And Why You Should Never Diet Again - The Science of Weight Loss

Thankfully this isn’t a book that tells you how to lose 30lbs in 30 days – what it does do is tell what dieting can ACTUALLY do to your body (eventual weight gain) and overall health and gives you realistic ideas about why and what we eat from someone who has done scientifically rigorous research. The best part of the book is while imparting all this important information from the scientific world – it does so in a completely readable, entertaining, and funny way. It’s informative, interesting, realistic and extremely helpful!

When the author talks about her own domain, namely eating studies, the subject matter is fascinating. However, the personal narration (rice krispies, the tempting bakery on the way to work), make assumptions about diet (e.g. fatty or salty foods are bad), that I think are too reflective of Americans' obsession with the nutritional content of food that in the end is unproductive and leads to the very stress that the author associates with overeating.

This book is awesome. So many lesson that apply to life outside of just what one eats. Might be the best book on habits. their strengths, their power and their formation I have read. Dr. Mann adds plenty of humor to keep you involved as she educates about a serious subject with facts and proven studies. She should consider changing the title to "Life's Secrets from the Eating Lab". Great job, Dr. Mann.

Traci Mann is a great researcher, and the book is really interesting whenever she is talking about her own research. When she veers from her own research into interpreting other people's research, that's where she runs into problems.

She cherry picks studies that support her world view and gives them really hilariously biased analyses. She is also inconsistent when it comes to what she believes in. She wavers between saying it's not unhealthy to be fat and it is unhealthy to be fat.

The book is a wet dream for those who believe in the HAES movement, and I think Traci Mann basically just trashed her reputation in academia by publishing this book. She'll never be taken seriously again.

Milk Hulme in Can Science Fix Climate Change? explains the options of fixing climate change being created but suggests how undesirable, ungovernable, and unreliable they are. In my own terms, I see these options as unfeasible. The entire book outlines why deployment of large-scale sunlight reflection methods, particularly stratospheric aerosol injection, are not reasonable.

Hulme goes on to explain why he does not wish for this to happen or to live in a "brave new climate controlled world." Hulme states,
It is undesirable because regulating global temperature is not the same thing as controlling local weather and climate. It is ungovernable because there is no plausible and legitimate process for deciding who sets the world’s temperature. And it is unreliable because of the law of unintended consequences: deliberate intervention with the atmosphere on a global-scale will lead to unpredictable, dangerous and contentious outcomes. (Climate Change)

The idea of sulfuric aerosol injection still remains to be a concern but also a possibility to help solve this colossal issue of climate change on earth. With knowing who pulls the plug and how it will effect populations, this idea will continue to remain up in the air until further conclusions are made. While agreeing with Hulme's reasons for it being unfeasible, I believe we need to continue putting our concerns towards "pausing" climate change verses maintaining focus on sulfuric geoengineering.

Regardless if Traci Mann's review of dieting and willpower studies convinces you or not-- this book will make you rethink the way the United States treats dieting and the "obesity epidemic."

Alot of the things Traci discusses about why diets fail and the nature of willpower, and how best to get people to exercise and eat healthy are more or less common sense. Nothing too massively revolutionary here.

However, the main concepts behind the book--dieting not only won't help you lose wait, but can be actively stressful for you, as well as that people should live at the low end of their genetically predisposed weight range as opposed to aiming for weight loss-- are somewhat challenging in that they upend the Weight Watchers, Jenny Craig, Fitness Celebrity culture.

But don't be satisfied with review, read the book yourself. While you may question the main concepts, as well as the literature reviews of experiments Mann uses to support her claims, you may be convinced, as I was (especially if you're an overweight female who has watched her overweight/obese mother on a never-ending series of diets yo yo between weights) that her common sense approach to eating healthy and exercising and accepting your body type makes sense.

* make eating healthy less troublesome. I.e., put the vegetable of the dinner out as a first course so that people aren't "choosing" between eating that salad or that fettucine alfredo, take carrots out of a package and put them in easy-to-access containers, don't keep tons of sweets in your house, don't feel guilty over eating sweet or fatty food, but do savor it.

