Book Review and Giveaway

Never Say Diet by Chantel Hobbs is an inspiring book with sensible nutrition and exercise tips. Chantel lost 200 pounds and kept it off. Her secret? Change your brain by committing to five decisions, change your eating habits for life and exercise regularly. In other words, there is no secret – just sensible decisions and habits that will result in lasting weight loss.

Chantel has you commit to exercise first – 30 minutes, 5 days a week. Once you get that habit under your belt, she has you start to modify your diet. Each week brings one or two changes so you can build lasting habits. The meal plan is very reasonable: 1,500 calories spread out over 5 meals a day. I especially like the fact that for awhile, she has you take charge of your food by making it “boring”. This eliminates the what-do-I-feel-like, food-is-entertainment, food-is-my-life routine. Once you have mastered all the habits over approximately 16 weeks, you then can begin to introduce “fun” food into your life again. This is not a diet, but a rest of your life eating plan so that you eat healthfully at least 80 percent of the time.

While Chantel doesn’t tell us anything new (reduce calories in, increase calories out, in a reasonable manner for sensible, long lasting weight loss), she will motivate you to get moving. Chantel focuses on the excuses we all fall back on to skip exercise and she will have none of it. Her story is so inspiring, it really is hard to come up with an excuse that sounds reasonable. I mean, if a 350 pound mother of three small kids can exercise every day even when her husband loses his job and her mother’s leukemia returns, how can I say, “I’m too busy” or “I’m too stressed” to exercise?! If she can progress from being breathless after 5 minutes on a recumbent bicycle to running marathons, how can I not commit to 30 minutes of exercise a day?

Chantel gives plenty of ideas for meals and snacks to eat, but stresses you take personal responsibility for your own meal planning. She also gives a number of exercises to do, including cardio and strength training, with a focus on exercises you can do with a stability ball, medicine ball, and a few light weights. The book includes a number of exercises with photos showing and describing every step. Usually, the “how to” exercise photos are hard to follow, but the ones in Chantel’s book are particularly good; I think this is because they’re real life photographs, not illustrations.

Chantel also stresses relying on God to help you when you can’t rely on your own strength – excellent advice!!! In addition to the book, Never Say Diet, there’s a 16 week Personal Fitness Trainer journal. Although the journal isn’t necessary, it certainly would be helpful in tracking your progress.

These books are available at www.amazon.com and other booksellers. Below is the summary from the publisher and information on the author.

GIVEAWAY: I have one copy of the Never Say Diet book and Personal Fitness Trainer journal to give away. Please e-mail your name and mailing address to seewhykinsman@gmail.com to be entered in the random drawing this Friday, January 16th. Good luck!

Summary: After years of failed diet attempts, Chantel Hobbs discovered the missing ingredient to permanent weight loss: to change your life, you first have to change the way you think.

She developed a balanced plan for exercise and nutrition and lost two hundred pounds. Now, through writing, speaking, and her work as a personal trainer, she inspires others to achieve far more than they thought possible.
In Never Say Diet, now available in trade paperback, Chantel provides everything readers need to lose weight for good, including:

Simple, step-by-step workout routines that fit into a normal weekday schedule

A realistic approach to nutrition that helps people break their bondage to food
Strategies for staying motivated when life takes unexpected turns

Keys to dealing with discouragement by relying on God’s strength

The secret to moving beyond past failures and getting over old excuses

Chantel helps readers make the five commitments that are necessary for changing their lives. Her high-energy, no-nonsense approach inspires readers to achieve results that last in body, mind, and spirit.

Personal Trainer: Her newest book, The Never Say Diet Personal Fitness Coach, now allows readers to have Chantel show up each week to inspire, encourage, and energize them on the journey to a healthy life that centers on body, mind, and spirit.

This fitness guide helps readers set new weight-loss goals and create an exercise schedule that works in the midst of life’s constant demands. Readers will be inspired with Scripture, and they will welcome Chantel’s healthy eating plan with simple, energy-and-nutrition-packed recipes. Weekly checklists and personal evaluations direct readers in reaching their goals. Plus, Chantel’s personal and entertaining stories provide the motivation needed to get through even the most frustrating days.

With Never Say Diet and The Never Say Diet Personal Fitness Coach readers will establish new fitness habits that burn off excess weight, increase strength, and establish a new, healthy way of living.