150 Pounds Gone Forever: How I Lost Half My Size and You Can Too [Paperback]

Diane Carbonell (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: April 15, 2012

On any given day, 50 million Americans are on a diet but only a small percentage of them will be able to maintain their weight loss, if they are successful at all. Both men and women can struggle to stick with weight loss plans and goals when everyday life gets in the way. 150 Pounds Gone Forever is a breath of fresh air, offering a new, realistic look at weight loss through the eyes of a mother of seven children who lost half her size and has kept it off for more than a decade.
Author Diane Carbonell leads you through her journey of weight loss with real-life honesty, humor, and insight. She explains how she lost 150 pounds with three simple components: fat percentage, portion control, and exercise. 150 Pounds Gone Forever shows you how to say good-bye to diets and how to change your lifestyle by identifying trigger foods, breaking unhealthy eating habits, and reorienting your thinking. The book details how to incorporate exercise into your everyday life, no matter what your weight. Diane emphasizes that your goal should not be just the number on the scale but a lifetime of enjoyment at a healthier weight.
150 Pounds Gone Forever shares 50 easy and healthy recipes, including many that can be prepped ahead of time. The book offers a 12-week cardio and strength-training exercise plan to improve your fitness level and shed unwanted pounds. Includes before and after photos of Diane along with exercise demonstration photos.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Diane Carbonell is a mother to seven children and lives in the mid-South. She lost 150 pounds 12 years ago and has maintained the impressive weight loss through four pregnancies, three state-to-state moves, and an adoption reunion. Diane was featured in Shape magazine and appeared on the Dr. Oz Show to share her weight loss success story. She authors the popular blog Fit to the Finish.

Product Details

• Paperback: 304 pages
• Publisher: Sunrise River Press (April 15, 2012)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1934716413
• ISBN-13: 978-1934716410
• Product Dimensions: 6 x 0.7 x 9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12.8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (27 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #324,051 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Diane Carbonell is a true Biggest Loser, having lost over 150 pounds on her own. Her first book, "150 Pounds Gone Forever" chronicles her journey into and out of morbid obesity.

Diane has been married to her husband since her senior year of college. She enjoys playing Frisbee in the backyard with her five sons, and going on extended shopping trips with her two daughters.

After 14 years of weight maintenance, Diane still exercises six days a week, cooks healthy meals, and finds time to make her own bread with freshly milled wheat.

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

42 of 43 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Great book from a real person July 3, 2012

By LH

Format:Kindle Edition|Amazon Verified Purchase

Diane Carbonell is a real person who lost 150 pounds after living 10 years under the burden of all that extra weight.

I previewed her book on Kindle before buying it and was in awe of our shared feelings (full disclosure: I need to lose about 50 pounds but even that amount has been an obstacle to me for many years, so I can fully imagine how impossible it must feel to lose 150 pounds ): the terror of going to the doctor, the humiliation and misery of shopping for clothes, the sadness of watching life go by. She tells her story with great honesty and it's clear that, even though she's now on the "other side," the skinny side, she feels great compassion for those of us who haven't yet gotten our acts together.

I highly recommend this book. Diane includes great questions throughout each chapter to get you thinking and probing down into your own weight loss issues and obstacles that may be keeping you (me) from weight loss success.

The 3 major components of her plan, which she calls the Fit to the Finish plan, are fat percent, portion size, and exercise.

I found, for me, the fat percent part didn't quite make sense. It's certainly not worth taking a star from this review. Although she says she did not want to count calories or count fat grams in order to lose weight (which, btw, was the reason I bought this Kindle book; I was intrigued by someone who had lost so much weight without having to count either of those things!), she then explains that when she finally got serious about weight loss, she decided to keep her daily fat consumption to a 30 percent range, using the food item's nutrition information label and a formula (calories from fat divided by calories per serving = total % of fat). Aarrggh! I was dizzy just reading the formula and her sample calculations.

