Conquering Fat Logic

A long-overdue reckoning with widespread lies about diets and weight loss

Why do diets fail? Is it because of genetic disposition? A sluggish metabolism? An underactive thyroid?

After years of going on failed diets, Dr Nadja Hermann, a nutritionist and behavioural psychologist, weighed 150 kg at 30 years of age. Over the years, she had heard and read hundreds of reasons why diets wouldn't work for her. But when her weight started to affect her health profoundly, she took a hard look at the science, read widely in the research, and realised that most of what she believed about diets was a myth. What was more, she realised that a long list of very familiar logical fallacies about weight and weight loss were preventing her from losing weight.

Throwing all these pieces of ‘Fat Logic’ overboard was what finally led to Hermann achieving a healthy weight. One and a half years later, she weighed 65 kg, and has maintained that weight to this day. Now, using humour, the insight she’s acquired, and a dose of science, Hermann clears up widespread lies about diet and weight loss, and shows how it is possible to attain a healthy weight.