* make exercising compulsory. And she doesn't mean punishing yourself or spending lots of money on a gym membership you then don't use. Get an exercise buddy so that when the alarm wakes you up early in the morning you still have to get up or risk disappointing your friend.. Make it something you enjoy. Make it a habit.

* live at the low end of YOUR weight range, but eat healthy and keep fit. She makes a BIG distinction (that was a revelation to me) between weight and fitness, pointing out that you can be fit and overweight or even thin and out of shape.

The best part of the book for me, though, was when Mann went into the details of the studies she herself conducted and how they would "trick" participants into giving them true data on eating habits. (for example telling participants they were there to fill out a questionnaire and providing a bowl of snacks so they could secretly watch how many m&ms the participants ate while filling out the questionnaire.) There's a kind of gleeful fascination I felt when reading those parts.

As I said, whether you believe the spin Mann puts on dieting/willpower/weight loss research or not-- this book is worth reading. It's definitely worth reading if you're female. And it's uber-definitely worth reading if you're and overweight female who's ever dieted in her life.

The shelves of bookstores and libraries are packed with diet books; new ones come out daily. Tracy Mann, a professor of psychology at the University of Minnesota and an expert on eating and dieting, informs us that there is no magic bullet--no pill and no regimen that will guarantee permanent weight loss. "Secrets from the Eating Lab" is an eye-opening look at the ways in which our minds and bodies fight our efforts to lose weight and keep it off. Most restrictive diets do not work in the long run, not because dieters lack willpower, but because many of us are not genetically, biologically, and psychologically programmed to be thin. Does this mean that we should throw caution to the winds? On the contrary, Mann advises us to use sensible techniques to help establish more healthful habits for the rest of our lives. We may not end up looking like models, but if we follow Dr. Mann's guidelines, we can be more fit and energetic.

For more than twenty years, Mann has conducted experiments at her Health and Eating Lab and in other venues in an effort to unravel the mysteries of eating behavior. She says, "I've learned that nearly everything I thought was true about eating was false...." In clear and conversational prose, the author explains that living a life of "agonizing self-denial" is foolish and futile. Mann boldly declares that diets "may be bad for you...." She also states that "obesity is not going to kill you." Whether or not you accept these conclusions, it is clear that most people who embark on weight-loss programs regain all the weight they lost and then some. Therefore, if dieting is ineffective for most individuals, what is the alternative?

Dr. Mann believes that science, not conventional wisdom, should guide our actions. She urges us to stop obsessing over the numbers on a scale. We can be realistic and aim for a weight that is livable and practical for our emotional and physical well-being. How do we accomplish this? It's the little things that count. Don't leave cookies, cake, and chips lying around the house to tempt you. Instead, keep fresh fruits and vegetables handy and train your palate to enjoy them. Once you get used to a new way of eating, you will find that you can more easily forego salty and sugary snacks. The well-documented studies in this book demonstrate that avoiding tension, getting enough sleep, making wholesome foods more readily available than calorie-dense foods that lack nutritional value, and adding movement to your daily routine--walking by yourself or with a friend, and taking the stairs rather than the elevator, for example--can help you attain a reasonable level of fitness and maintain a comfortable weight without the agony of feeling perpetually deprived.

If you're recovering from chronic dieting, as I am, or if you're still riding the dieting roller coaster, this book will offer you so much sanity. Mann does an excellent job of breaking down a variety of myths about diet and exercise, using plenty of science to back it up--not just her own, but that of other researchers too.

I read up on nutritional and exercise science enough to not have been surprised by everything she says here, but I imagine that to many people a lot of the book will be very surprising. To take the best and most obvious example: Mann systematically dissects and debunks the idea that obesity in and of itself is a serious health issue. Plenty of people will scoff at that. After all, we've been conditioned to think obesity is an epidemic on par with the black plague or something, thanks to news media, politicians, and companies with a cynical interest in keeping us convinced that we must diet in order to have any hope of a healthy, meaningful life. However, careful study of the science proves that this isn't the case, and there are profound implications is destroying the belief that fat equals unhealthy and thin equals healthy.

