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164 of 169 people found the following review helpful:
Much more than just another diet book!
True or false: People fail to lose weight and keep it off because they don't realize they need to eat healthy food and exercise.
We know that isn't true-- everyone knows about healthy food and exercise. But isn't that the message of most "diet" books? Once you find the right magic foods and the right magic exercise, once you have that secret knowledge not...
Published 8 months ago by James John Hollandsworth, M.D.
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87 of 105 people found the following review helpful:
3.5 Stars from MY THIN LIFESTYLE Reviewer
Everyone wants a spark of inspiration to live a healthier, thinner, fitter lifestyle, and there's a good chance you'll get it from The Spark. Author Chris Downie gives a formula for success that includes goal setting, positive motivation, an eating program, exercise, and community support through his worldclass website, [...]. In fact, the real magic of the Spark...
Published 7 months ago by America's Spiritual Reviewer/M...
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164 of 169 people found the following review helpful:
Much more than just another diet book!, December 29, 2009
This review is from: The Spark: The 28-Day Breakthrough Plan for Losing Weight, Getting Fit, and Transforming Your Life (Hardcover)
True or false: People fail to lose weight and keep it off because they don't realize they need to eat healthy food and exercise.
We know that isn't true-- everyone knows about healthy food and exercise. But isn't that the message of most "diet" books? Once you find the right magic foods and the right magic exercise, once you have that secret knowledge not found in any other diet book, then YOU will lose that weight!
If we are willing to be honest, the real reason we are not losing weight is US--- we end up choosing to eat that dessert, to sleep in instead of pounding the pavement, to say to ourselves "this is never going to work."
And that's where The Spark starts: with how we view and live our life and how we can make sustainable positive change. In fact, it doesn't even start talking about what foods to eat until page 84.
Where it starts is with four "cornerstones" of positive living: focus, fitness, fire, and positive force. The author takes a chapter on each of these concepts and lays out how they apply to life in general and a life shift like weight loss in particular.
So, does this work? Does the effort to really understand the principles of positive change make a difference? Well, this book is really just the distillation of a website & online community, [...], which has helped tens of thousands of people make meaningful change. In fact, the center of the book contains short bios and color photos of seventeen people, real people, real people who you can actually contact through the sparkpeople online community, who have used the principles to lose big weight (most of them 100+ pounds) and keep it off and really change their lives.
Yes, the healthy diet and exercise tips are in there, just like in every diet book. But what makes this book different, and special, is that the focus isn't the food, but you: a practical plan to change your outlook and jump-start your motivation so that you can practice a healthy lifestyle and change your life. A very good way to start out the new year, or any time you decide to change for the better.
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23 of 23 people found the following review helpful:
Wonderful book !, January 20, 2010
This review is from: The Spark: The 28-Day Breakthrough Plan for Losing Weight, Getting Fit, and Transforming Your Life (Hardcover)
I have bought my fair share of diet and nutrition books, always looking for that little something I didnt know about that was holding me back, or even better, something that could cause me to start losing weight with out any effort at all.
Well, I'm sad to say, there is no such book on the market. You honestly have to make the effort to get the results. I have enjoyed reading the articles on [...] for a good while, and knew enough about the diet to know I would enjoy The Spark book. I bought it, deciding I would read it while I walked on the treadmill.
I have to say I really was shocked at how different the book was than what I thought it was going to be like. I was expecting that it would be more technical, "do this many sit up's, eat this many calories". It REALLY is sooo much better than I imagined! The author breaks down exercise, diet and nutrition into very manageable solutions. I have many diet books, but this is now my favorite one! It made me want to actually do more than just read it, it made me want to actually DO the things that will bring about positive change in my life, and thats something impressive in itself! I totally recomend it!!
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51 of 57 people found the following review helpful:
Great book, great website!, December 29, 2009
This review is from: The Spark: The 28-Day Breakthrough Plan for Losing Weight, Getting Fit, and Transforming Your Life (Hardcover)
I've been a member of SparkPeople since it started in 2002. This book tied a lot of things I learned on the site together, plus taught me many more new things! My favorite part was the "Success Secrets" scattered throughout the book.
Whether you are a SparkPeople member or not I would recommend this book. It can help you lose some weight, but more importantly help you get your priorities straight and make healthy changes to your life that will stay with you forever.
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21 of 22 people found the following review helpful:
The last weight loss book you'll ever need to buy!, December 31, 2009
This review is from: The Spark: The 28-Day Breakthrough Plan for Losing Weight, Getting Fit, and Transforming Your Life (Hardcover)
A chronic yo-yo dieter, I have owned every popular diet book ever published! Finally, I found SparkPeople and learned how to break that cycle of losing and gaining, losing and gaining once and for all! I've been at my goal weight, after a weight loss of 70 pounds, for four years now and attribute my success at maintaing my weight loss to the life changing strategies outlined in this book. The focus isn't on what we shouldn't do but rather positive steps we can take to conquer obstacles such as emotional eating, lack of motivation, and difficulty exercising. It covers goal setting, nutrition, physical activity, and motivation. The free website uses a social networking framework similar to My Space and Facebook to provide a community of "Sparkers" who inspire and motivate each other through teams based on personal interests, opportunities to blog and journal both publicly and privately, make friends literally all over the world, and challenges and rewards that make success fun! I would encourage you to read the book as well as joining the website. Personally, I went from an overweight 49 year old "couch potato" to a healthy 53 year old woman who now runs and completed a 5K race this year! If I can accomplish this using the Spark formula -- anyone can!!
