A Review of Bob Greene's "Total Body Make Over" Weight Loss Program

It seems that someone publishes another "weight loss program" each week, some good, some not so good. As a personal trainer, I'm constantly reading new books about health and fitness and recently I picked up Bob Greenes "Total Body Makeover".

Yes, I love to watch Oprah. I admit it and if you are an Oprah fan you probably know of Bob Greene as the personal trainer who finally got Oprah on a successful and healthy weight loss program. You also know that when it comes to the "weight loss, weight gain yo-yo", Oprah has proven herself to be very human. Over her very public career, she has been very large then lost massive amounts of weight only to regain it all and more in front of the whole world before she finally found a way to get and stay relatively slim. Greenes book is about that weight loss program.

Oprah is still human, her weight still goes up and down a little but has never gone back to the weight she was before.

Greene himself describes his "12-week Total Body Makeover" in the introduction of the book as an accelerated weight loss program, a bit like a boot camp: intense and meant to accomplish a lot in a short amount of time while giving you quicker and more dramatic results. One (and the most important) of those results is obtaining a new, elevated, and healthier metabolism. Through a combination of vigorous exercise and five simple eating rules...no strict or formal "dieting"...you will be burning far more calories each day when you reach the end of the 12 weeks.

In many ways, The Total Body Makeover reflects my own philosphy for health and fitness. He sets it out in an easy to understand and easy to follow program to regain your life, or build a new and improved one if you have always been over-weight and unfit.

Don't fool yourself though, his program may be easy to understand and sensible but it is definitely challenging and you may be working harder than you ever have before.

Greene understands the the proper mind-set is all-important to the success of his weight lossprogram. His first chapter "Building a Sound Emotional Foundation" is dedicated to putting you in the right state of mind emotionally and mentally.

The "keys to the castle", as he calls them are these four things"

• Telling yourself the truth about why you haven't been able to lose weight or get fit in the past.
• Taking responsibility for your behaviour.
• Making a commitment to do what it takes to change and
• Mustering the inner strength to make it happen

The time taken to prepare your mind to tackle the big job of changing your body will be time well spent.

Without this foundation you are doomed to repeat your failures of the past.

The power of the human mind is an intriguing and amazing thing and I wrote an article some time agoon mind power and how it can enhance your weight loss and fitness results. This article will give you some morebackground on the possibilities of "thinking yourself thin">...there may be more to it thanyou ever realized.

The first and perhaps biggest hurdle to transforming yourself that Greene recognizes is that you must make a commitment to the program because if you are not committed to it, you are doomed from the start. This type of commitment is required whether you choseBob Greenes method or anyone elses weight loss program so you are not going to get out of it just by chosing anotherprogram that looks easier.

Greene then gives you illustrated workout guidelines that take you step by step. Cardio, stength training, stretching for beginners and more advanced levels are all set out in a progressive manner.

His book is peppered with the stories and pictures as proof of success of real people who have struggled in the past with their weight and fitness.

Greenes approach to dieting is also more along the same lines as mine. He doesn't set out a hard and fast diet plan but rather provides guidelines that will steer you toward healthier choices that will serve you well after your 12 week weight loss program is finished and also ensures that you have the energy to do the necessary work.

He ends his book with an important chapter called "Transition to Real Life" that is written to help you maintain the new you rather than just reverting to the old habits that got you in trouble in the first place.

I give Bob Greene's "Total Body Makeover" a top rating of 5/5 for all of the reasons above plus the fact that it is such a good read with all of the real life examples and stories of successful weight losers.

It is well worth picking up the book and that may be enough to get you on the road to weight loss and keep you there if you are a self-motivated sort of person.

If on the other hand if you feel you could use all the support you can get to turn your lifestyle around, Ediets has taken the book and the author into its fold and designed an online weight loss program that provides members with all of the good stuff from the book plus access to the author online, animated illustrations of the exercises and 24 hour support. Continuous doses of motivation could make the difference.