Customer Reviews

The Formula: A Personalized 40-30-30 Weight-Loss Program

5 star:		(54)
4 star:		(9)
3 star:		(5)
2 star:		(5)
1 star:		(5)

 

 

"The Formula" is an easy to understand, easy to follow 40:30:30 cookbook. I like it better now than when we began. I want to personally thank the Daousts for their work.

I wrote an anonymous review from Redondo Beach after my first week. It's now been eight weeks. I'm 6 feet tall and was 221 pounds. I have lost 22 pounds. My goal is to reach 180. I broke 200 this past weekend. By the way, I have not exercised at all. Perhaps pounds do come off easier when starting out 40 lbs over, but they are coming off.

My doctor told me three years ago, "Lose 30 lbs and lower your blood pressure. Goodbye." No suggestions, no help. Almost by accident my wife saw The Formula mentioned on TV. It looked "balanced." We tried it.

The 40:30:30 system works and is painless weight loss. Yes, protein sources such as 2% cottage cheese, lowfat cheese, chicken, beef and whey are somewhat expensive. We have had to re-learn shopping. We shop the perimeter of the market, not the inside aisles. We have re-learned cooking and eating, too. Yes, 40:30:30 is low calorie. That's the point: low calorie without hunger. How else are you going to lose weight? The difference is that I don't want to go off this diet. It's simply a better way to eat.

It's more than weight loss, though. With more study, I find this diet is really about controlling hormones, not calories (see "Entering The Zone," by Dr. Barry Sears, to understand the theory behind the practice in this book). At age 49 and 40 lbs overweight, I had around 164,000 calories stored. (9 cal/gram of fat.) How to get that fat to burn off? 40:30:30 controls glucose/blood sugar levels, which in turn controls insulin levels. With insulin under control, another hormone, glucagon, can come into play. This hormone tells the body to burn fat. It releases the stored fat energy. As long as I am burning that fat, I don't feel hungry and I am losing weight, even at night, even without exercise.

The gentleman who only had a few pounds to lose and complained he didn't lose anything in a week might have overlooked what was actually going on in his body: reduction of body fat and the build up of lean muscle mass. This can happen when one is exercising, which he was. When put on this diet, professional football players actually gained as much as eleven pounds, but reduced the percentage of body fat. They became leaner, stronger, faster and more agile. One man started the diet at 190 and never lost a pound. He had to buy a new wardrobe, though, because he leaned out. He looked great.

For me, my mood is better, I handle stress better, I sleep better, I have less intestinal gas (better digestion) and my blood pressure is normal. I have increased energy, need less sleep, and rise early on weekends ready to go instead of taking most of the weekend to recover from the week's stresses. I feel as if I've been given many additional years of active life.

Does it require cooking and prep? Yes. Good food doesn't just happen. It takes some work. Is it a burden? No. My wife felt she was going to lose me unless we did something. She views this as a ministry to me, which I deeply appreciate. I have gotten into the kitchen, too. We are eating fruits, vegetables, lean meats, dairy-all good stuff. We don't miss the pizza and white bread. It's fun baking good food. It's better than staring at some lamebrain TV sitcom, which is what I was doing because I had no energy. What's more, I know the food we prepare is exactly right for us and tastes great. Consider another angle: we in America have every food we need, in high quality, available at good prices all year long. It's right there in the store. That is an amazing blessing. Take advantage of it.

Look--you can find dozens of reasons to stay fat. "I don't have time." "If we had a personal chef, I'd do it." "I refuse to give up some foods." "I don't like to shop and want the food to jump into my mouth by itself and still want to look like a movie star." If you like it that way, fine. All I know is that I have to buy new clothes because everything I have is too large. I also have people (especially women) asking me what is going on and how I lost so much weight so fast. I print out a copy of this ... page and give it to them.

The method is in The Formula and several other 40:30:30 cookbooks. The theory is in Dr. Sears' works on The Zone. The information you need is there. You don't need magic potions. You don't need exercise equipment. You don't need appetite suppressants. You don't need a cabinet full of supplements. You don't need liposuction.