What also appeals to me about this book is that Mann is advocating for doing away with dieting permanently. I've done Weight Watchers multiple times. I've had success with it but then ended up putting all the weight back on and more. Given that society tends to send overweight people the message that being overweight is their fault, it's been hard not to internalize that as a lack of willpower or some fundamental flaw on my part. Over the years, I've worked hard to change my dietary and exercise habits, and I've finally realized that quitting dieting forever is the best thing I've ever done for myself. I'm working to do what Mann suggests and have learned to accept that my set weight is where I belong, as well as learning to be okay with my body. And it's worked. I'm not as thin as I have been at other times in the past, but I'm healthier than I've probably ever been, I certainly eat better than I did before (even while on WW, where I'd forgo fruits and veggies in favor of 100-calorie packs), and I exercise much more regularly.

If you're interested in nutritional science, you will enjoy Mann's descriptions of the various studies she and others have done. Her style is conversational, and while she offers up plenty of evidence to support her assertions, you don't feel like you're reading a grad school textbook. She does an excellent job of breaking things down in layman's terms and making her subject interesting. I like to read science books, so I'm okay with a higher level of technical detail than she offers here, but the strength of her approach is that she makes it more accessible to a broader audience.

While the science portions of the book are interesting, many readers will probably get those most out of the final sections of the book, in which Mann offers a lot of reasonable strategies. She uses science to back these up too, of course, but they offer readers guidelines for how they can go about changing their behaviors. Even better, I didn't think any of them were unrealistic, and since I've already adopted a few of them, I can say that they're easy to adopt and that they do work. Others, such as her suggestions for being alone with veggies and making healthy foods more visible and easy to access, are suggestions I intend to try. Plus, implementing these suggestions isn't just good for the reader, it's good for the readers' loved ones. I've twisted myself in knots trying to figure out how to get my kids to eat more fruits and veggies, and by doing things like putting fruit out in bowls on the counter or serving a veggie course before the rest of dinner, the strategies I'm using to try to get myself to eat better will also help my kids develop healthier habits, something that's extremely important to me.

I can't say enough good things about this book. I learned some new information from it, and I really appreciated Mann's advocating for a saner, healthier outlook on diet and exercise. It seems contradictory, but it seems to me that the national obsession we have with obesity in the U.S. is actually creating worse outcomes. If more people were to try the things Mann is suggesting, I think Americans overall would be healthier, both mentally and physically.

(checked out of library)
Fascinating and easy to read, Secrets is 200 pages on the research that you haven't heard about, likely because no one can make money off of it. (The book is over 200 pages but a lot of it is the notes.)
The book doesn't bury you in the details of all the studies it mentions which leaves it easier to read. I like the details myself. My science background makes me question everything. So this means I can't say whether all the studies mentioned really were carried out well. What I can say is that my personal experience and 7 years of working for Weight Watchers and what I saw there much of the time makes a lot of this make sense. Everyone does not lose weight the same way and just because you cut calories or eat strictly healthy foods doesn't mean you're going to see the same results as somebody else. There's a whole lot of genetics, biology and psychology that complicates things. For most of my life I knew that if I ate whatever I wanted, my weight would hover at the same set point. It took incredible effort to lose below that set range, more than ever made sense considering I could eat insanely and not gain over that range. All that changed after years of dieting. And that's where I found the book depressing. I've already lost my set point after so many diets; the damage is done. Wish I'd read this book as a kid. At least now, I know to focus on eating well rather than cutting calories

I think the quote at the beginning of the preface pretty much sums it up:
"You study self-control? You should study me. I have great self control"
--Nobody, ever

Relatable and fun-to-read prose, explaining science with big (n tasty) implications. A truly interesting read from an expert on the science behind eating and trying not to eat. A joy to read and glad I did -- the take-home message is timely, useful, and hopeful.

Regardless if Traci Mann's review of dieting and willpower studies convinces you or not-- this book will make you rethink the way the United States treats dieting and the "obesity epidemic."

Alot of the things Traci discusses about why diets fail and the nature of willpower, and how best to get people to exercise and eat healthy are more or less common sense. Nothing too massively revolutionary here.

However, the main concepts behind the book--dieting not only won't help you lose wait, but can be actively stressful for you, as well as that people should live at the low end of their genetically predisposed weight range as opposed to aiming for weight loss-- are somewhat challenging in that they upend the Weight Watchers, Jenny Craig, Fitness Celebrity culture.

