100 Days of Weight Loss: The Secret to Being Successful on Any Diet Plan

Linda Spangle
SunQuest Media (2006)
ISBN 0976705702
Reviewed by Irene Watson for Reader Views (3/06)

There are many books on the market about dieting, most of them being a specific diet. Linda Spangle, a registered nurse who is a nationally recognized authority on emotional eating and psychological issues of weight management, provides the reader with mini-lessons that keep the dieter committed for 100 days. It is believed that after 3 months the tools received will become daily tools.

In Spangle’s 20 years career working with overweight individuals, she finds that most dieters start strong but after three to four weeks they “fall off the wagon.” Her first suggestion is to choose the best diet plan. She provides a quiz on www.thedietquiz.com to help the reader choose the appropriate plan for them. The second step is to commit to doing the plan for 100 days, completing one lesson per day. Spangle’s third step suggests the reader track their progress as well as record the answers to the daily assignment.

Spangle’s daily lessons are just that – a lesson. For example, day 17 is “Stop Wasting Food.” Her lesson starts off with the question “Do you tend to always clean your plate?” Most of us probably answer “yes.” Spangle then has the reader reflect where they first heard that comment and more than likely, like myself, were told that leaving food on the plate wasn’t fair to the starving children in the world. As the two page lesson continues Spangle asks the reader to make a commitment not to waste food by putting it into the body. It’s all about making a mental shift.

At the end of each lesson Spangle has a “today” section. This is the “to do” list and for day 17 she suggests:

  • Throw some food away. It can be a tiny amount or a large amount. Remember, by wasting it into the garbage, you're not wasting it into yourself.
  • In your journal, list the foods you let go of today. Make a note about how it felt to throw food away, then add a few thoughts on how you'll manage leftover food in the future.
  • Write down a few ways you can prevent having excess food around in the first place.

I believe that Linda Spangle has a concept that should work for any dieter. Her bottom line is to stop emotional eating. Through the mini- lessons that Spangle provides, we learn that it is our commitment and motivation that will lead us to healthy patterns and a shift in consciousness. Having a healthy body is in store if one makes the commitment to change old patterns, and in a mere 100 days.

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