I was disappointed when I read that. If I don't want to count calories, I certainly don't want to whip out my calculator at each meal. I was also incredulous that a woman with 7 kids takes the time to figure out the fat percentage of every thing she puts in her mouth. At this point, she has a lengthy list of foods for which she's already figured out the fat percentage, to save her the trouble of doing it again later, so I'm sure that makes this process easier.

Bottom line is that whether you're counting points or counting calories or counting fat grams, or eating only when you're hungry and stopping when you're full -- weight loss is not magical. It is not intuitive for those of us with eating issues/disorders and it takes intentionality and work. It requires saying NO many times and sometimes feeling hunger and discomfort at not being able to eat the same amount or kinds of foods as before. I'm finally getting that.

Diane's story is incredibly inspiring; read it if you have a lot of weight to lose and need some help to jumpstart you. Her chapters on portion size and exercise alone are worth it.

16 of 16 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars An inspiring and thoughtful guide to weight loss July 11, 2012

By N. B. Kennedy TOP 1000 REVIEWERVINE™ VOICE

Format:Paperback

Diane Carbonell once weighed over 300 pounds, but she went on to lose half her size on a three-pronged program of her own making. No one had to bully her into it, or jolly her into it -- Diane just set her mind to it and within a year had reached her goal.

I've followed Diane's blog about her weight loss, Fit to the Finish, over the years, since I, too, have lost weight and written about it in How We Did It. I appreciate her approach to weight loss. She's not a bully or a cheerleader. Instead, she is a knowledgeable and inspiring guide. Her approach is one of quiet confidence: "I did it, and so can you." Hers is the perfect approach to weight loss, as it builds an inner desire to succeed, rather than relying on external motivators that will eventually fail.

In her book, Diane tells stories of her years as an obese young wife and mother, the agonies of day-to-day interactions with others as well as the self-condemning inner dialog that kept her running to food for comfort, trapping herself in her burgeoning body. It takes a brave person to reveal so many embarrassing moments (not to mention before photos!). Diane, I just want to say... I think you're beautiful in that church directory photo. I don't see the person you do!

Along with her personal story, Diane includes useful information about nutrition, exercise and weight loss strategies, like how to grocery shop, read labels, and estimate caloric needs. She includes sections on the importance of planning and forethought when on a mission to lose weight. She even includes her favorite family recipes. I had been looking for an easy gazpacho recipe, and here it is!

But I think one of the features of the book that I most appreciated is one that characterizes Diane's blog -- Diane asks great questions that will get you thinking about your own weight issues. "What did you have for dinner last night?" "Does fear of failure stop you from trying to get healthy?" "Do you ever eat in the car?" These seem like simple questions, but they can get at the core of your personal dilemmas. (I don't eat in my car, so the question made me think, "Where do I mindlessly eat?")

I would recommend this book to anyone wanting a sensible, surefire way to attack a weight problem. Long after "The Biggest Loser" lands in the junk heap of discarded television shows, this kind of book will live on as an inspiring guide from someone who knows that you can indeed do it, because she did.

18 of 20 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars It resonated with me May 11, 2012

By IamSucceeding

Format:Paperback

Reading this book as if Diane was in my head and touching my heart! She speaks from real life experience and shares some of her innermost thoughts and struggles.

Unlike any other "diet" books I have read...this is the first one I have marked up and have made notations in the margins reminding me I am not alone in the things I have dine with regards to eating and hiding it. More importantly she shares how she has overcome...been successful, not only in losing the weight BUT keeping it off. She breaks things down and asks you to answer some hard questions about your self, developing a plan of attack to help you be successful in your weight loss efforts.

Diane does not leave out the key component of exercise and even gives you a strength training exercise "How-to's".

Diane also includes recipes that I am eager to try.

In the back she has included tools to help you along your way int he appendix section.

I really cannot say enough good about this book! I loved it and it will be read many more times along my journey.