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42 of 48 people found the following review helpful:
This is NOT just another diet book!, December 29, 2009
This review is from: The Spark: The 28-Day Breakthrough Plan for Losing Weight, Getting Fit, and Transforming Your Life (Hardcover)
The Spark is a great motivational tool for setting and achieving goals in all areas of your life! It's definitely slanted towards helping you set and achieve diet/fitness related goals, but it also sets you up to use those goals as a springboard to start achieving goals in other areas of your life that you never thought possible.
I recommend this book for anyone who wants a dose of motivation and inspiration to take their life to a new level and start reaching their goals!
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87 of 105 people found the following review helpful:
3.5 Stars from MY THIN LIFESTYLE Reviewer, January 8, 2010
This review is from: The Spark: The 28-Day Breakthrough Plan for Losing Weight, Getting Fit, and Transforming Your Life (Hardcover)
Everyone wants a spark of inspiration to live a healthier, thinner, fitter lifestyle, and there's a good chance you'll get it from The Spark. Author Chris Downie gives a formula for success that includes goal setting, positive motivation, an eating program, exercise, and community support through his worldclass website, [...]. In fact, the real magic of the Spark program revolves around participation in the sparkpeople website, which is more exciting than the book.
The Spark diet is a 4-stage process, which Downie bills as a way of life rather than a diet. However, it really is a low-fat, moderate calorie diet, and it draws heavily on the USDA food program guidelines. There are 4 stages, and each stage has several sub-steps. All these activities make the diet complicated to understand and implement. As for exercise, Downie advocates 10-minute "streaks" of continuous, positive activity every day.
The Spark has a lot of goodness going for it, and Downie's positive, contagious energy is hands down the best feature of the book and his website ambiance. The program clearly works for a lot of people, and Downie has a legion of raving fans. That said, like many weight loss and fitness books, The Spark suffers from predictable, re-hashed information and consequently did not hold my attention.
Also, Downie's organization of material creates confusion rather than clarity. A few times I had to read a whole page or more before I could figure out what the chapter was going to be about. In general, I had a hard time following his lead.
This book is recommended for people who are drawn to online interactions and who like a lot of support. It's not recommended for the computer illiterate.
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12 of 13 people found the following review helpful:
How the spark has helped me, December 30, 2009
This review is from: The Spark: The 28-Day Breakthrough Plan for Losing Weight, Getting Fit, and Transforming Your Life (Hardcover)
Hi
I've been with spark people on-line since 2006. I've lost 45 pounds. IO've dieted all my life. Spark People helped me keep track of calories and exersize beside the people who are there to inspire you. The book gives you something to read and inspire you to do what thousands have done to lose weight, itsa a lifestyle change not a diet, Buy the book then sign up free to the Spark People web site
Diane
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12 of 13 people found the following review helpful:
Never buy another diet book again!, December 30, 2009
This review is from: The Spark: The 28-Day Breakthrough Plan for Losing Weight, Getting Fit, and Transforming Your Life (Hardcover)
The Spark is an easy-to-read, easy to follow comprehensive 28 day plan to change your life and your weight.
Not a specific diet, The Spark is a guide to living life better! Incorporating tools and techniques to help you change your weight and your life, the benefits of reading and following the plan in this book are far more than weight loss alone. I have been using SparkPeople.com, the free online community for weight loss and healthy living, for one year. In this time, I have lost 25 pounds, run 7 half marathons and 1 full marathon and have found my life to be richer, happier and better lived than ever before! The Spark is the perfect companion to the website but it also stands alone. If you never buy another diet or self-help book again, buy this one - it will be the last one you'll ever need!
This book outlines easy steps that you can take to change your life - meaningful things, not just suggestions like "cut back on sweets". Chris Downie has put together stepping stones to show you the path to better living. The principles he outlines in this book apply to all facets of life. You can follow small manageable steps to walk your way to the life you have been afraid to dream of before now!
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11 of 12 people found the following review helpful:
SPARKS WILL LIGHT THAT FIRE!!!, December 30, 2009
This review is from: The Spark: The 28-Day Breakthrough Plan for Losing Weight, Getting Fit, and Transforming Your Life (Hardcover)
I personally have lost over 70 pounds since being a Spaks people member. I have kept the weight off for almost 2 years. I highly recommend this book and I very highly recommend becoming a member of Sparks people. If your looking for an example (raises hand).....HERE I AM!!!!
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14 of 16 people found the following review helpful:
The Spark, December 31, 2009
This review is from: The Spark: The 28-Day Breakthrough Plan for Losing Weight, Getting Fit, and Transforming Your Life (Hardcover)
I have been using the [...] website for 19 months (AuntC321)and lost over 70 pounds. This puts me half way to my goal. I was part of a group who read and tried the rough draft of the Spark book and now have the final copy. It is an awesome book with a wonderful website of support available. It is full of thought provoking information and motivation. Best wishes to everyone who reads it.
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