Book excerpt: The Shift is not about what to eat or not eat. It’s not about when to eat. It’s about building thinking habits, proven through science, that help you lose weight. There are so many myths surrounding weight loss: Setbacks mean failure. Big results require big goals. You need to power through alone. You have to hate your body to lose weight. Happiness awaits you only at the end of the journey. All of these are untrue, unhelpful—and actually undermine long-term weight loss. Dr. Gary Foster’s 7 Mindset Shifts show you how to—and why you should—treat yourself in a way that feels better and primes you for likelier success. His argument and the techniques in each chapter, built on years of research and breakthroughs in cognitive behavioral therapy and positive psychology, can lead to results on the scale—but, more important, in your own thinking. The Shift flips old-fashioned weight-loss theory on its head, training you to recognize when your thinking is taking you away from your goals, to focus on action rather than outcome, and to value non-scale victories more than the number on the digital display. It’s evidence-based motivation—and it really works! The 7 Mindset Shifts include treating yourself with compassion, leaning into your strengths, appreciating the power of small steps (and more frequent rewards), finding your people, and truly relaxing into happiness and gratitude. “Diet thinking” isn’t habit-forming; mindset shifts are. And muscular yet kind mental habits, like the ones found in The Shift, are key to long-term, positive change.