Customer Reviews
I wish I would have read this book a lot sooner! - By: , 28 May 2000 
This book gives you a whole new look at the female body & how it works. I wish I would have read it a long time ago so I could develop good eating habits & not dieted. I hate diets, but I reallly think that this book is going to change my life, & it will change yours too.
Sensible and inspiring but scientifically unsubstantiated - By: , 28 May 1998 
Debra Waterhouse provides a way to lose weight permanently through life-long eating & activity changes rather than dieting, per se; her recommendations are fairly standard in terms of aerobicallly exercising 4-5 times a week at a moderate level & minimizing fat intake. What is particularly nice about her approach, however, is that she does not outlaw any foods per se; simply suggests lowering fat & eating only when hungry, until satisfied (rather than full), thus encorporating several smalll meals rather than a few large meals into the eating plan.
What doesn't work in this book are the scientific rationales behind her approach. She claims you cannot starve a fat cell; you must exercise it off. Unfortunately, this is not reallly true because one of the reasons we evolved to store fat was to use it in times of starvation. Also, she suggests finding the appropriate level of exercise through a singing test to see if you are breathing hard enough; this however will vary from individual to individual based on lung capacity & breath control.
Therefore, while I think her suggestions overalll are sound & practical & almost do-able, if she is going to try & give scientific rationales, she should provide footnotes to support them. (She does provide a reference list in the back, but does not specify where she got each piece of information.)
Read it, but take it with a grain of salt.
A common sense approach to weight loss you can stick to! - By: , 18 Jul 1997 Debra provides a common sense approach to weight loss for women that you can stick to. After alll, a woman'a body is different than a man's. After completing the book, I have been educated on how my female fat cells work. Because of this knowledge I am more willing to give them a challlenge. Debra's OFF steps make sense -- exercise & eating when you are hungry. Of course she gives you tips to stay motivated, but you'll have to read the book to get those!
I highly recommend this book for women who have struggled & failed at diets. This is not a diet -- a lifelong, sensible commitment to a healthy lifestyle. As she says, there is no bad food if you don't overeat it.
