Shelley A. Sonnenberg

Author who has lost 159 pounds and written a book about it!

Tag: weight-loss poetry

Celebrate the New Year with the Weight-Loss Poet! — January 1, 2016

Here I am at my computer where I do all my writing! Happy New Year!

Celebrate the New Year with the Weight-Loss Poet!

/Shelley A Sonnenberg/2 Comments

Hello readers! Happy New Year! In honor of 2016 I have written a special poem that only can be found on my blog! It is a celebration of the opportunity all of us have to start the New Year with new, healthy habits that will lead to a beautiful and healthy figure.

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This picture was taken a few months prior to the start of my weight-loss program. I weighed 281 pounds at that time.

As many of you know, I started a weight-loss program in January of 2013 that lead to my losing 159 pounds in fourteen months. It was a lot of work, but I am VERY glad I took that first step, because without a beginning I would not have been able to have the results I wanted so much.
For those of you who want to know more about how I lost the weight, I have written a book that explains the program I designed and followed, and also includes poems, humor, recipes, suggested meals, advice on exercise and everything else you would want from a weight-loss book. It’s called No Salads Required! How I Lost 159 pounds WITHOUT Salads, Celery, Sit-Ups, or Surgery, and How YOU Can Too! You can order it from http://www.westbowpress.com, Amazon.com, and anywhere else books are sold!
And now, here is the special weight-loss poem that I wrote for YOUR enjoyment:

Poem for 2016
A New Year is beginning
A chance to start afresh
And usher in new habits
That lead to happiness!
And when you take the first step
And the next one after that
Never stop believing
That one day you won’t be fat!
You CAN change your eating
But do it on your terms.
Pick heathy foods that you enjoy
Not ones that make you squirm!
And when it’s time for exercise
Do something that you like.
Some people go out walking
While others ride their bike.
The trick is to choose something
You want to do each day
Something that burns calories,
But also feels like play.
And as you get stronger
You can also try new sports
This is not only healthy
It’s so you won’t get bored!
And while you’re at it
Invite a friend or two
To join you when you exercise
That’s lots of fun to do!
And soon you will discover
You all are looking better
And that you really do enjoy
The time you spend together.
And before you know it
The months will disappear
Taking your fat with them
That will make you cheer!
And when the New Year comes again
You and your friends will pose
For a smiling photo
In your new small clothes.

“No Salads Required!” is For Sale Online! — October 30, 2015

This is the "after" photo from the cover of my weight-loss book. It was taken by Marsha Kemp, owner of Marsha Kemp Photography in Tampa, FL.

“No Salads Required!” is For Sale Online!

/Shelley A Sonnenberg/5 Comments

It is with great joy that I am able to announce that my brand new weight-loss book is now for sale online!  The title and subtitle of the book is No Salads Required! How I Lost 159 Pounds WITHOUT Salads, Celery, Sit-Ups, or Surgery, and How YOU Can Too! and, you can currently buy the hardcover and softcover versions of the book from my publisher’s website, westbowpress.com, and also from Amazon.com.  The e-book will be available soon and I also look forward to announcing when the book will be available from other stores.

This is the "before" photo from the cover of my book. I weighed 281 pounds when this was taken.
This is the “before” photo from the cover of my book. I weighed 281 pounds when this was taken.

No Salads Required! tells the story of how I lost 159 pounds in fourteen months including some of the funny moments that happened along the way.  Also included is my easy to understand weight-loss program, so you can try my successful program for yourself!  You will be especially happy to know that you can eat bacon, fried chicken and BBQ ribs on my program if you want to!  The food part of the program includes lists of fruits, vegetables and protein foods that you can select from and design your own meals. I also have included a chapter with thirty preplanned meals to help you get started and a chapter that features some of our favorite family recipes that I ate while I was losing weight.

  No Salads Required! also offers advice on exercise, asking God for help, surrounding yourself with supportive people and making weight loss a priority.  I also have included a reader’s discussion guide for people who are reading this book as a group and meeting regularly to discuss it. Whether your group is a book club, a therapy group, a church group, a weight-loss support group or just some friends who enjoy reading books, I believe the questions in the guide will open the door to some thoughtful and stimulating conversations.

I also put something in my book that I think the readers of this blog will especially like! Poetry!  There is a poem in every chapter as well as the introduction, the conclusion and the readers discussion guide. The reason I think all of you will enjoy these poems is that every blog post I have written that includes weight-loss poetry has been met with great enthusiasm! You will also be happy to know that I plan to include more poems in future posts.

