Kathleen has been there...she's been heavy, she's lost it, she's kept it off. Is it easy for her? No. But she keeps at it. Her philosophy is to change your life in baby steps, to eat foods in moderation instead of completely denying yourself the foods you love and, of course, making exercise a regular part of your life. These things will increase your chances of making a PERMANENT shift to healthier eating and living.
I'm not much of a recipe person (I tend to make things up as I go along), but I have already learned a lot from her book. Because I am a very picky eater, I usually look at most recipes and go "Nah, I wouldn't ever cook that." or "Well, MAYBE I could cook that but I'd leave out a lot of ingredients I don't like." But when I paged through KD's book that first day...I was amazed to find that I would want to eat most of what was in there. Now THAT surprised me. Granted, it doesn't have nutrition information and that would have been helpful but, to me, this book is valuable enough to stand without it.
Some key takeaways: always include lots of veggie sides in your meals (lots of good calories to take up space on the plate), try a light meal once a week (soup or salad), keep dinner simple so you don't feel overwhelmed and order take-out. Pretty easy ideas that have really delivered results (about 20 pounds in 4 months - not fast but really painless) and that I can apply when cooking from other books too.
The recipes I have tried are, for the most part, pretty tasty, though maybe not mind blowing. Good, easy to prepare fare for a weeknight. A couple things have been great, a couple not so successful. She does have a couple "special occasion" recipes, but even these are greatly reduced in calories from the original versions. I think she makes these comments so the reader will understand that you can't lose weight eating chocolate frosting all the time, even if it is the low-fat kind, and if you just need to have it, then here is a healthier version. But for those folks who gripe about the inclusion of "special occasion" recipes, the vast majority of recipes are for everyday foods. Try them, especially the veggie sides chapter, and you will be healthier for it.