But don't be satisfied with review, read the book yourself. While you may question the main concepts, as well as the literature reviews of experiments Mann uses to support her claims, you may be convinced, as I was (especially if you're an overweight female who has watched her overweight/obese mother on a never-ending series of diets yo yo between weights) that her common sense approach to eating healthy and exercising and accepting your body type makes sense.

* make eating healthy less troublesome. I.e., put the vegetable of the dinner out as a first course so that people aren't "choosing" between eating that salad or that fettucine alfredo, take carrots out of a package and put them in easy-to-access containers, don't keep tons of sweets in your house, don't feel guilty over eating sweet or fatty food, but do savor it.

* make exercising compulsory. And she doesn't mean punishing yourself or spending lots of money on a gym membership you then don't use. Get an exercise buddy so that when the alarm wakes you up early in the morning you still have to get up or risk disappointing your friend.. Make it something you enjoy. Make it a habit.

* live at the low end of YOUR weight range, but eat healthy and keep fit. She makes a BIG distinction (that was a revelation to me) between weight and fitness, pointing out that you can be fit and overweight or even thin and out of shape.

The best part of the book for me, though, was when Mann went into the details of the studies she herself conducted and how they would "trick" participants into giving them true data on eating habits. (for example telling participants they were there to fill out a questionnaire and providing a bowl of snacks so they could secretly watch how many m&ms the participants ate while filling out the questionnaire.) There's a kind of gleeful fascination I felt when reading those parts.

As I said, whether you believe the spin Mann puts on dieting/willpower/weight loss research or not-- this book is worth reading. It's definitely worth reading if you're female. And it's uber-definitely worth reading if you're and overweight female who's ever dieted in her life.

The shelves of bookstores and libraries are packed with diet books; new ones come out daily. Tracy Mann, a professor of psychology at the University of Minnesota and an expert on eating and dieting, informs us that there is no magic bullet--no pill and no regimen that will guarantee permanent weight loss. "Secrets from the Eating Lab" is an eye-opening look at the ways in which our minds and bodies fight our efforts to lose weight and keep it off. Most restrictive diets do not work in the long run, not because dieters lack willpower, but because many of us are not genetically, biologically, and psychologically programmed to be thin. Does this mean that we should throw caution to the winds? On the contrary, Mann advises us to use sensible techniques to help establish more healthful habits for the rest of our lives. We may not end up looking like models, but if we follow Dr. Mann's guidelines, we can be more fit and energetic.

For more than twenty years, Mann has conducted experiments at her Health and Eating Lab and in other venues in an effort to unravel the mysteries of eating behavior. She says, "I've learned that nearly everything I thought was true about eating was false...." In clear and conversational prose, the author explains that living a life of "agonizing self-denial" is foolish and futile. Mann boldly declares that diets "may be bad for you...." She also states that "obesity is not going to kill you." Whether or not you accept these conclusions, it is clear that most people who embark on weight-loss programs regain all the weight they lost and then some. Therefore, if dieting is ineffective for most individuals, what is the alternative?

Dr. Mann believes that science, not conventional wisdom, should guide our actions. She urges us to stop obsessing over the numbers on a scale. We can be realistic and aim for a weight that is livable and practical for our emotional and physical well-being. How do we accomplish this? It's the little things that count. Don't leave cookies, cake, and chips lying around the house to tempt you. Instead, keep fresh fruits and vegetables handy and train your palate to enjoy them. Once you get used to a new way of eating, you will find that you can more easily forego salty and sugary snacks. The well-documented studies in this book demonstrate that avoiding tension, getting enough sleep, making wholesome foods more readily available than calorie-dense foods that lack nutritional value, and adding movement to your daily routine--walking by yourself or with a friend, and taking the stairs rather than the elevator, for example--can help you attain a reasonable level of fitness and maintain a comfortable weight without the agony of feeling perpetually deprived.

If you're recovering from chronic dieting, as I am, or if you're still riding the dieting roller coaster, this book will offer you so much sanity. Mann does an excellent job of breaking down a variety of myths about diet and exercise, using plenty of science to back it up--not just her own, but that of other researchers too.

