MidWest Book Review: October 2002
17 Seconds To Weight Loss
Susan James/ Vast Five
ISBN: 1-929072-79-1, 191 pp., paperback, 2001,
http://www.susanjames.org

17 Seconds To Weight Loss is no ordinary weight loss guide.
But, maybe that is what we all need, something different than
the same old weight loss plans. Something that tackles the
deeper, more unconscious reasons for not “being able” to lose
weight. And, that is exactly what this book provides.

Author Susan James, a formerly overweight woman, who
now remains a trim size 9, says it is “more about energy and
the application of Spirit than anything else.” James believes
we all have a conscious choice to be exactly what we wish to
be in life, whether it is to have a particular job, or to weigh a
certain amount.

James says, “Weight loss and body image has nothing to do
with the food that you eat or that you do not eat. It has to do
with ‘energy,’ and how you move and form this energy.”

Divided into 72 chapters, some no more than a page, the
perfect size for busy people, ’17 Seconds To Weight Loss
brings James’ claims to light. Her energy is infectious, and I
found myself, many times throughout the book nearly feeling
that energy come off the page.

The principles of User Friendly Physics, which James
introduces in other books she has written, state that weight
loss is simply a matter of “thinking” yourself thin, that 17
seconds of pure thought about what you want and what you
intend for your body to be like, is the equivalent, in terms of
physics, of 2000 hours of action. The more you think pure
thoughts of thinness, energy, health, etc., the more these
thoughts compound upon themselves, bringing to reality
exactly what you are thinking about.

Other topics discussed include how we sabotage ourselves,
how we get to be overweight in the first place, and how to be
in harmony with what we want, not what we don’t want.

Very little of the book focuses on what to eat in order to
achieve weight loss, but there are a couple of short chapters
on the subject. In spite of having included these suggestions,
James reiterates that weight loss doesn’t have anything to do
with the weight loss plan chosen, but with the thoughts we
think. 17 Seconds To Weight Loss is most definitely unlike
any weight loss book I have ever read, but I came away
feeling that this book holds a key…maybe the key…to weight
loss for millions of people out there. It is definitely worth
reading! It may change your life forever, in many ways
besides just your weight.

Shannon McKelden Cave
Reviewer/The Midwest Book Review