Customer Reviews

8 Minutes in the Morning for Real Shapes, Real Sizes: Specifically Designed for People Who Want to Lose 30 Pounds or More

5 star:		(29)
4 star:		(8)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(6)

 

 

Over the past ... years (I'm 58), I've used various weight loss methods. I'd lose it, then find it...lose it, then find it. This book has the right combination: strengthening exercises (just 2 a day), food suggestions (no calorie counting; very little weighing), recruiting helpers, journalling, inspirational readings. After a couple of weeks, you're in the habit and liking it.

Sounds like a lot of time and energy. It is, in the beginning. Just like anything new. I'm in my fifth week. My energy level escalating within 2-3 days. My body showed obvious signs of firming up within a week. I've lost 9 pounds and like having minigoals.

Jorge Cruise doesn't push young, skinny bodies. He promotes health and well-being. If young, skinny bodes are the result, so be it. I feel great and am already getting comments about changes in my body. My favorite result is the increase in energy. Before Cruise, a walk was preceded by long debates with myself about whether or not I should do it. Now I find myself in the middle of a walk and wonder how I got there without all that self-debate.

I'll keep working with this book and when I've lost about 20 more pounds, I'm planning to switch to his other book--the one for losing 30# or less.

8 Minutes in the Morning for Real Shapes, Real Sizes: Specifically Designed for People Who Want to Lose 30 Pounds or More by Jorge Cruise is well worth the money. My health and fitness are worth much more than the cost of the book and the time it takes to do this great program.

Just a thought: I have to question the first reviewers comments because this book is for people with MORE than 30 pounds to lose. If she was trying to lose 10 pounds doing exercises created for people with more than 30 to lose, perhaps therein lay her complication. Another issue there is that anyone who reads and truly does the homework in these books gets a really positive attitude and deals with their emotional issues around food and other negative issues in their life as well... If I could write her I'd tell her to give away her 'Real Shapes and Sizes' book to someone she knows who has at least 30 pounds to lose and then get the first book (the yellow one), which is helping a lot of people with her situation right now and then see how she feels about it.

8 Minutes In the Morning for Real Shapes and Sizes is all about reality and simplicity. Jorge Cruise is a real personal fitness trainer and coach who's worked with all kinds of people after grasping truths for his own weight issues and has now put them out there for all of us into these books! You don't have to pay a membership fee or join a gym. Having a treadmill or a pilates machine is nice but not necessary, you don't even have to buy support workbooks, or special food! All you need to do these exercises is an open bit of floor, an open bit of wall or a doorway, two phonebooks (or the like), two equal cans of food or bottled water from your cupboard, a sturdy chair and a table with one end cleared off. (You use these things a few times over 28 days, how difficult is that! You can even do this on business trips, while visiting friends/family or on vacation!) This book is a about the whole person, about true FITNESS, not just FAT or weight loss and has helped myself and so many others on the support websites that I've become involved with since reading it! ...

First of all, it doesn't matter HOW MUCH weight you need to lose because this method is so practical as seen on the recent Dateline NBC Show (Here is a link to the transcript for it: ... as well as in this review of that show: ... that anyone can do it! Jorge Cruise has developed exercises for people that will work whether you haven't moved in a while much at all or whether you just need to tone up while you work through your emotional eating/exercise issues, either way, YOU CAN DO THEM! His method of eating is simple and easy to do anywhere too! This isn't the kind of weight loss program that you look at and get depressed and think, "Dang I'll have to change my whole lifestyle and I'll never see my favorite foods/snacks again!" This program isn't about guilt or lack, it's about being more educated to make good choices and to do things in the right timing!

What I hadn't realized until I read this book is that most people just have misinformed or ingrained habits that keep their metabolism so low or overwhelmed that anyone would gain weight, regardless of what they eat! That's what happened to me, I had developed a pattern of eating at all the worst times of the day and evening when my body really needed NOT to be eating and I wasn't drinking enough liquids for as many emotional reasons as when I was eating later than I should have. All of that meant I wound up feeling like my body was broken somehow and thought I would never lose the weight but on Jorge's easy-to-follow/never-go-hungry program, I've lost 25 pounds in just 5 weeks! I've also lost over 45 inches! And believe me, if I can lose that kind of weight I really believe anyone who wants to can too! I still have several weeks to go to get to the weight that I WANT to be, but NOW I have easy to reach goals and a light at the end of the tunnel. I had become convinced that I'd have to have surgery to lose this kind of weight and even signed up for it, but now that I have this book and see it working, there's no way I'd put myself through that! Thank goodness because I've met people who've had it and they still have the same issues with food as they did before the surgery and most of them are having a lot of complications!