What you need is recipes for each meal and each snack that give your body the right portions of carbohydrates, fat and protein it needs for peak performance--not too much food, not too little.

This book is a great start. The rest is up to you.

I won't go into all the details but here is an honest opinion.

This is not a miracle diet. I was hungry, but because the diet worked so fast, my willpower was sky high !!! In the first month I lost 20 lbs, without ANY exercise.

I found that I had to always reduce the calories lower than what the book called for to keep the weight loss going, but it just kept going. For anyone who believes all peoples bodies work exactly the same (including doctors) YOU ARE WRONG !!! People like myself who were morbidly obese have defective bodies... They just don't work right.

I am 10 ½ months into this "Life Change" and have lost 98 lbs. I am presently at 218 lbs. And feel FANTASTIC !!! I walk and jog and lift weights now... TONS OF ENERGY !!! My 14 year old twin sons cannot keep up with me on my bike.

My shirts are not 4XL anymore... they are XL.
My inseam is now the same as my waist (32").
I can find cheap clothes now.

You have got to try this !!!

Because of my success, another very large man I work with started this diet. In four months he's lost 47 lbs.

After reading the first book the Dauost's had written on the 40-30-30 diet I could hardly wait for the new updated version.It is easy to read therefore making it easy to understand.I can recommend this version as well as the first with the confidence that you will enjoy it and will be able to follow it with ease.Not all diets make sense and are hard to follow.If you are thinking to buy any diet book put the "The Formula A Personalized 40-30-30 Weight Loss Program" at the top of your list.

I HAVE TO TELL YOU IF YOU FOLLOW THE GUIDLINES IN THIS BOOK YOU HAVE TO LOSE WEIGHT! I PURCHASED THIS BOOK ABOUT A MONTH AGO,I HAVE LOST 18 POUNDS SO FAR, MY HUSBAND HAS LOST 6, AND MY DAUGHTER 4! AS THE BOOK SAYS FAD DIETS DO NOT WORK! THEY TELL YOU WHY. EVERYTHING IS EXPLAINED CLEARLY AND MAKES ALOT OF SENSE! THERE ARE LOTS OF RECIPES TO GIVE YOU IDEAS FOR MEALS, INCLUDING LOTS OF MEALS KIDS LIKE(SO FAR MY DAUGHTER HAS LIKED EVERYHTING I HAVE MADE!)A SHOPPING LIST IS EVEN INCLUDED. THE SMOOTHIE MADE WITH THE WHEY PROTIEN WAS GREAT! I HAVE TRIED ALOT OF PROTIEN DRINKS THAT I FORCED DOWN, THIS ONE I COULD DRINK ON A REGULAR BASIS BECAUSE ITS HEALTHY AND TASTES GREAT!!AND THATS THE WHOLE POINT OF THE BOOK, ITS HOW TO EAT HEALTHY FOR A LIFE TIME. EATING A BALANCED MEAL,EITHER TO LOSS WIEGHT OR TO MANAGE YOUR WEIGHT.I CAN LIVE WITH THIS ONE! I DON'T FEEL DEPRIVED! I HAVE SEVERAL FAMILY MEMBERS AND CO-WORKERS ON IT NOW, AND HAVE PURCHASED THIS BOOK. YOU WILL LOVE THIS BOOK!

I have done my share of dieting and weight loss plans, Weight Watchers, shakes, calorie counting,deal a meal etc. but this is the easiest plan I ever followed. It is all spelled out for you, all the grams are calculated for you so you don't have to be a math major to figure out what to eat. The food is good and the preparation is not so hard if you do the shopping and plan each day's meals ahead of time. And you can eat out, they give you a list of fast foods that you can have and there are a lot of them to pick from so you are not deprived. They also give you a list of prepackaged meals that you can have which are for the microwave if you are in a hurry to eat. The only big thing is you have to buy whey protein powder which is pure protein, but they even give you a phone number of where you can order it if you can't find it. So everything is covered for you. No excuses! I just started the program a few weeks ago and I quickly lost 5 pounds and my body fat is reducing already because people have noticed the difference. The best thing about this plan is that I know I can stay on this for the rest of my life. No more yo-yo dieting. What a relief!

