Customer Reviews

Never Say Diet: Make Five Decisions and Break the Fat Habit for Good

5 star:		(40)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

Chantel Hobbs started her fight with obesity when she was 11 years old. Realizing that she was different from other children because she was bigger than them, she endeavored to lose her excess weight through dieting. But these diets did not help her in her fight.

At age 21 she married her high school sweetheart, and six months later she was pregnant with their first child. During this time, she did not concern herself with her weight issues. Even though inside she was feeling ugly and helpless, to the world she showed a self-confident and strong Chantal Hobbs. It was not until she had her third child and was at 349 pounds that Chantel hit bottom. She realized that she needed to change and that no diet in the world could help her.

She heard God's voice reminding her to be the best that she could be. Hence, that day she decided that she will start to take care of her body and health. With the help of God, her husband Keith, and her family and friends, she started a way of life that enabled her to lose weight. Today she is more than 200 pounds lighter and still keeping it off.

Chantel Hobbs book is very enlightening. For those fighting obesity, dieting is not always the answer. Dieting lasts for a month or two and then it is back to the same routine of eating unhealthy food. Chantel encourages her readers to change their way of thinking so that the desire to live life to the fullest is the foremost desire. She has introduced a winning combination of healthy eating and exercising designed to decrease the weight and to keep it off.

Her book also offers five phases that a person losing weight goes through, which I found extremely helpful. The phases also have routine exercises that are designed to lose weight, and the pictures make it easier to do them.

Reading her story and her struggles with weight will give many readers hope about their own weight issues. Her helpful points and ideas will encourage readers to step out and change their way of thinking so that they can achieve the results that Chantel got!

Armchair Interviews says: This is a must read for those struggling with their weight and those who are disappointed with diets and their poor results!

Chantel's story was motivating and also life changing. After following her easy-to-understand program, I now see that losing weight is more about my approach to food and self, than just calories. After reading, I now see how I can and will be a big loser--forever. Thank you Chantel for writing this must read book.

This book was awesome!!! I read this book in 2 days in December when it came out. I started phase 1 then which is just exercising for 30 days no food changes. I started phase II Jan 7 and have lost 25 lbs so far. It is so inspiring, I felt like I was reading about my own life and every excuse I've ever used as to why I dont have time to exercise or eat right and As a single mom I had plenty of time excuses. Now I workout at 4am and actually get to eat real food 5 times a day. This book really helps you figure out how to find your individual problems concerning food issues and weight issues. And the food journal led me to the epiphany as to why I (THOUGHT) I was doing it right the many times before and why I failed in the past. It was so motivational and inspiring. I'm now on a new path with new goals and small triumphs along the way. Thanks Chantel!!!

First, let me say that I am no professional. What I am, is a person who has studied it all in terms of exercise and proper eating, I just haven't put my money where my mouth is, so to speak. I haven't done the work to get me to the place I want to be. That said, I was DONE with diet books. I swear I have read probably 75% of the ones on the market! I saw this one and bought it really out of sheer curiosity after seeing her picture on the back cover. In reference to another comment here, there is NO reference to God until you get well into the book. I am a Christian and would have bought it more quickly had I known she was a Christian. She MUST mention God in this book because it is His strength that sustained her. She did the work, but He gave her the will and the strength to do that work. In reference to another comment that this book doesn't focus enough on eating, it focuses on BALANCE. One doesn't work without the other.
Chantel has written an outstanding book about her struggle with food/exercise and the journey she took while losing the weight. ANYONE, Christian or not, can benefit greatly from reading this book. It is about finding new life, discovering your real potential.
I am on the program, I have completed Phase 1. I am certain this will be the end to my struggle with weight issues. I am building discipline, one stage at a time.
I HIGHLY recommend this book!

As a lifetime yo-yo dieter this book has given me hope. The phases in Chantel's book are almost like baby steps. To tackle a history of poor choices and bad eating habit, this step by step plan allows you to master one phase before having to tackle the next.

"Learn the secret that helped me lose 200 pounds" the cover beckons. "Make five decisions and break the fat habit for good." With this irresistable cover, Chantel Hobbs has me hooked. This beautiful woman who has appeared on Oprah lost 200 pounds without gastric surgery or diet pills. Now a personal trainer and marathon runner, Hobbs gives us the tools to change our lives, inside and out, whether we want to lose ten pounds or two hundred.

With generosity of heart she shares with us her love of food as an overweight child, confessing her secret tricks with humor. She isn't ashamed to say that food, especially sweets, was her obsession. It's a painful journey, enduring the "You have such a pretty face" comments, all the way to her first self conscious walk into the gym. But it's our story too - how we can avoid the same mistakes. Hobbs reminds us that God will help us if we depend on Him, and His principle of forgiveness is important for us to move past our slip ups and failures.

