Thinfluence

Book excerpt: How to recognize and combat the external factors that cause weight gain and make it difficult to lose weight Tackling a weight problem is often viewed as a personal responsibility that requires making healthier choices. The latest research, however, shows that external factors—from family and friendships to advertising and the workplace environment—have an equal, if not greater, impact on America's growing waistline. Just look at the stats: A person's chance of becoming obese increases by 57 percent if a close friend is obese, 40 percent if a sibling is obese, and 37 percent if a spouse is obese. That's where Thinfluence comes in. Through a research-based examination of the various social, environmental, and policy-based issues that are influencing the nation's health, Harvard researchers Dr. Walter Willett and Dr. Malissa Wood examine how relationships, workplace, media, and other factors are affecting readers' weight. The book offers a clear three-step action plan—analyze, act, influence—for readers to identify hidden factors affecting weight, develop a personal toolbox to combat external effects, and become positive influences on others around them. Thinfluence doesn't tell readers to ditch their friends and family, change jobs, or move to another state. It helps them identify barriers to weight loss success and arms them with the tools to overcome these negative forces. This book takes a fresh look at today's weight control discussion, taking it where it has seldom gone before: outside of the individual.