The Economists' Diet: The Surprising Formula for Losing Weight and Keeping It Off Paperback – Unabridged, January 1, 2019

I really debated giving this book 4 stars because in my viewpoint it has some major weaknesses. For instance this does not seem to be a one-size fits all diet book. Basically if you are a professional, have kids, either in your 30's or later, then this is an excellent book. A lot of the tips and tricks seem tailor made for people in that situation. It deals with how to do colleague lunches, professional travel, and even as much as setting expectations with your spouse/kids.What this book is not is good for is for people who are interested in fitness. The goal of the diet is to get you to a BMI of 25. Anything beyond that like counting macros or weight lifting is encouraged, but almost entirely glossed over beyond some vague exhortations to exercise. The other thing I thought was real failure was the chapter dealing with calorie counting. It does encourage you to be calorie conscious, but the book goes on in depth about how calorie counting is a waste of time. My experience has been that people who follow very loose diets like this one tend to overestimate their calories by 20%-30% or so (studies show that) so the authors go on in depth about how calorie counting is so hard when in reality it has never been easier with the plethora of calorie counting apps and support groups (like reddit, etc). So if you are an athlete or interested in fitness at all, then realize that this book is not a good one to help you there.Why I ultimately gave this book 5 stars though was this was hands down one of the most common sense books on weight maintenance I have ever read. Among the crazy fad diets, or ones that are too strict, or fitness trend of the month, or ones that require lots of external rules and never socializing. This book is a stellar standout on a topic that is rarely discussed in the rush to lose weight. It too emphasized scale management and had lots of meta-rules that are very helpful.Overall if you know what this book is, and what it is not, then this is a great read. I liked the audible version, and the ending where they talk about the health and life improvements they both experienced after losing weight it has a dose of inspiration too.

I am so glad I read this book. I am a Physician Assistant and have been for 19 years. I have always been interested in diet and weight management. I have ready so many books on different lifestyles/diets. Most recently I have been adopting a mostly vegan diet. Although I feel the best when I am eating vegan, for me it was misleading in that I wrongly assumed I could eat a high carb diet and still lose weight. Long story short, this book is extremely practical and it's what I needed to see in print and therefore put into action. I generally weighed myself daily but had huge fluctuations and I wrongly assumed that if I didn't overeat by 3,500 calories there should be no way I should have gained weight in one or two days. Wow, I realized in order to maintain my weight at my current level of activity I need to stay right around 1200-1500 calories with relatively low in the carbohydrate category. I found I can eat a kids size ice cream cone 1-2 times a week and haven't had to exercise. For religious reasons, I try to fast so this helps too. Also, eating the same thing for breakfast and a salad for lunch with a sensible dinner as the book suggests is spot on for me. The consistently makes meal planning easier and what I sacrifice in variety, I make up for in weight maintenance which makes me so happy. I am no overweight and have always had a normal BMI but I wanted to get an annoying 7-10 pounds off and for the first time since college (19 years) I have been able to do that. I am extremely happy that I read this book Thank you for sharing your knowledge!!

It may be a bit long-winded at times but the information that is presented is done so in meaningful ways. I appreciated this approach to explain a _simple_ way to "diet" and think about food, thus changing behaviors. The audio book was easy enough to listen to while commuting to and from work and has already made an impact on my life. As they continually stress in the book, this approach is far more likely to be something you can live with the rest of your life, rather than a few month "fix" only to eventually return to being overweight due to bad behaviors.

This is the first diet book that makes absolute sense to me. It is a simple method, that places responsibility and therefore the control with you.I have lost 4 lbs since it arrived, and feel good about my ability to continue to lose weight.Believe me I have tried everything out there, reading this book switched the light on for me! I wonder why nobody has thought about this before, there is no escaping the logic and truths in this book. We can't eat the way we've been eating and be a normal weight. Thank you for this wake up call! I will come back in 6 months and report.

The book has a good premise. Learn to control your food intake instead of dieting with forbidden foods. I just thought it was too wordy and could have all been said in fewer words.

From the opening idea about how the abundance of food presents a real challenge to weigh loss, this book has shifted my relationship with food. I was only just outside "normal" on my BMI but have lost over 14 pounds in 7 weeks - I'm now approaching center of my BMI normal weight and I feel great. The advice provided, supported by their personal experience, allowed me to try their ideas with confidence and the results have been very good. Now, with daily weigh ins, there's a good chance that my new "normal" will last for years. Thanks guys!

Having lost weight before, I know this advice is spot on. And there were things I never thought of before....such as splurge and mini fast. I know that if I overeat one day I have to be very very careful the next day. I think that this is a very good book for people who don't want to start calorie counting and aren't looking for a buff or Gym style physique. Most people's bodies look great when they are just at their ideal weight. Thank you for writing such a great book and I really enjoyed it.

Straightforward dieting advice. Without bombast. Simple to follow. Well written. Very strongly recommended. Reinforced what I am trying to do.

Easy to follow logical way of losing weight without being battered by science.

I feel like this book should have two star ratings: one for the actual advice, which seems mostly good, and one for the writing, which is quite poor and repetitive (although this is partly a deliberate rhetorical device, I think).The advice is basically what anyone who likes food but stays in control of their weight learned about age 14; you can't eat whatever you want, you sometimes need to be hungry, you need to have good food habits and not seek out something interesting to eat every meal. It is laudably (though not very incisively) dismissive of quick-fix and fad diets. And props to both authors for having a problem, recognising it, and dealing with it. Personally it has reminded me that I should eat porridge for breakfast more often, instead of toast or a more processed cereal!On the other hand, it does seem about twice as long as it needs to be, and deals with the kind of advice a 14-year-old girl was getting from the school syllabus as if it was some kind of deep wisdom - spiced with the occasional obvious economist concept (you need to behave as if there was artificial shortage, since if you're a fairly wealthy person like the authors - and disclaimer, I am - money is not the limiting factor in how much you eat). There isn't a single quote or source from the fields of diet and nutrition as far as I recall, which is in a sense fair enough - the point of the book is that it really isn't *that* complicated - but descriptions of a few studies showing, for example, that exercise doesn't always lead to weight loss (but had other health benefits) would have been less lazy.I also think Dr Payne's suggestion that if you are a guest in a house without a set of scales, you could buy them some scales, is an appalling one. Sure, many of us these days do want to lose weight - but unless you have discussed it freely and it isn't a hang-up of theirs, really don't do this.In short: the investment in this book is worthwhile if you either need to revolutionise your diet, or need to remind yourself to get back into good habits. What it isn't is a piece of great writing!

Fun and useful!