My readers from all over the world will also be happy to know that westbowpress.com and Amazon.com both ship worldwide, so you can order my book from almost ANYWHERE you happen to live!  I also have an update on the topic of where all of you are from. When my book was going to press there were people in 28 different countries that had learned about my weight-loss story. Since then,  the list has grown to 35 countries! I want to thank all of you for your ongoing interest and support!

I also would like to share that my publisher has given me a goal that I hope many of you can help me reach during the next twelve months.  If I sell 500 or more copies of my book through my publisher’s online bookstore, westbowpress.com, some wonderful doors may open for me that could include more stores carrying my book on their shelves and the opportunity to write more books in the future.

I also would like to invite all of you to share your thoughts on my book in the comment section of this blog and  to write reviews for No Salads Required! on the websites where you buy my book. I would love to hear from each and every one of you!  May you enjoy my book just as much as I enjoyed writing it!

The Weight-Loss Poet Rhymes about Choosing Healthy Foods — June 1, 2015

Here I am writing my latest weight-loss poem. I get my best ideas when I am sitting at the computer.

The Weight-Loss Poet Rhymes about Choosing Healthy Foods

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Good nutrition is a very important part of living a healthy lifestyle, yet it’s amazing how easy it is for people to eat all the wrong foods for breakfast, lunch, dinner and snacks and then wonder why they struggle with weight problems and are not feeling well. The good news is that anyone who really wants to can change!

This picture was taken prior to the start of my weight-loss program. I am posing with a chocolate covered strawberry. That was about the only way I ate fruit in those days.
This picture was taken prior to the start of my weight-loss program. I am posing with a chocolate covered strawberry. That was about the only way I ate fruit in those days.

Recently, I lost 159 pounds in fourteen months and one of the most important things I did was improve my daily food choices. Now that does not mean I quit enjoying my meals! Quite the opposite! The weight-loss program I created for myself included a wide variety healthy foods I liked and I had such a good time eating them that I still eat those foods today!

You can read my whole weight-loss story and all the details of how to follow my successful weight-loss program in my upcoming book, No Salads Required! How I Lost 159 Pounds without Salads, Celery, Sit-Ups or Surgery and How You Can Too! This book will be available from Amazon.com and other stores in either late August or early September of 2015 and I hope all my readers enjoy it. The book will include all the things that people hope for in a weight-loss book such as recommended foods, suggested meals, recipes, and advice on exercise, but it also contains something unique and special: poetry!

No Salads Required! Contains seventeen poems, which I have placed strategically throughout the book with the goal of presenting the information in the various chapters in a more memorable and entertaining manner. I also liked the idea of giving my readers a taste of something new and different, and weight-loss poetry is definitely that!

In fact, I enjoy writing weight-loss poetry so much that recently I have posted two special blog posts that included special weight-loss poems that I wrote specifically for my blog readers. The response has been overwhelming! Readers from all over the world have given me wonderful feedback concerning these poems and said that they really enjoyed them, so I have written a brand new one about food choices that you will only be able to see here! Enjoy!

You Can Eat the Right Foods and Still Be Happy!

Each time you plan a meal

Or visit the grocery store

You will make decisions

That your body can’t ignore.

Will you be eating protein

And vegetables and fruit?

Or will you fill up on pizza

And ice cream by the scoop?

The best way to be healthy

Is by choosing foods,

That not only fill your stomach

But provide nutrition too.

You will find you feel much better

And that you’ll have more zest

If you eat the kinds of things

Your doctor would suggest.

The fruits I love the most

Are cantaloupe and grapes.

I also really like to eat

Chicken, fish and steak.

I enjoy corn on the cob

And small cucumbers too.

Yellow grape tomatoes

Always improve my mood!

I don’t eat much sugar any more

But much to my surprise

I really do not miss it much.

I love living my new life!

Now it’s your turn to join me.

Start eating healthy too!

And one day you will see

Your weight-loss dreams come true!

The Weight-Loss Poet Shares the Fun Side of Fitness — May 22, 2015

I love sitting at my computer and writing weight-loss poetry!

The Weight-Loss Poet Shares the Fun Side of Fitness

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Losing weight does not have to be boring and neither does reading about it!  That’s one of the reasons I like to write weight-loss poetry. It’s great to take a subject that has traditionally been written about in a rather drab, dry way and insert some entertainment into it!