I read up on nutritional and exercise science enough to not have been surprised by everything she says here, but I imagine that to many people a lot of the book will be very surprising. To take the best and most obvious example: Mann systematically dissects and debunks the idea that obesity in and of itself is a serious health issue. Plenty of people will scoff at that. After all, we've been conditioned to think obesity is an epidemic on par with the black plague or something, thanks to news media, politicians, and companies with a cynical interest in keeping us convinced that we must diet in order to have any hope of a healthy, meaningful life. However, careful study of the science proves that this isn't the case, and there are profound implications is destroying the belief that fat equals unhealthy and thin equals healthy.

What also appeals to me about this book is that Mann is advocating for doing away with dieting permanently. I've done Weight Watchers multiple times. I've had success with it but then ended up putting all the weight back on and more. Given that society tends to send overweight people the message that being overweight is their fault, it's been hard not to internalize that as a lack of willpower or some fundamental flaw on my part. Over the years, I've worked hard to change my dietary and exercise habits, and I've finally realized that quitting dieting forever is the best thing I've ever done for myself. I'm working to do what Mann suggests and have learned to accept that my set weight is where I belong, as well as learning to be okay with my body. And it's worked. I'm not as thin as I have been at other times in the past, but I'm healthier than I've probably ever been, I certainly eat better than I did before (even while on WW, where I'd forgo fruits and veggies in favor of 100-calorie packs), and I exercise much more regularly.

If you're interested in nutritional science, you will enjoy Mann's descriptions of the various studies she and others have done. Her style is conversational, and while she offers up plenty of evidence to support her assertions, you don't feel like you're reading a grad school textbook. She does an excellent job of breaking things down in layman's terms and making her subject interesting. I like to read science books, so I'm okay with a higher level of technical detail than she offers here, but the strength of her approach is that she makes it more accessible to a broader audience.

While the science portions of the book are interesting, many readers will probably get those most out of the final sections of the book, in which Mann offers a lot of reasonable strategies. She uses science to back these up too, of course, but they offer readers guidelines for how they can go about changing their behaviors. Even better, I didn't think any of them were unrealistic, and since I've already adopted a few of them, I can say that they're easy to adopt and that they do work. Others, such as her suggestions for being alone with veggies and making healthy foods more visible and easy to access, are suggestions I intend to try. Plus, implementing these suggestions isn't just good for the reader, it's good for the readers' loved ones. I've twisted myself in knots trying to figure out how to get my kids to eat more fruits and veggies, and by doing things like putting fruit out in bowls on the counter or serving a veggie course before the rest of dinner, the strategies I'm using to try to get myself to eat better will also help my kids develop healthier habits, something that's extremely important to me.

I can't say enough good things about this book. I learned some new information from it, and I really appreciated Mann's advocating for a saner, healthier outlook on diet and exercise. It seems contradictory, but it seems to me that the national obsession we have with obesity in the U.S. is actually creating worse outcomes. If more people were to try the things Mann is suggesting, I think Americans overall would be healthier, both mentally and physically.

(checked out of library)
Fascinating and easy to read, Secrets is 200 pages on the research that you haven't heard about, likely because no one can make money off of it. (The book is over 200 pages but a lot of it is the notes.)
The book doesn't bury you in the details of all the studies it mentions which leaves it easier to read. I like the details myself. My science background makes me question everything. So this means I can't say whether all the studies mentioned really were carried out well. What I can say is that my personal experience and 7 years of working for Weight Watchers and what I saw there much of the time makes a lot of this make sense. Everyone does not lose weight the same way and just because you cut calories or eat strictly healthy foods doesn't mean you're going to see the same results as somebody else. There's a whole lot of genetics, biology and psychology that complicates things. For most of my life I knew that if I ate whatever I wanted, my weight would hover at the same set point. It took incredible effort to lose below that set range, more than ever made sense considering I could eat insanely and not gain over that range. All that changed after years of dieting. And that's where I found the book depressing. I've already lost my set point after so many diets; the damage is done. Wish I'd read this book as a kid. At least now, I know to focus on eating well rather than cutting calories

I think the quote at the beginning of the preface pretty much sums it up:
"You study self-control? You should study me. I have great self control"
--Nobody, ever

Relatable and fun-to-read prose, explaining science with big (n tasty) implications. A truly interesting read from an expert on the science behind eating and trying not to eat. A joy to read and glad I did -- the take-home message is timely, useful, and hopeful.

