The 5 Best Diet Books for Real-Life Weight Loss

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If you want to lose weight and keep the weight off for good, you might want to consider a diet book. Of course, there are trendy apps, commercial weight loss programs, and online celebrity diets, but those can be expensive and hard to follow. A good weight loss book, however, is inexpensive, only requires a one-time payment and if you keep the book in your home library, the information is always available for you to reference.

 

So which diet book is best for you? It depends on your lifestyle and your weight loss goal. Different books work for different types of dieters. These are some of the best diet books that have come across my desk. Figure out your diet style and pick the best book for you.  

Top 5 Weight Loss Books

• Slim By Design, Mindless Eating Solutions for Everyday Life. It's hard to believe that simple changes to your home or work space can help you to lose weight, but they can. Food researcher Brian Wansink, Ph.D. has conducted years of research to prove it. Dr. Wansink is the director of the Food and Brand Lab at Cornell University and he has been studying eating behavior for years.
  
  Of course, you might think that a book about food research would be boring. And worse, it would be hard to follow. But the book is hilarious and so much fun to read. Better yet, the tips that Dr. Wansink provides are easy to follow.
  
  This diet book is best for people who aren't ready for a full-scale diet and who don't have a lot of weight to lose. This program isn't a diet, but simply a guide to easy changes that can result in healthier eating habits. You'll find Slim by Design, Mindless Eating Solutions for Everyday Life by Brian Wansink, Ph.D. online for $20 or less.
   

• Calorie Accounting  I told the author, Mandy Levy, that when I first looked at this book I expected to dislike it. It looks more like a comic book than a diet book. So I thought that the diet advice inside would be too trendy and not based on good weight loss principles. But I was wrong.
  
  Calorie Accounting is easy to read and so much fun to follow. Mandy is not a dietitian or a nutritionist. She is simply a busy young woman who has lost weight successfully. Her advice is solid, and if you follow her guidelines, you will not only lose weight, but you'll have lots of fun in the process.
  
  This diet book is best for young women with a sense of humor who don't have time to cook extravagant meals or follow complicated programs. Find Calorie Accounting by Mandy Levy online for about $15
   

• The Calories In Calorie Out Cookbook  This diet book is more of a cookbook than a comprehensive weight loss program. But it does include plenty of common sense advice about starting and sticking to a diet. The authors, Catherine Jones and Elaine Trujillo both have strong backgrounds in nutrition so you can trust the quality of their advice.
  
  What I love most about this book is the way the recipes are set up. The book is divided into sections according to meal. Nutrition information is provided, but they also include the amount of exercise you need to do to burn off a single serving of that dish. It's brilliant.
  
  This book is best for dieters who have time to cook and who like to exercise. It's also good for new cooks since the recipes are easy to follow and include easy-to-find ingredients.  Find The Calories In, Calories Out Cookbook by Catherine Jones and Elaine Trujillo at several online retailers for less than $20.
   

• The Exhaustion Breakthrough  One of the reasons that many dieters quit their program is out of sheer fatigue. Weight loss is exhausting!  So when I saw this book by Dr. Holly Phillips, M.D. I was intrigued. You know Dr. Phillips from her work as a medical contributor on the CBS News. Her book provides real-world solutions for dieters (and non-dieters) who need more energy. 
  
  This book is best for dieters who are sick of starving themselves and find that they are too tired to exercise. It's also a helpful book for people who aren't ready to go on a diet but want to make healthy changes in their lives. You'll find The Exhaustion Breakthrough online for $20 or less.
   
• Burn the Fat, Feed the Muscle  If you're ready to make serious changes in your life, then this is the book for you. Both men and women can benefit from this book, but I thought it was a particularly good for men who want to lose weight and increase their muscle.
  
  Author Tom Venuto is a self-proclaimed former "fat boy." He is now a best-selling author and fitness expert. There is plenty of smart advice and no-nonsense diet and training information in the book that will surely change your body if you're ready to make the commitment.
  
  This book is best for men or women who are ready to make significant changes in their lives to change their bodies. You'll find Burn the Fat, Feed the Muscle at several online retailers for about $20 or less.

Do you have a favorite weight loss book that should be added to my best diet book list? Post a message on my Facebook page or Tweet me about it. I like to hear about successful programs that work for my readers.