The Petite Advantage Diet: Achieve That Long, Lean Look. The Specialized Plan for Women 5'4" and Under. [Hardcover]

Jim Karas (Author)

Book Description

Release date: December 27, 2011

Weight-loss expert Jim Karas delivers a breakthrough lifestyle guide that’s already revolutionizing the world of health and fitness: the first book of its kind designed exclusively for women 5’4” and under. Readers of Jim’s New York Times bestselling The Business Plan for the Body can testify to how his advice has helped millions of women find their way to fitter, firmer, healthier, and happier lives. Now the acclaimed lifestyle expert reveals a specially designed program designed for women whom The Belly Fat Cure can’t cure and 21 Pounds in 21 Days takes too much too quickly: The Petite Advantage. Achieve that long, lean look—and eat the right foods to feel full fast—with the specialized diet for women 5'4" and under!

Editorial Reviews

From the Back Cover

They make clothes for “Petites” so why not a specialized diet plan? You’re smaller, you’re more delicate, you’re 5'4" or under, yet you’re expected to follow a diet plan for the taller girls. What’s wrong with that?

“A lot,” says Jim Karas, author of the number one New York Times bestseller The Business Plan for the Body. For over twenty years, Karas has helped the Petites. He makes them longer (without the rack). He makes them leaner (without starving) and he makes them feel more confident and sexier than they have ever felt before. Why? Because he knows how to get results specifically for you . . . a “Petite”. . . and get them fast.

“I understand you,” says Karas. “I know you are watching your taller friends and colleagues eat more than you do but stay slim.” Fact: you do have to eat less, because a Petite needs only about 1,600 calories a day (compared to 2,500 calories for a taller woman) and is therefore naturally more prone to gain weight.

But you are looking at the glass only as half empty. Thee glass, according to Karas, is really half full. Being a Petite has huge advantages such as:

• You can work out more effectively than a taller woman because your muscle-to-height ratio is greater; translation—better opportunity to boost your metabolism
• Your center of gravity is lower, and therefore you are less likely to injure yourself when you’re working out, and
• You can create that sexy hour-glass figure that taller women can’t achieve. Think Penelope Cruz (5’4”) and Dolly Parton (5’0”). Both are gorgeous members of “The Petites,” whose bodies rock.

Karas has worked with women of all heights and sizes for more than twenty years, and has perfected strategies that bring effective and lasting fat loss for Petites. Based on solid, recent research, coupled with his passion for creating concrete solutions, Karas has crafted a program specially designed to help you create a longer, leaner, sexier body. Petites, you’re gonna love it!

About the Author

Jim Karas is a lifestyle expert who combines a degree from the Wharton School of Business with over twenty-two years of unparalleled success in helping people look and feel their very best. He is the author of the bestseller The Business Plan for the Body, contributing editor for Good Housekeeping, and fitness contributor on ABC's Good Morning America.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 288 pages
• Publisher: HarperOne; 1 edition (December 27, 2011)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0062025457
• ISBN-13: 978-0062025456
• Product Dimensions: 5.5 x 1 x 8.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 10.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (61 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #120,629 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Jim Karas is unique in the weight loss and fitness industry because he combines a degree from the Wharton School of Business with over twenty years of unparalleled success as a weight loss and fitness professional. Jim has skillfully blended his business education and passion for helping people look and feel their very best by designing solutions that are meant for our busy and failure-intolerant society. His absolute devotion to bottom-line, results-driven thinking and exceptional ability to inspire people to take action make Jim Karas the expert amid a marketplace saturated with confusion and contradiction.

Jim is the author of the #1 New York Times bestseller, The Business Plan for the Body, and, Flip The Switch. His new book, The Cardio-Free Diet, was recently published on April 10, 2007. In this latest, groundbreaking book, Jim presents a research-based solution that challenges one of the fundamental misconceptions facing Americans today. Jim makes the case that to lose weight and get in the best shape of your life, regardless of your age, you should only perform interval strength and resistance exercise and never, ever get on a treadmill, elliptical trainer, bike or stair stepper again. As Jim says quite simply, 'Cardio is a 1970s solution to a 21st century problem.'

Jim is also the Fitness Contributor on ABC's Good Morning America (he helped co-host Diane Sawyer lose over 25 pounds) in addition to being the host of Couch Potatoes on ABC News Now. Jim has served as a Contributing Editor for Good Housekeeping magazine and has written feature articles for countless other national publications, including 'O' The Oprah Magazine.