This picture was taken prior to the start of my weight-loss program. As you can see, I spent way too much time on the couch! I weighed about 281 pounds at that time.
This picture was taken prior to the start of my weight-loss program. As you can see, I spent way too much time on the couch! I weighed about 281 pounds at that time.

In my upcoming weight-loss book, No Salads Required! How I Lost 159 Pounds without Salads, Celery, Sit-Ups or Surgery and How You Can Too! I have included seventeen poems just for the fun of it! I put in some humor too!  Of course, I also have included a step by step explanation of my weight-loss program, suggested meals, and all sorts of practical advice on how to reach your weight-loss goals.  I really worked hard to make the book so much fun to read that people will enjoy it whether they need to lose weight or not!

The book will be available from Amazon.com and other stores in late summer or early fall of 2015, but in the meantime I have decided to occasionally include some special weight-loss poems in my blog that my readers will only get to see here, and today is one of those days! In light of my mission to make fitness much more fun I have written a poem on that very topic just for you. Here it is:

Fitness Can Be Fun

There really used to be a time

When I could not believe

That fitness could be any fun

It looked like pain to me!

But, one day I discovered

An exercise I liked.

I took up fitness walking

And it changed my life!

For one thing it was easy

Just one step, then another

It’s a great way to start shrinking,

As I soon discovered.

I just did it every day

Mile after mile

And the more the weight came off

The more it made me smile!

Then, just for variety

I started lifting weights.

That helped tone some muscles

And I thought that was great.

Then one day I decided

To explore somewhere new,

So Mom and I burned calories,

Walking all around the zoo.

Now I also have a treadmill

And a fitness bike I use

While listening to music

So I can stay amused.

I think the secret to getting fit each day

Is to pick exercise you like,

So it feels more like play.

It’s also nice to have someone

To work out with you.

It’s great for your body

And for your friendship too!

Musings of a Weight-Loss Poet — May 9, 2015

Here I am in front of my computer. It's where I write my best poetry!

Musings of a Weight-Loss Poet

/Shelley A Sonnenberg/2 Comments

Weight-loss books are one of the most popular types of self-help books on the market today and the people who buy them generally know what to expect. Most weight-loss books provide advice concerning what to eat, how to plan meals, how to exercise, and what to do in order to successfully reach a weight-loss goal. I think all of these things are excellent components to a weight-loss book and that’s why I have included them in my new book that is coming out in the late summer or early fall of this year. However, my book also has something new: poetry!

The name of the book is No Salads Required! How I Lost 159 Pounds without Salads, Celery, Sit-Ups or Surgery and How You Can Too! It contains seventeen poems that are designed to both entertain the reader and also present the various ideas in the book in a creative and memorable way.There is a poem in the introduction, the conclusion and the reader’s discussion guide as well as at least one in each chapter of the book.

I realize that poetry about weight loss is unconventional to say the least, but that’s exactly why I wanted to both write it and include it in my book. Readers are always looking for something fresh and different and I wanted my book to be just that. No Salads Required! also contains my personal weight-loss story. This gave me the opportunity to include both humor and insights into what I experienced as  during my weight-loss journey.

This photo was taken before I began my weight-loss program. I weighed about 281 pounds at the time.
This photo was taken before I began my weight-loss program. I weighed about 281 pounds at the time.

Recently I have been thinking about how much I enjoyed using poetry to discuss weight loss and I decided to write a special poem specifically for the readers of my blog. Here it is:

Why Weight-Loss Books Are Popular

The choice to try to lose weight

Isn’t always easy.

Sometimes just the thought of it

Can make a person queasy.

But, once the door is opened

And a new you is in sight,

Suddenly the prospect

Can fill you with delight!

Imagine what you want to be

Then make those dreams come true.

If you really want this,

It’s possible for you!

Choose healthy food you like to eat

And eat it every day.

Do exercise you like to do,

And pounds will melt away!

Of course, it helps to have someone

Who’s been there before,

To walk you through the process

And tell you what’s in store.

That’s why folks buy weight-loss books

To show them what to do,

And teach them and encourage them

As they do something new.

In fact, some people never try

To lose weight on their own.

They like the hope a book provides

So they don’t feel alone.

If what you need is a good book

To get your engine fired,

Be sure to go out and buy mine

It’s called No Salads Required!

As I mentioned earlier, No Salads Required! will be available either late summer or early fall of 2015 . You will be able to order it from Amazon.com and other stores. I wish each of my readers great success on their weight-loss journey and I hope that my book will be an important part of that!