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Average Customer Rating:

It works, who would have thought?

Customer Rating:

I was really hoping that this book would work for me. yeah..another diet book. hum. But since I'm a big fan of extreme makeover I thought I'd give it a try. I currently have 20 lbs to lose. I lost 7 lbs in 1 week. After 3 days I was able to get a pair of shorts past my thighs and was able to button them up without passing out! The diet is a challenge to stick to. The first day was the day I experienced the most pain and suffering. Drink 100ozs? I never did make that amount. 64oz was my limit. After each day I knew where all the bathrooms were in every store I visited. Felt like being pregnant again. I did prepare all the meals in one day..it did take a few hrs to get it all organized, as it was my first time. That is a great bonus beacuse I was able to grab and go the right thing to eat instead of being rushed and eating unhealthy foods full of fat. Plus because I made the meals in advance I had lots of time to prepare meals for my family and sit down with them at mealtimes..with my own special foods. Eating 'on time' was a bit of a challenge because I'm not used to eating 6 meals a day. I now look forward to those little meals and my stomach is so full before I can finish all the foods. Even though I know I'm supposed to eat everything I never did make it. THE PROS This meal plan taught me: *To discover new vegetables and they are healthier and tastier to steam. *To discover new spices and found balsamic vinegar and love it, Mrs Dash table blend is awesome. * To drink lots of water throughout the day. * knowing I'm reparing the damage I've done over the years and being happier that I am healthier. * got my children interested in my varieties of veggies and they now love them also. (children and steamed veggies? never thought I'd see the day) * My husband wants to try it for himself. THE CONS *I hated the turkey patties. I know they would have tasted better with ketchup and if I couldn't have that as a dipping sauce that I couldn't even go there. *I couldn't eat 'greens' without some sort of tasty dressing..so never ate them either. It was better to do without. *It is hard not to break my bad habit of snacking after dinner. But I survived it by having 1/2 cup or 1/2 more grapefruit. The recipe with spenda and cinnamon is dee-lish! Also the rice pudding is amazing. In the end I have learned to switch up meals. If I don't want egg whites in the morning I eat chicken. Then have my egg whites in rice pudding for lunch. I figure as long as I get everything in during the day this can be accomplished otherwise it gets boring. I'm going to keep going until I reach my goal. I am looking forward to having a baked potato again but instead of a big one will settle for 4 small creamer potatoes. Its all about compromise. 2 days before I got started with the plan as I was busy reading this book I was thinking? Gawd Almighty! I was so excited I wanted to start right away. Thinking I had 2 more days of unhealthy eating made me sick. We are going on vacation next week. We will get a hotel room with a kitchen. I am preparing all my meals before we go and will eat them all week. I know it can be done. This book is the best yet because it really does work if you are committed enough to stick with it. I love the fact that everything is listed and the right amounts. It's really dummy proof. I had no problem finding all the foods in my local supermarket.

Good fundamentals and advice, BUT...

Customer Rating:

You really have to make it your own. As with any diet, if you follow it EXACTLY, you will lose weight. BUT, who follows a diet, exactly 100% of the time? Robots, maybe. . .and that I am not. You can get great fundamentals about dieting, your body type, food advice, what to shop for. I think that the reader has to be more open-minded that he/she has to see what modifications they can do to make this diet (as with any other) their "own". Plus, making a lifestyle change is what it's all about. Dieting does not work, we all know that. If you don't know that, you'll find out soon enough. It's like cleaning a house, you have to start somewhere and work your way through the house. Your body is just like that, you can make small to big changes and enjoy your journey to better health. You didn't just wake up and BAM!...you're fat. It crept up. You might have lived "too good" of a life. This book offers great advice. But as far as the menu/food choices, I believe it's up to the reader to create their own parallel to this system.

