Happy New Year blog readers! I have some delightful news! My book, No Salads Required! How I Lost 159 Pounds WITHOUT Salads, Celery, Sit-Ups, or Surgery and How YOU Can Too! is now available for sale at Target.com! As a former Target employee, this makes me very happy indeed. I received a lot of support and encouragement from my coworkers at Target, when I was losing weight, so it’s especially nice to see that Target is now offering my book on their website.
If you don’t have my book yet, I really encourage you to buy it! Not only is it full of extremely helpful tips on weight loss, it’s also full of humor, recipes, and some really fun poetry about weight loss which I think you will greatly enjoy. There is also a group study guide in the back of the book which is perfect for book clubs and other groups of people who enjoy reading and discussing books together. You will also be happy to know that my book not only comes in the traditional paperback and hardback formats, but it is also available as an e-book that can be read on your phone, e-reader, or any other device you can read a book on these days.
You can also still buy No Salads Required! at Amazon.com, BarnsandNoble.com, Christianbook.com, Google.com, iTunes, Westbowpress.com and many other places that sell books online. Another convenient way to buy my book is to request it at your local bookstore. Most bookstore owners will be delighted to special order it for you even if they don’t have it on the shelf when you come in.
I also have a special note of both thanks and encouragement for my readers all over the world. Thanks to all of you, my weight-loss story has reached people in seventy different countries! That being said, I realize that many of you reading this blog post are not in the United States, so I want to be sure to let you know that many of the online outlets that sell my book ship all over the world, so feel free to order it and have it shipped to wherever you might be. If one distributer doesn’t ship to your country, try another! If you really want a copy, there is probably a way get it.
I also want to wish all of you wonderful success in meeting your weight-loss goals in 2018. May this be your year to see all your dreams come true!
Losing weight and keeping it off takes a lot of time and effort! The good news is that you don’t have to do it all by yourself. In fact, you may be surprised how much your friends and family are willing to help you. You can also join a support group for people who are also on a weight-loss journey. Many communities already have groups like this who meet on a regular basis to both encourage one another in developing healthy habits and to talk through the problems that the group members used to try to solve by eating. If you don’t already have a weight-loss group in your area, now would be a great time to start your own!
This is me prior to my weight-loss program. I weighed about 281 pounds at that time.
I recently lost 159 pounds in fourteen months and I have to say that the help and support I received from my friends and family really contributed to my success. Their support has also been helpful as I work at maintaining my figure. In fact their help was so important that I have included a whole chapter about it in my new book, No Salads Required! How I Lost 159 Pounds WITHOUT Salads, Celery, Sit-Ups or Surgery and How YOU Can Too! The chapter is called Gathering Support and in it I discuss variety of ways that my friends and family helped me as I was undergoing radical transformation. I also included a Reader’s Discussion Guide in the back of the book for groups who are reading my book together and want to meet regularly to discuss both the book and also how the members of the group can support each other as they work toward reaching their own weight-loss goals.
One of the most important things my friends and family did was believe in me and encourage me! The two shining heroes in this regard were my parents. I share a home with them and I can’t begin to tell you how helpful their encouraging words and hugs were as I started down my new path to better health.
Mom and Dad also volunteered to assist me in practical ways like keeping the house clean, buying groceries and doing most of the cooking so I would have time to exercise faithfully every single day.
My sister has also been very supportive and encouraging. I really appreciate her prayers and kind words. She also gave me a wonderful recipe for prime rib with rosemary and garlic, which you can find in the recipe chapter of my book.
My neighbors were a great source of support too. From the moment I stepped outside to start my fitness walking program, people who lived nearby started encouraging me, and the more I stuck to my plan the more interested and supportive they became. And my support didn’t stop there! As my weight loss became readily apparent I received lots of encouragement from coworkers, my doctor, friends from church and even my mailman!
Besides prayers and encouragement, one of the most helpful things some of the women from church did was to clean out their closets and give me clothes that I could wear as I was rapidly changing sizes. This saved me thousands of dollars and also really inspired me to stay on my weight-loss program.
While I am on the subject of generous gifts, I also want to mention a beautiful used treadmill one of my neighbors gave me. She had seen me walking by her house every day for 6 months and she knew I would make use of it when the heavy summer lightning storms started in my part of Florida. I am SO thankful for that treadmill! It really was helpful as I worked to reach my weight-loss goals. Of course all used things wear out eventually, but I am happy to say I got a LOT of use out of that treadmill before I replaced it with a brand new one that I am still using today when the weather is uncomfortable for walking or when I need to do my walking after dark.
Another friend who showed me great kindness and support was Marsha Kemp, owner of Marsha Kemp Photography in Tampa, Florida. Marsha was so excited about my weight-loss story that she made room on her busy schedule so that I could hire her to take my “After” photos that you see on my book cover and various places on social media where I promote my book. She took them with loving care and really brought out the best in me!
You can also see some of those lovely photos on the website for my new online store where I am selling autographed copies of my books! The link to the store is:
I hope someday to offer autographed books to my international readers as well, but for the time being I encourage all of my blog readers who live around the world to buy unsigned copies of my book from westbowpress.com, Amazon.com, barnsandnoble.com and other online stores that sell books internationally. If one of these web sites doesn’t ship to your country, please try another one! These days you can buy books from almost anywhere!
Those of you with e-readers will also be happy to know that the e-book version of my book is only $3.99 US dollars, which is a wonderful deal! Be sure to tell all your friends about it! Maybe they will all want to buy a copy, read the book together and use the Reader’s Discussion Guide in the back. Not only will this be a lot of fun, but it could be the beginning of a wonderful weight-loss journey for all of you. I wish you the best of success!
Shelley A. Sonnenberg 