Women's Health Perfect Body Diet: The Ultimate Weight ... (ISBN 1594867909)

Great book!:
All women who struggle with their weight should read and follow this book. It just makes sense. The diet is easy to follow and the supplements are easy to incorporate. A lot of research and energy went into the writing of this book and the reader can tell. This book is well worth the purchase price as you are worth the effort to follow it. Go for it and enjoy!

A laxative with every meal:
The good: This book has a fast and easy way to determine what you should be weighing. The recipes are healthy (with a caveat), and the "Active-Dynamic" warm-up sequence is great either done once through as a warm-up, or several times for an exercise session. The bad: This book essentially promotes taking a "bulk-forming laxative" (i.e., the glucomannan) just about every time you eat. Its primary use is as a laxative, look it up for yourself. It is added to every recipe in the book (hence the caveat), and what's more, you're encouraged to add it to food every time you are eating out as well. The book goes to great lengths telling you how much liquid the glucomannan absorbs and how it can make your portion sizes seem bigger because it expands up to 100 times its own water weight (as in, sit back and watch your food expand). You'd be much better off eating the recipes without it, or adding a healthful source of fiber such as flaxseed occasionally, instead. Slow down when eating, If you're not hungry, don't eat. If you think you're hungry, drink some water first. Bottom line: the recipes, diet, and workout are fine--ignore the glucomannan part.

First month of use...:
I've been impressed with the diet portion of the plan; if you follow the plan, you will feel full, without feeling sleepy. The diet is very nutritious, but it can be challenging to get the protein % high enough. I have actually lost some weight on this with less exercise than usual! I've been following my own exercise plan, so I can't comment on that portion of the plan. Some of the recipes in the book are very good (high fiber yogurt, turkey cauliflower casserole); others are not (pumpkin protein muffins, almond joy smoothie). There are also some errors in the recipes (i.e., amounts of particular ingredients in crab stuffed mushrooms and dijon chicken salad). The diet is tailored to your body type, which I find very helpful. This diet is great for anyone who doesn't do well with high carb/low fat diets, and wants to become leaner with a highly nutritious plan.

Was not impressed by this book...:
I bought this book after seeing an advertisement. I was really excited to start...I bought groceries for the recipes that are suggested along with the Glucomannan. I tried the glucomannan in my cottage cheese and had to throw it out. The smoothies were not very appealing and I threw out my lunch on the first day. The dieting part of the book was not helpful whatsoever! The exercise part seems to be ok.

Low-Carb Nutrition With A Hunger-Satisfying 'Secret Weapon':
If you have read The TNT Diet by Dr. Jeff Volek and Adam Campbell and wished there was a female version of that book, then this is it! In fact, the author Cassandra Forsythe works with Dr. Volek, a world-renowned low-carb diet researcher from The University of Connecticut, and has her name appearing on many of the latest low-carb research studies over the past few years. She believes in low-carb nutrition and was asked by Women's Health magazine to write a book about weight loss and fitness. Some have been critical of this book because they claim it focuses too much on low-fat and not enough on low-carb. But I think it does a good job of having people avoid the culprit carbs that pack on the pounds which is most important when you are looking for a diet plan that will actually work. The "secret weapon" behind this program is the glucomannan fiber that you sprinkle on your foods to make you fuller faster, take away your hunger, and to slow down the absorption of the food into your body. Again, critics say this is gimmicky, but it could be just what is needed to help someone struggling with their weight to get their body into shape. Forsythe is an avid weight trainer and provides specific exercises for women to get that "perfect body" they desire.