After looking through hundreds of books on weight loss, Stavros Mastrogiannis, owner of Olympus Personal Training & Weight Management in Danbury felt there was something important missing from all of them.

“While all these books provide useful and intelligent diet and exercise programs, they don’t address the issue of how to go about developing the habits one needs to lose weight.

“Without this missing link, all weight loss programs will eventually fail,” said Mastrogiannis of Danbury, who is a nutrition specialist, certified lifestyle and weight management consultant, and certified personal trainer.

He feels so strongly about his weight loss approach that he recently self-published “Cracking the Weight Loss Code: your practical action plan for permanent weight loss.”

The book provides a step-by-step guide on how to develop the habits that are needed to make exercising and eating healthfully a part of everyday life.

In December 2009 Mastrogiannis, who has a degree in culinary arts, was featured in The News-Times when he teamed up with the Windmill Diner & Restaurant in Danbury.

Mastrogiannis shared several of his healthy and tasty Mediterranean-styled recipes with clients at his fitness center. The clients enjoyed them, and the dishes were then offered at a free food tasting event at the diner.

The dishes, which include spinach and rice and lemon chicken, have since been added to its menu.

Recently, Mastrogiannis said his search on the Amazon web site for books on weight loss yielded more than 15,000 results.

“Knowledge isn’t the problem. By now, most people know what they should do in order to improve their health. Instead, it’s the application of the knowledge that is the problem,” said Mastrogiannis, 38, a married father of two young children.

He explained that most people begin a weight loss program extremely enthusiastic and willing to push themselves as far as they can go to achieve results.

They’re eager to meet the recommendation of the American College of Sports Medicine, which is to do 30 minutes of moderately intense aerobic activity, five days a week.

“While this is accurate information, if you take someone who has never exercised before and immediately make this their goal, it will only be a matter of time before they get overwhelmed and not want to continue,” he said.

Mastrogiannis helps clients establish an exercise routine very slowly, beginning with only five minutes of aerobics, three times a week. Over a period of several weeks to several months, he gradually increases their activity.

“The goal is to develop the habit of exercise. Gradually, as your body gets stronger, it will be able to handle a longer workout, and it won’t seem as intense,” he added.

in regard to dieting, “one myth is that if people see results on the scale and in the mirror, they’ll be motivated to stick with their diet. Yet we all know of so many people, and even many celebrities, who lose weight, look great, and then gain the weight right back again,” he said.

Mastrogiannis has developed eight eating rules, and helps clients establish just one at a time. his first three rules have nothing to do with what they eat — only how they eat.

“We talk about how fast you eat, why you eat, and how much you eat,” he said.

“Technically speaking, there is nothing that’s fattening and there is nothing that’s non-fattening. If you eat only when you are hungry and stop when you are satisfied, it doesn’t matter what you eat.”

Grant Rogers of New Fairfield began training with Mastrogiannis last year.

“For 10 hours a day, I’m in a chair or on the phone, and over the years, I had gained a lot of weight,” said Rogers, 41, who works from his home as a content scoring leader for Educational Testing Services.

He was diagnosed as being pre-diabetic, and was taking medication for high cholesterol and high blood pressure.

Rogers has since lost 52 pounds, and is now off all his medication, he said.

“What I like about Stavros’ approach is that he doesn’t try to wear you down at the beginning. It was never a shock to my system,” Rogers said. “I feel like I’m in this for the long haul and not just for a sprint.”

“If we stop counting calories and start listening to our body, we’ll be just fine,” Mastrogiannis said.