Fitness coach and nutritionist Nathalie Plamondon-Thomas asks readers if this is the year to finally lose weight. To help achieve that goal, the author focuses on Neuro-Linguistic Programing (NLP), a popular process that emphasizes an individual’s ability to reprogram the brain’s neuro-pathways to achieve objectives.
Plamondon-Thomas believes NLP can help alter the brain to remove the negativity that prevents individuals from losing weight and keeping it off. “You can program your brain to do whatever it is you want to accomplish…and program yourself to be thin.”
To better conceptualize the NLP process, Plamondon-Thomas created a system she calls DNA. She explains that “Desire” focuses on the brain’s ability to be reconditioned to achieve goals. “New You” describes how negative thinking about weight loss can be changed. And “Actualize” shows how to practice the newly learned thinking.
The author devotes a substantial part of Think Yourself Thin to examples of negative thinking and how it can be overcome. Of most use to readers may be Plamondon-Thomas’s chapters on goal actualization. She provides simple techniques and mental exercises to help neutralize the past and act on the desire to successfully lose weight through healthful nutrition and physical activity.
The author provides numerous instances of client success in reprogramming their thought processes, along with frequent anecdotes about her own accomplishments. A literature review of the limited number of NLP studies available, however, demonstrates little evidence that NLP interventions improve outcomes; some experts consider NLP to be a pseudo science, without scientific foundation. Additionally, trying to mesh her DNA classification with the NLP approach doesn’t always lead to smooth reading. This is most obvious when she breaks into chapters that focus on additional concepts such as “dedicate” or “determine” that make it difficult to follow her DNA structure.
Nonetheless, some readers may appreciate the author’s energetic and hopeful look at how individuals can focus on the psychological aspects of weight loss and work toward their weight loss goals.
Also available as an ebook.