Let me suggest something.. if you're tired of being overweight but not quite sure if you're altogether ready for yet another weight loss program, then, get this book. Look at the information he gives... Did you know that your body (yes YOURS) is more amazing than you ever realized? Did you know that it is JUST as hard to GAIN a pound as it is to lose one? Did you know that those pounds that you can't seem to get rid of can be gone in the near and forseeable future if you divide the number you WANT to lose by 2? Did you know it's more important to be FIT than it is to worry about how FAT you are or feel? Are you tired of looking around at all the 'skinny' people in their cute clothes so full of energy and wondering what's wrong with you? If you've always felt fat or trapped or never thought you could ever be fit, than stop looking, this program is for YOU!

Get this book and start dreaming about all the things you ever wanted to do, because I really believe, that like the rest of us at .... who are losing weight and keeping it off, that you'll be soon doing those things you'd all but given up hope for and that is so exciting - you'll have a new lease on life!

All the best! Joy =)

I read this book 14 months ago and I have lost 51 pounds since then. I am now normal weight, as thin as I was 20 years ago. I had tried other books about weight lifting and found the exercises much too difficult. I was able to start with the ones in this book and work up to the more difficult ones later.
I really like the diet because he teaches you how to figure out what and how much to eat by just looking at your plate. It is so much less trouble than other diets. Nothing is completely off-limits. This is the kind of diet that you can stick with for the rest of your life.

If you have any weight to lose, if you've tried to lose weight before, or if you've never really wanted to lose weight, try THIS PROGRAM! Both of Jorge's books are very easily and basically written so that you better understand some of the important things such as: why we eat, why we lose weight but then gain it back, why we get out of control, just to name a few.

If you've been looking for a way to: 1) work a weight loss program into your busy schedule; 2) be able to ask questions any time and get answers; 3) get support, be it individually or within a group; 4) better understand yourself and why you "can't seem to change the way you eat, exercise and lose weight, then you've come to the right place.

In addition to an outstanding 4 week strength training program, Jorge helps you with absolutely every aspect of a weightloss program you could imagine. It is truly a life changing event.

I lost 70 pounds in 9 months (averaging 2 pounds a week) and have kept it off for about 9 months!

You CAN do this! ... Please....You'll not regret it.

Thanks, Karen

I (like everyone else) have tried a million things to lose weight. This is a great book for people who need to tap into their motivation and get rid of the excuses holding them back. I love that this book focuses on being the healthiest person you can personally be and letting go of the images of perfection our society tends to generate. One of my biggest excuses was the fact that I was too busy to start an exercise program. But, even I had to admit I had 8 minutes a day to take care of myself and my health. This book also features a simple-to-follow eating plan. I found other plans difficult to follow and tracking every calorie was tiring. With the tips in this book, you can eat anything or anywhere, just apply the basic rules of healthful eating. Overall, I found this book full of information that helped me overcome some of the things keeping me from being healthy and losing the extra pounds. I just started the plan about a month ago and have lost almost 10 lbs so far. By now I have usually lost my motivation, but this book has really helped keep me on track.

I have about 50 lbs to lose and most diet and fitness programs seem geared to those with 20 or less to lose. 8 Minutes in the Morning for REAL SHAPES and REAL SIZES speaks to me (and about 50% of Americans who are also my size.) The diet program and the advice about using flaxseed oil--which my doctor confirmed as being a good idea, are great. I especially appreciate the exercises designed to put less strain on my knees until I can do more challenging workouts. I've been following Mr. Cruise on ABC-TV's The View and his motivational style and encouraging words are helping me. I've dropped 5 lbs in 8 days and I'm excited. I highly recommend this four color, easy to follow, very safe and sound program.

I weighed 323 lbs when I first read this book. I have followed the plan for 18 months and I have lost 153 lbs to date. The exercises are simple and no sweating is involved. The food plan is user friendly and NO FOODS are outlawed. If you are considerably overweight and have found that other plans are unrealistic and the exercises are too difficult - try this plan! It has worked for me and it can work for you!