I bought this book in January after seeing a Gene Daoust on Inside Edition. I was about 12-15 lbs overweight and had pretty much run the gamit on diet plans. I would lose the weight only to see it reappear once I came off the diet. I wanted to find a plan that I could live with the rest of my life and this is exactly what this one is. I can not speak highly enough about the plan.

I started out on the 21-day fat flush program and dropped 10 lbs during this time. I also exercise daily but nothing to really cause any weight loss changes. Now it 4 months later and I'm down 12 lbs and have no plans to lose anymore weight, just maintain. I highly recommend the book.

I cannot believe how clear this book makes eating right. This book contains menus that everyone in my family enjoys. My family is eating healthier as a result. I received a bonus that I did not expect. My son no longer wants the junk food or fast food. He wants to eat good foods like Mommy and Daddy. This floored me!
I began to see results a couple of days after starting the fat flush eating plan. I could not believe the scale. It was encouraging. My husband claimed that he was hungry so I bumped him up to a proportion that fills him without causing any weight issues. He likes the food.
I tried every other eating plan, diet, supplements that are out on the market. I was on the high protein-low carb diet. I have so many crazy excercise machines that I could open up a store. This book states that you do not have to excercise to see and feel the difference. This gave me new hope. It really made me rethink my eating ideas. The excercise did speed up the fat loss. My family never feels deprived. We are happy and energetic. We are losing weight and fat. Our immune systems are better. We are sleeping better as a result of this meal plan.
This book I highly recommend. The theory is sound and the menus are wonderful. My only wish is that the meals took less time to prepare and did not require so many ingredients. But the time put in yields results.

I never had a weight problem but after turning 45, age, gravity and a lifetime of careless eating began to take its toll. For seven years I tried to lose 10 pounds that I thought would make a difference. I had no idea how difficult that could be. Whether it was metabolism or ineffective diets, I don't know, but nothing worked. On a cruise last summer, the nutritionist suggested The Zone for my age, body type and goals. I got the Barry Sears Zone books and started the diet, with immediate weight loss as a result. I loved the idea of the Zone but found the system difficult to follow. Finding The Formula was a stroke of luck. The pounds melted off and I never "dieted." I have a new way of eating and I love it. I had fifteen pounds weight loss (141 pounds to 126) with no effort. I love the healthy, balanced meals and can't thank the Daousts enough for making a great diet even better. It is way of life for me and something I want to pass on to my kids and grandkids. A friend of mine just told me of her 22 pound weight loss and credits the great recipes in The Formula book that made it so easy for her. Don't hesitate to try it--what you will lose is weight and what you will gain is a balanced and healthy way of eating that makes more difference than just weight loss!

I'm a Zone fan and I was sorely disappointed in this book. Their way of calculating "blocks" is no easier than Sears' method - in fact, it's more complicated, unless you have a calculator on you at all times. They don't say anything that Sears didn't cover.

It might be worth buying for the recipes - I tried one of the cheesecakes which was pretty good.

There's a lot of "fluff" in this book. Not sure if it's worth the hard cover price!

My wife and I just completed our third week on this program (te fat flush section) and the results speak for themselves, my wife at 16lbs and myself at 12lbs. The program is simple and much more importantly makes a hell of a lot of sense. You are eating really good food and in proportion. You are not leaving out carbs or loading up on tons of protein. You are eating everything in balance. The recipes are absolutely incredible there isn't one so far that we did not like. Like most people who want to lose weight and feel better about themselves we have tried most of the diets out there and this one is simple, it gives good advice and it works. The Doust's should keep it coming with some more books. Thank You!!!!!!