Thursday, January 08, 2009

Tom Venuto's New Hardcover Book: The Body Fat Solution

Review by Josh Day

Reading Tom Venuto's book caused me to come to a self-realization.

In high school I lettered in three varsity sports one year. I ran cross country every year in the fall and we'd often run three to five miles a day with the occasional sprint training and running over rugged terrain. We had a meet at least once a week at various schools, parks, or trails.

My freshman year of college my BMI -- body mass index -- came out at five percent. I was in the best shape of my life but I felt like a strong wind could knock me over because I believed, no matter what I tried, I could not gain weight or bulk up.

Ten years later, here I am, ten pounds over my once desired weight. I'm still unsatisfied, but I'm at the other end of the spectrum: I want to shed those ten pounds instead of gaining them.

Tom's new book, The Body Fat Solution, made me look at both my past and present self. One of the most important facets of maintaining a healthy weight is your belief system.

Tom writes:

Beliefs are not only involved directly in the mind-body connection, they're also unconscious programs that control your behavior. Empowering beliefs can be a force that drives you to success beyond your wildest dreams. Limited beliefs, however, can put a cap on your level of achievement, stop you from taking action, or sabotage the best plans.

I knew the mental factor of weight loss and exercise was important, but I never appreciated how critical it actually is until The Body Fat Solution laid it all out in common sense, practical terms.

Speaking of common sense...

In The Body Fat Solution, you'll learn:
  • How to stop being fooled by crap and hype: lose x amount of pounds in x amount of days, burn fat with pills, lose weight while sitting on the couch, etc. If it sounds too good to be true, it most certainly is. Tom explains how it's scientifically impossible for some of these claims to be real while he outlines a realistic, empowering, and FLEXIBLE program that's tailored to the individual.
  • The importance of setting realistic goals which lead to a workout schedule that works for you. If you hate going to the gym as much as I do, this is the book and program for you.
  • A nutrition program that doesn't sound like it's coming out of the Third Reich. You needn't worry about embarking on a radical diet.
  • All things in moderation. No rigid calorie counting, extreme food restrictions, or strict workouts here. Tom presents a handful of simple guidelines that can be incorporated into any lifestyle.
  • The many myths and outright lies of the weight loss and exercise industry. This chapter alone will open many people's eyes to the frauds, sweeping statements, and outright lies depicted as truth. For example, "Dietary fat makes you gain body fat," and "carbs make you fat" are thoroughly debunked.
  • The potential for success and danger for sabotage within your social network. The people you live with, work with, and count as friends may be one of the best tools for success or the greatest danger. Tom identifies these destructive archetypes (like "the hedonist," the guy who's always encouraging you to go out for a late night drink and preaches "live hard, die young, leave a good-looking corpse") and advises you how to immunize yourself from their negativity.
  • Exercises ranging from clearly described and depicted warm-ups, dumbbell workouts, and body weight exercises. As stated before, no need for a gym membership.
What spoke to me the most about The Body Fat Solution is the flexibility of the program. It's not all or nothing, or losing two pounds every week, or sticking to a hardcore workout schedule that makes you hate exercise.

In fact my wife, who has little background in athletics, was so impressed by the book and openness of Tom's approach that she plans on formulating her own program for her own needs. She had a baby in February 2007 and would like to tone her stomach. This was the first time she's ever been interested in a weight training and nutrition program.

And, you know, if I had to recommend this book to only one of the genders, I'd recommend it to women -- simply because women could benefit so much with Tom's program.

So many women -- like Leah, my wife -- believe things about exercise that are just untrue, or they're put off by weight training due to the whole musclehead/Gold's Gym image. Tom examines each of these beliefs and misconceptions and reveals how his program will not turn a woman into a professional wrestler.

In The Body Fat Solution, the exercise tool of choice is the humble dumbbell, which is about as intimidating as a yoga ball.

Speaking of yoga, if you practice yoga regularly and enjoy it, you'll be surprised to see many of the depicted exercises are duplicates or very similar to your familiar poses!

The Body Fat Solution strips away years of bad advice and false beliefs while empowering you with realistic goals and an understanding of how your body works, how muscles and fat work, and why diets and exercise programs in the past may not have netted you the results you desired.

Click here to read more about The Body Fat Solution and to order.