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41 of 45 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Free your mind, and your ... will follow., August 30, 2003
By A Customer
This review is from: From Chunk to Hunk: Diary of a Fat Man (Paperback)
I started losing fat in October 2001, and found my way to the online weight-loss community and Fred Anderson's website after he had taken down his archives in the hopes of publishing this book. But Anderson is a legend in that community, and I've been looking forward to this book and avidly following his website's occasional updates since that time. Also since that time, I've lost 115 of the 175 pounds of fat I eventually hope to lose. To be honest, I've been stalled for a while, but after reading this book, I've got my rear back in gear and my head in the right place, the place it was when I started. Fred's adivce is simple: Live like the person you want to be. Think and act like a fit and healthy person, and you will become that person. His no-nonsense, straghtforward style may offend some, but I prefer to see it as a refreshing way of cutting through the bull aimed at the wallets of the overweight by the multi-billion dollar weight-loss industry. You don't need any pills, prepackaged foods, diets, weight-loss plans, magical fat-burning devices, or bariatric surgery to lose weight. You don't (sorry, Fred) need any diet books. I think Fred had a hard time finding a publisher for his book for the simple reason that the diet industry doesn't want to promote a product that will make it obsolete. Fred's descriptions of the difference between his new life as healthy person and his old life at 371 pounds made me cry. Being able to move without pain, to run, to buy clothing at any store, to fit comfortably in theater seats, behind the wheel of his car, in any amusement park ride, in an airplane. To go out in public with his family without feeling as if people were staring. To be able to be an active person, like he was as a child. Here are a couple he didn't mention, but I can vouch for: Being able to sleep on my back without feeling like I'm being suffocated by the weight of the fat on my chest and neck. Being able to properly clean myself after using the toilet, something that was difficult for me at 338 pounds because I had to do contortions to get my arms to reach around my belly. But I'm done crying for the time I wasted. As Fred says, you hit what you aim for. If you think like a fat person, you'll continue to behave like a fat person, doing the same things that got you fat in the first place. If you think of losing fat as a struggle, a battle, or a war, it will be difficult for you. If you think of yourself as a food addict, or on a diet, you're setting yourself up with an excuse for not eating healthily and presupposing a time when you'll be "off" your diet. I choose to think of myself as a healty, active, fit woman, making the food and exercise choices of a a fit woman, easy choices that will last the rest of my life.
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13 of 14 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Better Than Dr. Phil's Book, September 25, 2003
By A Customer
This review is from: From Chunk to Hunk: Diary of a Fat Man (Paperback)
I read this book and Dr. Phil's Ultimate Weight Solution within two weeks of each other. The Dr. Phil book will go in the Goodwill pile, but I'm keeping this one. It's too bad the good doctor didn't have Fred Anderson around to "tell him like it is." This isn't a diet book (Dr. Phil says his isn't either, but he lies). This book is the journal of a man who actually lost all the weight and how he did it (Credibility here, which Dr. Phil doesn't have on this issue). Fred Anderson says overweight people need to eat whole foods, exercise and skip the pills and quick fixes (Dr. Phil says to eat whole foods and exercise but then sells his own pills and nutritional bars which are sugar-laden). I found the Anderson book entertaining and motivating. Anderson has a positive mental attitude, and it's contagious, spreading to the reader. This is the first time I've liked a book enough to review it.
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11 of 12 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Fred exposes the dirty little "secret" that everyone knows., January 28, 2004
This review is from: From Chunk to Hunk: Diary of a Fat Man (Paperback)
There are going to be a lot of diet experts that dislike this book. Fred Anderson is the real expert. He's a man who knows the reality of weight loss and faced the hard facts head on. He had diabetes and wasn't taking care of himself. He saw his future in a medical reality show in which a diabetic man had to have his leg amputated below the knee because of neglecting his condition. Fred made a decision at that point and didn't look back, throwing the snack cakes he was shoving in his face into the garbage instead. Thus began Fred's journey. Along the way, he found you don't need fad diets, diet programs, shakes, pills or anything like that to lose weight. He knew the dirty little secret that every fat person knows: If you consume fewer calories than you burn, you will lose weight. It's not your genetics, it's not your "glands", it's "hand to mouth syndrome" and "sit on your butt-itis". He changed his way of doing things, beginning with excercise. He started treading water in a pool, because that was all he could handle. He was persistent and his diabetes symptoms disappeared in a matter of weeks. He also changed his diet. He didn't starve himself, he didn't count calories, he just started eating healthy food and stopped eating junk. You'd think this would be common sense, but it's not. Our society is so ridden with a victim mentality that allows people to lie to themselves and say that they don't have control over their weight. There are a dozens of experts (all with books to sell) to tell them that it's not their fault. It's their genetics, their "set point", the way they were raised, it's the fast food ads, etc. Fat people are great at deluding themselves and there's an entire weight loss industry that relies on getting people to believe that they can't help themselves. Fred proves it's all a series of choices. Every day we decide: Do I get out of the rack a half an hour early and take a 30 minute walk around the neighborhood or do I sleep in? Do I swing by the drive-through on the way home from work, or do I eat a healthy meal at home? This is not a diet book. It's a chronicle of his (and his wife Robyn's) internet weblog detailing their weight loss escapades. Along the way, he graphically describes the ways that obesity destroys one's ability to live life. As he loses weight, the tells you all about the things that thin people take for granted that he's able to enjoy once again. It's inspirational and a fun read, but it's not going to give you lots of wiggle room. Once you read it, there's no more excuses, you either make the decision to lose weight and get in shape or you don't. If you really want to lose weight, buy this book and leave the hucksters in the dust where they belong.
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