This book is awesome. So many lesson that apply to life outside of just what one eats. Might be the best book on habits. their strengths, their power and their formation I have read. Dr. Mann adds plenty of humor to keep you involved as she educates about a serious subject with facts and proven studies. She should consider changing the title to "Life's Secrets from the Eating Lab". Great job, Dr. Mann.

Great book-
Read Health At Every Size, Body Kindness and Body of Truth-
Listen to Life. Unrestricted podcasts.

People who say " well what about people who do lose weight and keep it off"
Most of those people have disordered eating and unhealthy relationships with food. If that is what they want, then fine but that is what they are doing.

People who are afraid of fat won't like or agree or this book or HAES in general. They will continue to fat bash and feel smug about how they either are staying thin or will get thin someday. I have been there, I know. I finally woke up and stopped drinking the diet culture and billion dollars industry kool-aid.

I write this review to prevent eating disorders for the coming generations.
Now children are at much hight risk thanks to our policing of food. It is really very sad that educated men and women carry on like this ( paleo, Keto, 5:2, cross fit, BS) so extreme and so unbalanced and sad for anyone who has to be judged by these people. If they want to live like that, fine, but spare us your eating disorder and exercise bulimia and stop selling it to children.

What a fascinating book. First off, it’s incredibly readable – fun and well-presented, not to mention easy to understand for even a layman such as myself. If you think scientific research can’t ALSO be beach reading, then you’ve never read Mann’s delightful and digestible prose.

And then there’s the content of the book itself. Refreshing, insightful, illuminating. It’s the kind of common sense wisdom – backed by SCIENCE, no less – that we see all too frequently overshadowed by groupthink and Big Industry agendas. Mann provides not only a breath of fresh air, but also the data/research to support her claims – again, presented clearly and with compelling empathy.

Highly recommended for anyone interested in separating fact from fiction regarding the science of weight loss.

This author and researcher is definitely ahead of her time on this shunned, misunderstood, ignored, and mislabelled subject of food addiction. She both addresses and investigates issues, matters, and effects of food addiction on individuals which have never before been examined in the literature and work on the subject globally in multiple facets. Hopefully her pioneer work will motivate others to enter, explore, and investigate this field. It is way past time for society to recognize the detrimental and destructive effects of food addiction on the individual just as much as are recognized the effects of drug addiction and alcoholism.

This book is a refreshing change from all the diet books out there. There are more diet books than any other genre. It is clear diets don't work or else there wouldn't be so many attempts at it. The big question is, why do people keep buying them? This is the only one that makes sense.

The 3 keys are to exercise, eat healthy, and minimize stress. If you do those, you will probably get to a healthy weight, but probably not thin like a model. She says that most people who diet, eventually gain all the weight back after the diet ends. She has many "tricks" to eat less, such as using smaller plates so that it looks like a lot of food, filling up on the vegetables at parties so you won't eat the cookies, and practice "mindful eating" to savor your food and be aware when you're full. My favorite part of the book is the studies that showed that being overweight, and maybe even slightly obese, isn't very harmful to your health. What will prevent disease is exercising, eating healthy and minimizing stress.

According to a disclaimer at the beginning of the show "My 600 pound life" they write that the long-term success rate of bariatric surgery is less than 5% (on the show the doctor has quoted that it's less than 2%). I wondered about that, and this book provides the answers. Even though I've never seriously struggled with my weight, this book is worth the read because it provides a lot of useful, interesting research-backed information in a concise and entertaining format. It helps that what's written aligns with my experiences during times when I've gained weight, effortlessly lost weight, and yet at other times struggled to lose "just a few pounds."

My totally unplanned reading of this book coincidentally aligns with my first trip to Minneapolis/St. Paul in less than a week where my brother plans to visit the University of Minnesota--small world!