Stop the Torment by Joyce Lillis

Dominique Book Review, Parenting and Kids Healthy living, Self help

Stop the Torment bookcover

Stop the Torment: Conquer Your Relationship with Food by Joyce Lillis talks about the love hate relationship many people (including me) have with Food.

In the 15  chapters in the book Joyce shares her own personal journey  in weight lost and how she has kept it off.  She has been on various diets through the past 25 years and her weight has yo-yo back and forth before she discovered how to get to her ideal weight and stay that way.

Many a times we overeat as we are not  in conscious  contact with  our own hunger needs.  Your inner food voice messes with you and cause you to rationalize your behaviour.  This results in overeating and leading to weight gain.

Eating due to emotional reasons is also a main cause of weight ballooning as we are not conscious of our eating habits. It causes a lot of stress and guilt and we are setting ourselves up for failure if we indulge in emotional eating.

Once we are back in control of our emotions it will be easier for us to get to our goal weight and maintain it there. The lost of weight and changes in their lifestyle can radically improve your lives.

There are several case studies being used in the books of her clients and how they have managed to get to their ideal weight and stay that way. Even though they may have slipped up after completing the program they do get back on track after further consultation with her.

Joyce shares in her book the 6 stages of change that one has to go through to reset their metabolism.

Stage 1-  Pre contemplation

Stage 2- Contemplation

Stage 3- Preparation

Stage 4- Action

Stage 5- Ongoing Maintenance

Stage 6- Learning from Relapse

She also shares a 10 point summary on how you can keep yourself at your desired weight.

Many a times it is your childhood habits and memories that result in your current eating habits. They can be changed once you know the root cause to your eating patterns and learn how to “listen” to your body.

My thoughts

We have been getting it all wrong by forcing ourselves to finish up our foods and stuffing ourselves with the notion of it is being bad to waste food.  While I was growing up I was constantly reminded that it is bad to waste food and there are many people starving as they do not have enough food to eat in order places in the world. As a result of having been forced to ” finish all the food” I have felt bad about leaving food on the plate.  However not anymore am I going to give into this notion of forced “self guilt” as it is has done more harm then good these years with over eating.

I haven’t been listening that well to my own body and as a result I have yet to get back to ideal weight even though Tiger girl is turning 4 this year. My weight seems to have plateau since last year and I have another 5-10kg to get to ideal weight.

This was certainly an interesting read and it does make me think more about how I want to tackle this weight lost regime that I have put myself on this year.

Disclaimer: I received a copy of this book for review purposes. All opinions are 100% my own. This post has a compensation level of 3. Please visit Dominique’s Disclosure page for more information.