My Big Fat Greek Diet: How a 467-Pound Physician Hit His Ideal Weight and How You Can Too [Hardcover]

Nick Yphantides M.D. (Author), Mike Yorkey (Contributor)

Book Description

Publication Date: September 22, 2004

As a medical doctor who has personally struggled with his weight, Dr. Nick Yphantides can empathize with the plight of the overweight and offer a proven, medically safe plan for losing weight. In My Big Fat Greek Diet, he teaches readers the powerful 7 Pillars of Weight Loss. His program features practical how-tos anyone can apply, whether they need to lose 10 or 300 pounds. Analyzing components of a variety of well-known diets, Dr. Nick assists readers in customizing a weight-loss program that will handle their specific needs and fit their lifestyles.

The son of a Greek immigrant, Dr. Nick was known in San Diego as a big man with a big heart. Topping out at 467 pounds, he was a thirty-something, larger-than-life advocate for the poor who seemed like a jolly fat man. But when a battle with cancer inspired him to focus on his own health, he embarked on a lifestyle change that would drop him to a svelte 200 pounds. His book will inspire and equip readers to design their own weight-loss program around an "odyssey" that makes their heart sing and allows them to experience their own weight-loss miracle!

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

For years, "Dr. Nick" told his patients: "do as I say, not as I do." As a morbidly obese physician who cared for the poor, he was known as the big man with the big heart. Inside, however, he was dying. He knew he needed to make a major change if he wanted to experience a long and happy life, free from humiliation and discomfort. But being more than 200 pounds overweight was a huge challenge. That’s why Yphantides decided he had to get away from his normal life (and normal eating habits) and do something completely out of the ordinary. For eight months, he drove a Chevy conversion van across the United States, visiting every Major League baseball park while living off protein shakes and no-cal diet drinks alone. Yphantides, a huge baseball fan, saw this as the pilgrimage of a lifetime—and the only bearable way to make it months on end without eating any food. This account of his soul-searching trip is glowingly inspirational, and the book’s "7 Pillars of Weight Loss" provide a fresh perspective to the turbulent, confusing world of dieting. Dieting alone will never keep the weight off, he argues. It’s an entire mindset—a way of life—that must be put into practice permanently. Even without his formidable 467 pounds, Yphantides comes off as a big, loveable guy; he feels like a friend from the moment the book begins, and anyone who’s ever struggled with weight will relate to him immediately. His humble, honest story brings hope that losing weight is possible for anyone, even without risky major surgery or unsafe, appetite-suppressing drugs. Photos.
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Product Details

• Hardcover: 384 pages
• Publisher: Thomas Nelson (September 22, 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0785260250
• ISBN-13: 978-0785260257
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 6.2 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (72 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #305,902 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

28 of 32 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A sensible and entertaining roadmap for dieting success., September 9, 2004

By 

J T Cooper "book review editor" (Marietta, GA USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: My Big Fat Greek Diet: How a 467-Pound Physician Hit His Ideal Weight and How You Can Too (Hardcover)

This is an unusually thorough discussion of the fundamentals of weight loss by a physician who successfully used these 'Seven Pillars of Weight Control' himself, and who communicates his theories in a concise and readable way. This is not a specific diet, like the Mediterranean Diet, but a step by step how-to book. I recommend this book to anyone, particularly those with previously disappointing result, as a scholarly and believable 'diet book.' He includes his own story and his frustrations and disappointments. There are some before, during, and after photos. I enjoyed his recounting of his personal story and plan to give some away at Christmas to some of my larger relatives and friends. Buy it, you'll like it!

14 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars FUTURE #1 BESTSELLER, September 15, 2004

By 

Sarah "Sarah Richards" (California, USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: My Big Fat Greek Diet: How a 467-Pound Physician Hit His Ideal Weight and How You Can Too (Hardcover)

I have read every diet book out there. I have NEVER come across a diet book that tells a inspirational story of a DOCTER who has lost over 200 pounds. Dr. Nick speaks from experience, he's been there, he's felt the humilation of being over weight. In this book he gives you 7 steps you need to take before you start your journey. Like "LIKE YOURSELF".
Not only does he talk about losing weight but he takes us on a journey of those 8 months he was traveling, saving a womans life during a Cubs game, seeing the aftermath of 9/11. He is NOW the Skinny man with the BIG HEART! It's a must Read for anyone who has ever struggled with his/her weight!

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars My Big Fat Greek Review, October 12, 2004

By 

George T. Mason (Pocono Mountains, PA USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: My Big Fat Greek Diet: How a 467-Pound Physician Hit His Ideal Weight and How You Can Too (Hardcover)

I understand from reading an interview with Dr. Nick that he would have liked this book to be called "My Big Fat Greek Miracle" This would have been a better name for the book as I did not take this as a diet book, but a piece of inspiration for all of those searching for happiness with their body. The story he tells is one that every obese person has gone through at one time or another. His seven pillars of weight loss is sound advise and a solution for your health and future. The reader needs to keep the message in mind and not the how. Not everyone can take off work for a year and watch baseball games, but everyone can get healthy with the seven pillars. This book is a great reader as well. I got it on Friday from Amazon.com and burned through it by Sunday That was three weeks ago and now I am back on my diet and working on my body at the gym and I weighed 425! Thanks Nick, through this work you gaves us hope back.