Book ~ "Are You Ready!: Take Charge, Lose Weight, Get in Shape, and Change Your Life Forever" (2008) Bob Harper

From Amazon ~ The world-renowned fitness coach on the hit TV show, The Biggest Loser, presents his winning approach to lasting weight loss by showing how to get at the root of your overeating problem, followed by a nutritionally savvy diet and unique exercise plan.

On The Biggest Loser, Bob Harper gives contestants the practical tools and psychological insights they need to get into the best shape of their lives. The key to his success is the emotional connection he makes with each participant, and he brings that same spirit to Are You Ready!

Harper starts with a four-step strategy for getting at the root of negative thought patterns and destructive behaviors, replacing both with a clear way to build self-worth and confidence. With these tools in place, people are empowered to make real, lasting changes in their lives. In an easy-to-follow eating plan, he provides lists of foods that are nutrient-dense and naturally low in calories, more than twenty sample menus, and tips on eating on the run, in restaurants and on vacation. His fitness plan is geared to making exercise an integral part of daily life with workouts (ranging from 20 to 60 minutes) based on training techniques that tone and strengthen, burn calories, and reshape the body.

Woven throughout Are You Ready! are true-life success stories that will keep readers engaged and motivated; bulleted tips, tools, and coping strategies; and sidebars debunking common myths about food and fitness. Whether your goal is losing ten pounds or a hundred, you will find Harper’s message inspiring and his methods a proven path to finally achieving your dream of weight loss and fitness.

All the books about losing weight come with their own diet and exercise plans. Some you can do, some are just too far out there.

Bob's isn't too extreme. He introduces exercise into your life slowly and builds to weight training.

The diet plan isn't extreme ... just eat all the right stuff. There's no weird food on the list that I don't like.

What I liked best about the book was he encourages you to dig deep inside and confront why you ended up overweight in the first place.

The four steps to his program are:

1. Are you really ready?
2. Accept where you are and forgive
3. Love yourself
4. Change your internal recorder, change yourself

There are pictures of all the exercises to show you how to do them. For some reason, they are black 'n white which gives them kind of a 1950s look.