She has nothing good to say about the diet industry, even hinting at a conspiracy to keep us from success and dependent on their frozen entrees, membership fees, bars, and shakes. And she debunks the theory that obesity is genetic with: "Gaining weight doesn't come about by accident, and it's not forced on us. We gain weight through a series of poor choices made on a regular basis over a long period of time." What she says we need is a "brain change". When we sign the contract in the book, making the 5 Brain-Change Decisions, we're ready to embark on Hobbs' sixteen week plan to health, eating right and exercising in a way we can maintain forever.

Hobbs doesn't sugarcoat the hard work it takes to lose weight and stay fit. "Getting fit wasn't easy-there was plenty of pain, deprivation, tears, and hunger along the way. It was the hardest thing I've ever done, and I won't try to sugarcoat any of that. But, honestly, I didn't give myself a choice. Once I made the unconditional decision that I was going to lose weight and get healthy, nothing could stop me. And nothing will stop you if you make the Five Decisions to break the fat habit for good. That's a guarantee."

The plan is graduated and not overwhelming. For the first four weeks we are told not to even address our eating habits (other than to make sure we eat breakfast). We focus on establishing the habit of 30 minutes of exercise five days a week. She gives us lots of ideas to get us started, but it's our decision what type of movement we enjoy. There are plenty of diagrams and specific exercises involved when she later incorporates strength training, using dumbbells and a stability ball. The goal is to gradually increase our strength and stamina.

When she does address eating better, she wants us to eat five small meals a day, and she gives us lots of simple suggestions for making that work. The idea is to actually make food boring in the early stages, to break our addiction to it so we start eating for energy more than for pleasure.

Probably the simplest and clearest explanation I've ever heard for nutrition, she introduces us to the Three Musketeers - protein, fats and carbs. Once we understand how they work, we learn to distinguish the good ones from the not so good. Hobbs believes that the key to staying on track forever includes some splurges, like a free meal once a week.

Peppered around the book are "Never-Say-Diet-Tips" which are nuggets of wisdom to help us through. But the most inspiration comes from Chantel's personal story as she works the very program she is presenting. We live through the low points and the high points of her weight loss, the pitfalls and the victories. We experience the hard work and the euphoria that comes as she meets her exercise goals and even runs some marathons. "You could say I traded the pleasure of sugar for the pleasure of peak moments, which is a far more exciting way to live. I firmly believe that if I could take every person in America who has a food issue and let them experience a genuine peak moment - an earned achievement - most of those food issues would disappear. People would realize what they are really after, and it isn't made by Ben and Jerry."

Suddenly three full pages titled "Considering Plastic Surgery" appear towards the end of the book. Certainly anyone who's lost 200 pounds would have enough excess skin that restorative surgery would be completely understandable. When Hobbs tries to explain her own breast lift and augmentation it feels like an unnecessary, almost uncomfortable moment. It's really none of our business.

But she really does deliver here an approachable way to make healthy changes stick, living by the 80/20 rule - 80% of the time eating clean food and exercising, 20% of the time enjoying special dinners, parties, showers, and rewards. And she inspires us to reach for our dreams, those peak moments in our lives, even when they seem impossible. You can feel the joy that comes from changes in your appearance and feeling strong. It's not a quick fix or a magic solution, but after reading "Never Say Diet" there's no turning back.

--Reviewed by Carol Kurtz for TitleTrakk

I'm so sick of "dieting"-- I never want to count another calorie or another point. This book is great! What an inspiration. If Chantel can do it, I can do it!

Hi. I read this book about a month ago with about 50 pounds to lose. Since reading her book I have lost 10 pounds. Her book put everything into perspective. It just made me feel like I really had no excuses. She is at my goal weight and she is about the same height so I though "how can I keep making excuses when this woman has lost over three times the amount I want to lose?" Just something about the way she spelled it all out on the pages for me made me realize that I had to take control of my life and stop blaming my metabolism, etc.... She was just a normal overweight housewife who did it, with no personal trainers or chefs. Her book is very truthful and honest. I loved it. I will re-read it several times to inspire me. Yes, she does mention God throughout the book, but that does not bother me. I don't particularly aspire to one particular religion myself, but I am very spiritual and I feel like most people have a higher power that they relate to, they all just have different names for them. If you are offended by the "God" title, than just mentally insert whatever you want in place of "God" while reading the book. it is not overwhelming by any means. Her beliefs are not mentioned on every page at all, just sporadically throughout the book. That helped her. She is just sharing. Everyone has something besides watching calories and working out to help them lose weight. For some it is meditation, for some it is visualization, for her it is her belief in God and she is just sharing that honestly. The meat of the book is about taking responsibility for your weight, getting off your butt and eating less. I highly recommend her book. I have not been this inspired by a "diet" book (which it is not, it is so much more!) in over 20 years. Thanks Chantel :)

Thank you Chantel Hobbs for sharing your story so honestly.Your fierce determination that resulted in you being victorious over your weight issues is REMARKABLE!! I have blessed a sister with this book and going to buy your book for me again!!

Chantel is an inspiration to me, every time I get those thoughts to quit or give up, I go back and think..wow Chantel didn't give in to those quit modes..so neither should I. GREAT BOOK. A MUST READ.