Successful, but difficult to follow

Customer Rating:

I purchased this book looking to jumpstart weight loss of about 40-45 pounds, also to develop better eating habits and flush my body of processed foods. With those goals in mind, 6 Day Body Makeover was a success. I dropped a net of 5 pounds, and developed a habit of eating more vegetables and weaned myself off my sugar addiction. That being said, the diet is difficult to follow (who will really avoid all salt for the rest of their life?) and I doubt it can reasonably become a way of life. Before you start it, be advised of the pros and cons: Pros: Whole foods - the book advises eating non-processed and whole foods. Good! I never realized that vegetables dressed with simply lemon juice could taste good. Full - I can honestly say I wasn't hungry on this diet. Eating six mini meals with constant lean protein keeps you full. Lots of vegetables helps provide fiber so you're feeling full as well. Fruit in the morning and evening provides a burst of sweetness to help with sugar cravings. Works! - At the end of 5 days, I'd lost 7 pounds. Cons: Boring - Like other reviewers, I have to say I was bored on the diet. You do eat the same thing (chicken, rice, and vegetables) everyday. Yes, you can vary it with the recipes provided and some aren't bad, but it's still hard to create a creative meal with NO salt or sugar. Unreasonable restrictions - Some of Michael's restrictions are insane. No cooking spray to cook? I don't know what kind of Teflon he's using but my egg white omelette took days to come off after I didn't use cooking spray. The good news is after the omelette debacle, I ignored this directive and used a few small sprays of cooking spray. I still lost weight. Inconvenient - There is a lot of prep. To bring all my mini meals to work I had to bring like 5 plastic containers and baggies, practically a whole grocery bag of food, to work. For someone who's busy, it's hard to find the time to eat on schedule every few hours either. I struggled to not skip meals, even though I wanted to eat. Doesn't taste very good - I don't care what other reviewers say, the recipes provided might be ok, but they're not delicious. Maybe I just like salt too much, but I found most bland. while I've definitely developed more of a taste for veggies, I have to say that eating them all day with little seasoning was really a challenge for me. I just got tired of asparagus and lemon, broccoli and lemon, and bell peppers. Bottomline, it's a good way to jump start your weight loss and incorporate some healthy habits into your diet. Does it stick? Three days post makeover, I'm still eating two salads a day and snacking on carrots in between meal - not exactly the same level I ate on the diet, but a dramatic improvement. Stepped on the scale one day after the diet was over and I'd put two pounds back on, without adding much fat or calories back into diet, which makes me believe that some of the original 7 pounds I'd lost was water weight. Still 5 net pounds in 6 days isn't bad!

Some flaws and some good info both

Customer Rating:

I read the book. He is into whole foods which I totally agree with. However, he lost me when his recipes said to add Splenda to alot of stuff and ok'd things like diet soda as long as it's sodium free. Even though FDA approved, Splenda used to be sugar but the chemical changes made to it make it some sort of chlorine bleach (check out [...] website for some truths on this hideous sweetner). It isn't safe and it doesn't help you lose weight unless you are a sugar freak....in that case, cutting out sugar altogether will help you drop weight instantly. I will use some of his points but disagree with many. I read and study lots of nutrition stuff and do suffer with that premenopausal pooch. I think if you want to be no fat/no curve/boyish, perhaps all of his suggestions are ok. However, no olive oil? Come on. Now then, he is very clear that this plan is a 6 day only (10 day max) and you will keep weight off. However, that is only if you continue to eat extremely low fat, no sodium and ultimately low calorie (this program is) which long term is not necessarily healthy. The kudos he gets is that he stresses low glycemic and alot of veggies. He also stresses eating lots of greens (collards, turnip, etc) but with nary a drop of oil or flavor other than water and saltless spice and lemon juice sounds like a pucker waiting to happen. I will incorporate some of his ideas as I can do anything for 6 days but I will omit any artificial sweetners as they are not necessary nor healthy and I will allow a little olive and/or fish oil. Instead, I would go back to Ultrametabolism by Dr. Mark Hyman. He puts health first and weight loss follows but is heavy into supplements. I think a combo of these two programs would be good.

Nearly starved!

Customer Rating:

This programs promises you will eat more and exercise less. NOT TRUE! For my body type, the diet is basically chicken, tuna and salad all the time every day 7 days a week. And not only do you have resistance exercises to do two days of every week, they also recommend that you do an hour of aerobic exercise 6 days a week. That doesn't sound like more or less of anything to me. The fact is, I couldn't stay on the diet. After 3 days I was sick to death of chicken and salad. And the fact is--if you exercise 6 days a week for an hour, it doesn't matter what you eat--you're going to lose some weight. Too expensive a program. You can get the same info. on the internet for free. It's also too hard for some people to figure their body type with this program. I answered all the questions and could have come under two body types, but it gives you no information about which diet to follow if you fit two profiles.