Work Your Butt Off...

 Last week we featured books for brain health and overall health and wellness. This week we are featuring diet and exercise books to help you meet your goals.

"Sometimes it's the simple choices-like switching diet soda for regular; selecting a less-caloric sandwich at the fast food joint; stopping at just one dip into the candy bowl; filling up on salad rather than bread before your main course; or taking the kids for a bike ride instead of hanging out in front of the TV-that make the pounds melt away almost effortlessly. Whether you're a junk food junkie, an emotional eater, or even a mindless muncher, Good Housekeeping Drop 5 Pounds by Heather K. Jones offers hundreds of ideas for small and very doable changes in your diet that can add up to significant weight loss. The Diet Decoder quiz right at the start helps you pinpoint your particular eating patterns and food pitfalls, priming you for a transformation. Then, follow the icons to identify customized strategies that target your behavior. Plus you'll learn about diet destroyers like the hidden calories in “friendly” foods; simple substitutes that make both home-cooked and restaurant-bought foods less fattening; how to avoid holiday weight gain; and practical ways to incorporate exercise into your routine. Easy-to-follow charts identify “Diet Madness” meals and give you “Diet Makeover” alternatives, plus “Make This Swap” suggestions. Every chapter opens with “Drop 5 Top 5" strategies to ditch the pounds at home, at work, and at play. 

• Start with a self-quiz to diagnose your diet pitfalls
• Use our Diet Makeovers to end Diet Disasters
• Steal our Special Diet Tricks for Meal Skippers, Nonstop Nibblers, Liquid Calorie Lovers, Emotional Eaters, and Junk Food Junkies
• Mix and match our Drop 5 advice to change your diet according to your tastes and habits
• Choose from dozens of fat-blasting recipes to drop 5 pounds" (from Amazon.com)

"This completely revised and updated edition of the popular Mayo Clinic Diet is a practical, no-nonsense approach designed to help you lose weight and, most importantly, keep it off. The book includes step-by-step advice on key behavior changes to promote weight loss, plus four weeks of daily menus and all-new recipes. Based on years of experience with thousands of individuals trying to lose weight and research into the behaviors that do and don’t work, this guide establishes five habits to include in your daily routine, five habits to break, and five bonus habits to increase your chances of lasting success. The Mayo Clinic Diet includes: 

• A two week quick-start program designed to help you lose 6 to 10 pounds in a safe and healthy way

• A long-term maintenance plan in which you continue to lose 1 to 2 pounds a week until you reach your goal, and learn how to maintain a healthy weight for life

• Meal plans, recipes, food lists, tips on overcoming challenges, and much more" (from Amazon.com)

"Want to finally lose the weight and keep it off? Want to be able to eat the foods you love? Reaching your goals can only happen when you don't feel deprived and you continue to stay motivated. Now, celebrity trainer and star of the hit reality series The Biggest Loser, Dolvett Quince, tells you how to do all of that and more in his revolutionary program, The 3-1-2-1 Diet. This 21-day program works by manipulating your body's natural tendency to slow its metabolic rate in response to calorie restriction. It takes a new approach to getting lean-one scientifically based on changing up food and calories to tap into your body's potential to burn fat. This unconventional plan results in greater muscle and less fat than any other diet you've ever tried. Dolvett's effective eating plan is as easy as 3-1-2-1: three days of clean eating, one day of cheating, two more days of clean eating, and one final reward meal at the end of the week. No foods are off limits and you will never feel deprived because the plan is flexible enough to fit into any lifestyle. You'll lose weight fast-10 pounds or more in just 21 days-and you won't plateau. Dolvett's simple meal plans and delicious, easy-to-prepare recipes, together with his fast and effective workouts that combine cardio and body-shaping moves, will have you back in your skinny jeans in less than three weeks!" (from Amazon.com)

"A month from now, you'll wish you had started today. Yes, a month is all it takes to see long-term results. And seriously - even YOU can lose that weight! Food and exercise fads come and go, mainly because they just aren't sustainable. After a few days, you're hungry, bored, or hungry AND bored. That's why the Today Show's very first lifestyle and fitness correspondent, Jenna Wolfe, created her famous 30-Day Fitness Challenge for her viewers. The challenge was wildly successful because of its unprecedented and simple approach to everyday health and fitness - one small tip a day for 30 days. 

