cox, PhD, RPsych

Kelly Sullivan, BSc,RD

Copyright © 2011 by Deborah Nicholson & Arlene D. Cox

All rights reserved.

The moral right of the authors have been asserted.

ISBN-13: 978-1468053333 (paperback)

ISBN-10: 1468053337 (paperback)

ISBN 978-0-9876946-7-6 (electronic edition)

DISCLAIMERS

Please read the following terms and conditions regarding your use of this book. Your purchase or reading of the contents of this book will indicate your acceptance of these terms and conditions. Do not read this book if you do not agree to be bound by these terms and conditions.

The contents of this book have been developed by respected health professionals. However, the authors (and publisher) are not medical doctors and cannot give you medical advice. Nothing contained in this book should be construed as medical advice or diagnosis. You are strongly urged to consult with your physician (or primary health-care provider) before beginning any weight-loss effort or regimen. You are also urged to get periodic medical checkups.

This book provides information on weight-loss management and applications and is intended only to assist users in their personal weight-loss efforts. The information provided should not be interpreted as a substitute for the advice, consultation, evaluation, or treatment of a physician.

The information provided in this book is intended for use only by healthy adult individuals. Some of this information may not be suitable for children. The information provided is not intended for and should not be used by women who are pregnant or breast feeding, individuals with an active medical diagnosis of bulimia nervosa or any similar condition, or individuals with any type of physical condition requiring medical treatment. Such individuals are specifically recommended to seek professional medical advice prior to initiating any form of weight-loss effort or regimen.

Weight loss can create physical changes that should be medically monitored. Studies have shown, for example, that weight loss can aggravate gallbladder illness. Medical monitoring is especially important for people with a known medical condition. The contents of this book are healthful, but are not intended to treat any illness or disease.

Results discussed are not necessarily typical or guaranteed and individual results will vary.

The information provided is provided as general information and may not be suitable for you or any other party. You should not take action, or refrain from taking any action, based solely on the information provided. You are strongly urged to seek medical advice before acting on any of the information provided.

While reasonable efforts have been made to provide accurate information, the information provided is provided as is without warranty of any kind, whether express, implied or collateral, including but not limited to, all warranties of merchantability, quality, marketability, or fitness for a particular purpose, or those arising by law, statute, usage or trade or course of dealing. In no event shall the authors (or publisher) be liable for any damages or any kind related to the use or misuse of information provided.

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The parties hereto declare that they required this Agreement be drawn up in the English language. Les Parties declarent par les presentes qu’ils ont exige que cette entente soit redigee en la langue anglaise.

EBook Design by 52 Novels

Photographs © Deborah Nicholson and Arlene D. Cox

First World Edition and Electronic Edition released 2011.

Smashwords Edition January 2012

Contents

Further Titles by Deborah Nicholson

Title Page

Notes From the Authors

A Note From Deborah.

Introduction

How To Use This Book

1: The first step is admitting it.

2. Step away from the emotion, Ma’am!

3: Breaking Up is Hard to Do

4. This is your stomach, this is your stomach on food.

5. Mind games

6: Keep your friends close and your enemies closer

7. Exercise: the one drug you’re allowed to take.

8: Don’t worry, you’re going to screw it up

9. Name that emotion

10. Sex and the City

11. Your health and some other things.

12. The end

Hints

Measuring Your Portions When You’re Not At Home

A Peek Inside Our Pantries

About the Authors

Endnotes

Notes From the Authors

From Deborah:

This has been an amazing journey I’ve been on. And really, it’s only the beginning; four years in. Yet already the memory of the old me is fading. I look at old photos and I hardly recognize myself. But then I am a totally different person than I was four years ago, and I really, really like who I have become. But the ride has not always been smooth and I would very much like to dedicate this book to my group of friends that has held on through it all.

Marlene Robertson and Con Nicholson (mom and dad) who have had a learning curve almost as steep as mine, Joe Grassi, my dear friend who always looked at my inside and not the outside, Ramona Bunk for never judging me, and Krista Braithwaite, who has shared this journey both literally and figuratively and is busy learning how to stop lying in her own life.

These five people have listened to me endlessly and could probably write their own book (Stop Talking, maybe??) but I can never truly express what their support has meant to me.

From Arlene:

My weight loss journey has been about health and taking responsibility for choices. It has also been about awareness and taking an honest look at those choices. It is an ongoing journey with new paths and new skills. Honesty remains essential as it is so easy to slide into habits and patterns that encourage less awareness, not more.

I dedicate this book to the two most important men in my life; my husband Douglas and my Dad. Neither gave me the message that my worth was based on my looks, how fat or skinny I was. Both want me to be healthy, strong, adventurous, independent and confident. That focus on health as the aim, not weight loss per se, has kept me going. I am not working this hard just for me. I lost my Dad to cancer three years ago, but he is still with me every day, encouraging me, celebrating my successes and challenging me to be honest. Luckily for me, Douglas is with me doing the same.

From Kelly:

In this dedication I go back to the beginning … to thank my mother for instilling in me good eating habits. Without her I would probably eat like Cookie Monster.

Back to the present, I’d like to thank my husband, Adam, who supports my running habits and eats my food experiments without complaint.

As to the future, I would dedicate that to my daughters Abby and Jane. I hope I instill in you both a love of good food and active lifestyles.

Deborah’s Charity Pledge:

I donate my time and money to various charitable organizations. I believe that those of us that are blessed should pay it forward, whatever your favourite cause. One of the ways I do that is to donate 10% of the profits of all my novels to various charities. For this novel, my donation will go to Calgary Health Trust to help fund weight control and nutrition programs.

A Note From Deborah.

AM I perfect? Do I know everything. No and no!!! Then why am I writing this book? Good question.

I know writing this book is going to open me up to all sorts of criticism, judgement and personal critique. I know this, as I’ve already experienced some of that first hand. Weight is a very emotional issue, whether it be lack of weight, too much of it, or fighting to stay at it. Food is so closely associated with emotion that talking about changing eating habits seems to be almost a personal attack.

Do I know everything? No! As a matter of fact, losing weight has led me to even more questions about the human body, about food, about emotions and insight into myself. It’s been emotional, hard work, exhausting. And by writing this book I am opening myself up in order to share what I have learned with you.

Why would anyone do that? Well, writers write. I don’t know why I’m a writer, but that is how I communicate. And I want to share what I have learned with you, because the quality and length of my life are so much better now than four years ago, when I started this journey, that I want other people to have a chance to reclaim that for themselves.

If I can touch just one person’s life with this book, then the two years of writing it, the long hours, and the fear of exposing who I was to the world will all be worth it.

I hope that understanding my motives, you will all play nice. Remember, words hurt, and on the internet they live forever.

Introduction:

Who the hell are you and why are you calling me fat?

Deborah’s say:

My name is Deborah and I am fat. I’ve always been fat. I was a chubby child, a bigger teenager and, as an adult, I only weighed within the medically approved weight range for about six months when I was in my mid twenties. It’s funny though, because thinking back to my teen years, I felt REALLY fat. But looking at the photos, and remembering how much I weighed at sixteen, it’s pretty much my goal weight in this round of weight loss! And why do I remember what I weighed at sixteen? Because I was on the predigested liquid protein diet