I started my own plan to lose weight in January of this year. I've had slow-but-gratifying success. People ask me what diet I'm on and I know they want it to be simple. I didn't know what to say because it is the culmination of about 20 years of experimentation, including at least eight books that have really had an impact.

Sometimes, when I'm out and about and having a bit of attraction to old habits, I stop in at a bookstore and read some diet books for inspiration. I'd looked at Cruise's first book about a year and a half ago, but I wasn't ready, and the calorie count seemed too low. However, I liked the sound of this newer book and flipped through. It was amazing! It had almost all the elements I was using: starting from the premise that I had to quit hating the body I had, that eating and moving sanely were more important than just getting thin, incorportating reasonable amounts of good fats, having about half my volume at lunch and dinner made up vegetables (I eat much more dense vegetables than lettuce, or when I do, I eat a lot more than a cup!), being willing to examine and avoid emotional eating and therefore waiting until I am hungry to eat, and eating 5-6 times a day-because I get hungry! Which is good! It's good to get hungry and then eat! Here it was, all together! Some have complained about his picture all the way through, but people are so visual, I think it would help to see him. He sounds like a man who has continued to learn on this journey and has true compassion for the dilemma of women in a society that worships an ideal that is natural for only a small percentage of women, and I salute him for that.

It sounds like it is working for many. The only gaps it had for me was that I went through a period of time allowing myself to eat a lot more sweets without guilt. This helped to break the attachment. The idea that really clinched this, though, was learning that the French, who are notoriously slim despite eating bread at every meal, and fats, too (saturated ones, at that!)average less than a twentieth (a twentieth!) of the refined sugar each year that Americans do. They just don't choose sweet! I figured if they can adore food the way they do, and not want sugar all the time, I could, too. I know this has helped because I have been in a weight loss support group which I am quitting. The women there all afraid to eat out, they talk about non-fat foods all the time, they advocate fake sweeteners, and they are constantly looking for some magic diet foods that will allow them to eat sweets and still get slim, while you can hear that they are just dying for the day when they can overeat again! I just don't feel these things. Jorge's book is the closest thing I've seen to putting it all together. I think my weight loss may be slower because I eat more at snack time, but I don't feel bad because I am legitimately hungry at every meal, and I feel this is doable for the long haul. I also feel good because I have a scale that measures body fat, and all of my loss has been fat. I hope that others can take this book to heart and start feeling great fast.

The other reviews have said it all but I just wanted to add my recommendation. I'm still using this book as well as Jorge's original "8 minutes in the Morning" as a lifestyle program. I have increased my physical activity to daily cardio, yoga, aerobics, or weight training, but I couldn't have done anything without this book first. I was a size 16/18 and I'm now a size 8/10. My body belongs to me again after 14 years of being a couch potato flabmonster. If I could do it so can YOU!!!!

I can't say it enough. If you are ready to make a change this is the book to read first.

Update as of February 5, 2006...

I've now lost 48lbs and I'm a size 6/8. I LOVE this way of life and although I don't follow the Cruise Plate religiously anymore, I still incorporate the overall lifestyle plan on a daily basis. I exercise nearly every day and I try to eat more veggies and fiber. (But I still have my treat every day too!)
My brother is following this book plan and has now lost 40lbs as well. I hope this is the incentive you were looking for in order to take a chance and try it. 8 minutes to a new life... I know you're worth it!

I agree with most of those that have reviewed this book. It really does work! The couple of people who have torn it down as a book that is so simple you could fall asleep from the boredom or because they found it to be insulting for it's simplicity obviously didn't read the title of the book and take it to heart. It clearly says that this book is for those who have "30 Pounds OR MORE" to lose. The purpose is to get you started and then you move to the stuff that is more challenging when you are physically able to handle it. Someone who has 75, 100, 150, 200 pounds to lose and has been inactive for extended months and/or years of their life are possibly not going to be able to do extensive aerobic exercise right out of the starting gate. If you had less than 30 pounds to lose, why would you buy a book geared towards someone with more than that to lose? It's one thing to say "Hey, I bought this book thinking it might work for me, but I found I needed something a little more challenging" versus sending a message that you believe it won't work for anyone. Pay attention, read the title. It tells you all you need to know.