I love reading the Amazon reviews & always look at the negative ones to see the shortfalls. After two weeks on the diet, this 60 yr old, who spent 2 weeks without cheating on South Beach without dropping a single pound, has lost 13 lbs even though I have been on a plateau for 5 of those days. I'll try to remember to update this at the end of 30 days.
A few responses to "Disappointed and Impractical"'s review, who felt the diet didn't work for a single person because some of the recipes are for a large number of servings:
As a single, I've been been adjusting recipes for years and had zero problems doing so with this book. What recipe book only shows recipes for single portions? Most are for a family of 4. Yes buying for a single can be a problem, but no more for this book than any other one. So I'm doing the same thing I've been doing for years, keeping a soup pot in the fridge and freezing items I don't use.
I did adjust the recipe for some of the soups, and the chili for the number of months I thought I would be on the diet and freezed them. I LIKED the idea, since after the first 30 days, I'll still be eating healthily but with greatly reduced meal preparation time.
And if you don't like something, common sense tells you what to replace it with. One dark leafy green for another, etc, just as they recommend substituting when they talk about the exercising. If you don't like to walk, substitute something you do like, such as an exercise bike or swimming. If you like it, you'll do it.
More importantly first of all, this diet WORKS for me, and the older I get the harder it is to lose weight. Food wise it certainly is well balanced and nutritious. The variety seems to address each craving I have. . Just when I want something crunchy, there are the almonds, or tacos. Just when I want something sweet, there is a peanut butter and sugarless jelly snack. The meals are, in my view, delicious for the most part, and the snacks are timed to keep your blood levels stable so you metabolism doesn't shut down. And I ADORE the way the exercising increases each day. And the daily thoughts are great. Just when I hit my plateau, there was the talk about plateaus. And if I want more insight, I go to the NBC Biggest Loser Website and look in the nutrition blog in the Exclusive section for more information. (the NBC site has lots of helpful hints that are not on the other Biggest Loser websites.
I work out in the early morning to get it out of the way and raise my metabolism for the day. The breakfasts in this book are huge, so if you eat first, you'll have loads of energy to work out. The dinners are on the light side, sort of the way the Europeans eat. I thought that would be hard, but I've had no problems with it so far.
To date this is the best diet book I've ever tried. The one recipe I thought I would not like was the fish tacos and actually they were just great (I used Orange Roughy as a substitute fish).
After 40 years of dieting, I think I've finally faced the fact that diet and exercise is intrinsically intertwined, and that getting in shape MUST involve both. For me this book is the best vehicle I've found to address both factors.
I can't wait until the new Biggest Loser season starts on the 15th. I plan to be right there with them: my and my 30 day jumpstart diet book.
