The Obvious Diet: Your Personal Way to Lose Weight Fast Without Changing Your Lifestyle [Hardcover]

Ed Victor (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: September 2002

THE OBVIOUS DIET recognizes that the rules we make ourselves are those we are most likely to stick to. THE OBVIOUS DIET offers sound advice, suggested menus, and the encouragement of dozens of famous people who have found that Edís diet works. Above all, it is reader-friendly and explains how to devise an eating regimen based on avoiding your own particular weaknesses, whether they are carbohydrates, animal fats, or sugar. Rather than imposing a rigid plan from on high, THE OBVIOUS DIET allows you to mix and match elements from different diets to suit your own lifestyle. If youíve tried other diets over the years but found they didnít work, then this is the book for you.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Literary agent Victor admits he's battled weight gain virtually his whole life. A few years ago, he successfully lost quite a lot of weight by adapting various measures from different diets, but regained the weight within a year. When he slimmed down again last year, he decided that sharing his success story would also help him keep the weight off. Victor's "obvious diet" is not a clearly prescribed all-in-one program. On the contrary, Victor cheerfully argues, everyone knows what foods they should avoid and which measures will work (Victor must avoid bread, pasta and animal fats). This meal plan can incorporate the rules from other diet programs. For example, Victor uses a variation of the cabbage soup from the cabbage soup diet as part of his eating plan. In short, he's advocating a more balanced approach to eating, rather than the restrictions often associated with diets. Victor also incorporates a cleansing day, during which he consumes only fruit, vegetables, salad and vegetable soup. He also has a treat meal-once a week, he eats whatever he wants at one meal. This diet book delivers exactly what the author promises: practical if unoriginal advice on starting and sticking to a diet from an ordinary person, not a professional. Victor entertains and motivates; the book is akin to having a diet coach help people start a new way of eating.
Copyright 2002 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Library Journal

Diets come and go, but the effective ones usually demand a major change in lifestyle, which is very difficult for most of us to do. Victor's premise is that the individual is far more likely than any writer to know perfectly well what behavior is likely to cause weight gain. One person's downfall is chocolate; another's is salty chips. A third simply cannot stick to an exercise regimen. Hence the "obvious" part of the diet: make your own rules, based on what you know makes you fat. A literary agent who lost 20 pounds in three months, Victor believes that the rules we make for ourselves are the ones we stick to. He also recommends one "fasting" day each week, when one eats only fruits and vegetables. This is balanced by the "Treat Day," also once a week, when you indulge your special hungers, if only in small amounts. He also discusses the size of portions Americans are being super-sized to death! Previously published in England, this title will be promoted extensively here, so most libraries will be getting requests for it. Fortunately, it's a good addition to public libraries' diet collections. Susan B. Hagloch, Tuscarawas Cty. P.L., New Philadelphia, OH
Copyright 2002 Reed Business Information, Inc.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 288 pages
• Publisher: Arcade Publishing; 1 edition (September 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1559706511
• ISBN-13: 978-1559706513
• Product Dimensions: 8.3 x 6.2 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.1 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,798,230 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

10 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Worst Diet Book Ever, January 26, 2004

By A Customer

This review is from: The Obvious Diet: Your Personal Way to Lose Weight Fast Without Changing Your Lifestyle (Paperback)

This is probably the worst diet book ever written. Had this book been written by a knowledgable nutritionist, pyschatrist, or doctor, it really could've been something. The concept, that we know ourselves best, is a good one, but for those of us who are still trying to figure ourselves out, the author doesn't provide any advice on how to learn what works for us. And, in fact, the author doesn't know himself all that well, either. It took a visit to his doctor for him to learn that citrus fruit is "bad" for him (and no explanation of how or why the doctor determined this, either, which struck me as suspicious). This isn't an obvious diet applicable to anyone--it's merely the story of one man's weight loss.

After going on and on about "making your own rules," the author proceeds to set out rules you must follow (including a fast day and a treat meal, two concepts that have never worked for me and are strongly advised against by most nutritionists). And contrary to what the cover claims, the "Obvious Diet" does require you to change your lifestyle. Let's face it, if your lifesytle was working for you, you wouldn't need to diet.

The author is self-congratulatory and drops names like most of us would like to drop pounds. If you want to read about the diets of Larry King and Koo Stark, you'll enjoy this, but I didn't read anything that I could reasonably apply to my life.

I gave this book 2 stars because there are some good recipes (most of which are reprinted from other cookbooks). Other than that, this book is a waste of good trees.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars What Works for YOU?, April 5, 2007

By 

A reader (San Francisco) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Obvious Diet: Your Personal Way to Lose Weight Fast Without Changing Your Lifestyle (Paperback)

This is a book for those of us who have tried things over the years but never sat back and pulled all our learning together. The main point of the book is that each of us is unique and knows from experience what works. I love the idea of creating my own plan based on tying together the bits of what worked here and there in the past. Also, creating my own cookbook of favorite recipes I love, too.

Not the best selection for those who have not dieted before, except that you could use this approach to stay in a thoughtful, experimental mode--there is usually SOMETHING from every diet/exercise plan we try that works...don't throw the baby out with the bathwater, figure out what works and what doesn't and build on that! Make it your own!

I took all his suggestions for diet as just that; the main idea is to stay true to who we are as individuals.

15 of 22 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Not as good as the cover suggests, November 12, 2002

By 

Cheer Mom "cheermom" (Voorhees, NJ USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Obvious Diet: Your Personal Way to Lose Weight Fast Without Changing Your Lifestyle (Hardcover)

I guess anyone who's ever lost weight can now write a "bestselling" diet book. Yes, we all know how to lose weight - eat less - exercise more. I had thought that this would be an original, amusing take on losing weight - from a real person who was out there in the trenches - and actually lost weight.

What I read was name dropping of all of the author's famous friends and Mr. Victor listing every diet under the sun and being told to pick the parts you like from each one. The book was relatively boring from the middle of the book to the end.

I applaud Ed Victor for actually losing the weight and keeping it off. However, this book is not going to help the rest of us until we have enough willpower to stop eating dairy, wheat, fat and sugar (which is soooooooo hard to do).