Survival of the Thinnest: How to Use Your Genetic Script to Stay Thin Without Dieting

This book tells you how to stay thin in the long run. It explains why exercise will keep you thin and dieting won’t. The explanation is a matter of common sense, given the evolutionary forces that must have shaped our genetic inheritance. But it is an explanation that you’re going to have to read to fully grasp. You may not be surprised to discover that people who exercise are thinner than people who don’t, but it is important to understand why they are thinner, or you won’t wind up doing what you need to do to stay thin. You may likewise not be surprised to learn that people who go on diets gain all the weight back as soon as they stop, but it is important to understand why this happens, or you won’t stop wasting your time and effort.

And you are wasting your time and effort. You can’t stay thin in the long run by fighting your body by depriving it of food, or of fats, or of carbohydrates, or by trying to burn off the fat that it is trying so hard to store. It will only rebuild its fat stores as soon as it can, just as it rebuilds other lost body tissues. You’ve got to focus on the source of your problem: Why is your body trying to store more fat, and is there anything you can do to get it to "change its mind"?

This book also explains how exercise can be easier and more fun than dieting, and how it can require far less time and effort than you had imagined. "I honestly believe that if you read this book, you will be thin for the rest of your life, and you will be happier and healthier too," David Hariton reports, adding:. "I realize there are more important things in life than staying thin. We’re lucky to be living in a part of the world where everyone has enough to eat. But taking care of your body is a sensible thing to do, and I see no reason why you should waste your effort on approaches that don’t make sense under any analysis. You’ve spent years rolling a rock up a hill only to watch it slide down again. Give me just an hour or two of your time, and I’m sure I can persuade you to change your approach."