Jim is widely sought after as a keynote speaker for many of the country's most prominent corporations, trade associations, small businesses and special interest groups because his common sense approach lends clarity to many of the complex issues facing America today that could be solved by simply making smarter, healthier choices. Among some of these organizations are the Federal Reserve Bank, 'O' The Oprah Magazine, Health Care Service Corporation, Chicago Mercantile Exchange, Beam Global Spirits & Wine, the World Presidents' Organization, Leaders Magazine, Coldwell Banker, Northwestern Memorial Hospital and Lake Forest Hospital.

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

56 of 58 people found the following review helpful

3.0 out of 5 stars Good concept, but incomplete January 10, 2012

By jrp

Format:Hardcover

I'm very happy to find that someone finally understands! I am 5'0" and have always had problems taking off weight. I'm not overweight, but I do put on weight if I eat like "normal" people, so I try to nip it in the bud before it gets too bad. I normally eat healthy food, watch my portions,and exercise daily, so there was (until now) very little I could change if I needed to lose a few pounds. I have tried Weight Watchers, following it to the letter, and have not lost a pound after 6 weeks. I have found (until now) that I am constantly hungry between meals and wanting to snack. So it's great to find something different, made specifically for those of us "vertically challenged." I have only been on this diet for a few days, so I don't know if I have lost, but one thing I like is the flipping of meals and the increased protein. The recipes I have tried are delicious and easy to make, and, for the first time, I am not ravenous between meals. However, that being said, I find the book very incomplete in some pretty significant ways:
1. Karas sets out his meal plan (this is good,) but he doesn't state specifically that all these foods must be eaten or if and what you can substitute. So if you don't like or can't eat a particular food, can you substitute another day's meal as long as it stays under the calorie limit or are the meals planned so that you get the correct number of protein, fat grams, etc. for example?
2. He also discusses fruits and vegetables, saying how they are good and you need to eat a certain number. But he does not provide enough of them in his menus, and it seems they can't be added between meals as snacks without tipping the calorie count too high. Seems like a contradiction here.
3. The shopping lists are wasteful. Some items I bought for week 1, I only used partially, and they are not called for again this week. So unless I do make the same meal again, the leftovers will spoil and have to be thrown out. Some of the items are expensive.
4. There is no mention of a maintenance plan - what do you do after you have met your goal and don't want to lose or gain?
5. One more problem I've just discovered. The Gravity Straps are not available in stores, that I know of, and I live in a big city. So I ordered them on line when I was about to begin the plan, and they still have not been shipped. I have been on the plan for a week and have not begun my strength training. I know there are other ways to do it, but I would like to do Karas's exercises. So now I am losing weight again without building up muscle. Wish he had told us we had to order straps on line in advance.

98 of 111 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars good, but a bit on the cheesy side December 28, 2011

By ckw99

Format:Hardcover

I finished reading this book yesterday. It has a lot of good ideas, and the research seems to be pretty sound. The idea of a petite being like a kiddie pool and the rest of the world being like an olympic-sized pool is a good way to visualize the whole concept. I have been eating healthy 80% of the time, and I have been working out 5 days a week doing a combo of P90X and cardio workouts. Just as the author mentions in the book, I had decent initial results but it was only my top half (arms, waist, bust) that got any smaller. The number on the scale and my pant size have stayed the same. My hunger definitely went up when I started working out too. I was frustrated and couldn't figure out why everyone else I know had great results with P90X and I didn't. I've always believed that my height (or lack thereof- I'm only 5'1" =) put me at a big disadvantage when it comes to losing weight. My husband and friends thought I was just making excuses. I would love for this plan to work so I can prove I was right and that I really do have to eat even less/work even harder than tall people just to get the same results =).

That being said, I did find the tone in the book to be a bit too "motivational-speaker-y" for my taste. There's a lot of "I have the secret to the perfect diet for you...which I'll tell you about soon" or "the secret is...wait for it...", etc. It came across a little cheesy, like he was a skeezy salesman trying to sell me something. All I need is a reasonable plan, with valid research and stories of the plan actually working for people to be sold on it. If you ignore the salesmanship, it's a good book and the plan is worth trying.

25 of 29 people found the following review helpful

2.0 out of 5 stars lots of hype for no results! January 31, 2012

By meganne

Format:Hardcover

Have purchased Jim K's previous 2 books and this is really just the same thing marketed differently - spent so much time shopping cooking and cleaning up that the diet was just not reasonable for a busy working person - and some of the recipes were really awful. The worst part was the exercise program - or rather the product he chose to use for it - the gravity straps were not versatile, easy to use, required specific type of door and space (which was not made clear in the book or in the product's advertising), and required so much adjustment between exercises that you lost the effect of interval training. Would not recommend the book or the gravity straps.