Dr Phil’s Ultimate Weight Loss Solution
Dr. Phil McGraw, best known for his no-nonsense advice about relationships and family, has entered the weight loss arena with a plan called “The Ultimate Weight Solution: The 7 Keys to Weight Loss Freedom.”
One of the strengths of Dr. Phil’s program is the emphasis he places on lifestyle changes. He asks dieters to accept the reality of obesity and take the steps necessary to change their lives for the better.
Dr. Phil’s approach is different from others in that he focuses on long-term and sustainable weight loss, rather than opting for a quick fix of pills or other products. Dr. Phil does not promise easy or fast weight loss and he does not offer any miracle cures. As he succinctly states, you may be looking for “something that melts fat off like sun melts ice,” but he notes that “losing weight is not ‘quick and easy’ and you know it.”
He describes why conventional dieting does not work, the role that family and media play in weight loss or weight gain, along with the differences between how men and women approach weight issues.
With Dr. Phil’s prescription, you first have to face your personal truth—what you think about yourself and your weight. You then have to replace “toxic” messages with positive thoughts. Dr. Phil then goes through, step by step, how you can combat emotional eating, change your environment, control impulse eating, choose foods, adopt an exercise routine, and assemble a support circle.
The advantage to this approach is that each step is explained and personalized with research studies, charts, and self-tests. His menu calls for foods high in nutrition but low in calories. The food also cannot be eaten quickly because it is high in fiber—as a result, you’re far less likely to overeat.
Dr. Phil’s general aim is to change “what you eat, why you eat, where you eat, when you eat, and how you eat.” Dr. Phil’s approach is also individualized, offering that “personal touch” that can help to inspire an otherwise reluctant dieter. As Dr. Phil himself states, “If you are overweight, you are out of control. That’s not a natural place to be.”
The major disadvantage of Dr. Phil’s approach is that it delivers very little practical advice: no calorie-counting or tracking carbohydrates or fat, no menus or meal planning are provided. Since most of us aren’t diet experts, we expect an “A-B-C-D” solution to weight loss, where everything is laid out clearly and precisely, with no guesswork invoved.
His plan has also garnered some high-level criticism too…
According to the non-profit Center for Science in the Public Interest, Dr Phil’s diet is a “tough-love manual that relies more on Dr. Phil’s opinion than on science.”
The CSPI also charges that Dr. Phil’s line of expensive “Shape Up!” dietary supplements (shakes, pills, and nutrition bars) that accompany the diet rate high on “quackery” and won’t help anyone lose weight. The supplements didn’t go over too well with the public either, and even spawned a class action lawsuit. To make matters worse, Dr. Phil later admitted he had “no expertise” in making the diet pills he had previously been so eager to endorse.
Dr. Phil maintains that the rewards of his plan are well worth the effort. As the lifestyle coach himself says, “Permanent weight loss is about changing many things in your life, and The Ultimate Weight Solution will help you do just that—change yourself, change the way you think about dieting, change the way you think about food, change the way you think about your health.”
The Ultimate Weight Loss Solution is a probably a decent choice if your overweight is a result of emotional overeating rather than poor diet habits and faulty nutritional knowledge. Dr. Phil is a pyschologist after all, not a diet guru, and his knowledge and expertise will likely hold him in good stead here.
However, Dr. Phil has seriously damaged his credibility with this foray into the weight loss field (which appears like a pretty transparent attempt to “cash in” on the situation), and unless your issue with food is a psychological one, I’d be more inclined to turn to a diet guru – like Tom Venuto, author of Burn The Fat, for instance – for help losing weight!
July 28, 2010
As an overeater myself (30 lbs. overweight) and a mental health therapist, I would venture to say that anyone who is overeating is doing so for emotional reasons.
November 11, 2014
I agree with Pat’s comment. Most people eat out of habit, upbringing, and emotion; or with their eyes; if it looks good, it should be eaten.
It takes a lot of discipline to recognize emotional triggers that lead to emotional eating, because you are either bored, hurt, or just because. That said, most people don’t know how to
RECOGNIZE.