Now, in Thinner in 30, Jenna takes her foolproof program to the next level, giving you the tools and motivation you'll need to achieve your wellness goals with 30 small changes that add up to big results - in as few as 30 days. It's all possible without joining a gym, counting calories, or signing up for a trendy class you can't even pronounce. The perfect plan for busy men and women of all ages and fitness levels, Thinner in 30 puts the focus on small, bite-size tips which lead to long-term weight loss. Jenna blends athletic wisdom, laugh-out-loud humor, and easy-to-follow advice, like how many times to chew your food per bite, what the heck carbs are all about, and how to sneak in workouts without any time, money, equipment, or energy (pretty much covering any excuse you may have). Thinner in 30 will help you discover just how easy it is to get healthy without having to deprive yourself or work out 12 hours a day." (from Amazon.com)

Fitness expert and media icon John Basedow's body-transforming plan is literally Fitness Made Simple. After trying just about every fitness fad and gimmick with little success, John developed this multidimensional approach that is improving the bodies and lives of thousands of men and women, from teenagers to grandparents. Fitness Made Simple is not just about losing weight. It's about changing your entire body composition so that you increase lean muscle mass and decrease body fat. This easy-to-follow program eliminates all the guesswork for building the body of your dreams with John's comprehensive “Fitness Triangle”:

• Nutrition: By concentrating on natural protein sources, healthy fats, and slow-digesting carbs, you'll never be hungry, your junk food cravings will disappear, and fat will melt from your body.
• Exercise: Utilizing a combination of cardiovascular and weight training workouts, you'll look great, feel better, and strip away fat to reveal those six-pack abs!
• Supplementation: Not all supplements are created equal. John shows you which fat loss and muscle building products can actually produce cosmetically significant results, rather than just false hope and a depleted bank account.

Plus, John tells his own inspiring story of how he took control of his body and life, while accumulating years of health and fitness wisdom along the way. His signature “John-isms”--helpful quotes sprinkled throughout this book--will keep you motivated to stick with your new fitness lifestyle." (from Amazon.com)

"America’s favorite fitness expert presents a breakthrough program to win the war against aging–a battle she has personally fought and won. We all know that aging is inevitable–but how gracefully you age is up to you. Scientific research shows that we can turn back the clock and retain our youthful strength and energy through a targeted regimen of age-busting exercise and nutrition. Now, in Fit and Fabulous After 40, award-winning fitness expert Denise Austin presents her own revolutionary, sure-fire plan to help you stay healthy, strong, slim, and fabulous–no matter what your age. Built around Austin’s five-part pyramid plan of exercise, diet, health, beauty and attitude, Fit and Fabulous After 40 features a fat-blasting anti-aging regimen that helps you literally defy gravity (no more sagging body parts) and sculpt every inch of yourself, from chin to kneecaps with special “Stop-the-Clock” fitness routines. By exercising for just thirty minutes a day, and using cutting-edge fitness techniques such as yoga and Pilates-based exercises, you will build strength, shed extra pounds, improve flexibility and balance and look years younger. Austin then shows you how to eat for optimum health and vitality, with delicious slimming recipes that complement the vitamins and supplements she recommends. She also presents invaluable advice on common health concerns for women, such as menopause, breast cancer and heart disease, as well as special beauty tips–including anti-wrinkle exercises." (from Amazon.com)

The Exercise Bible is by Joanna Hall. "This is a guide to exercise and physical activity to help the reader achieve body wellbeing. It provides information on all types of exercise, whatever the reader's aims, fitness level, body shape, available time and budget. Each of the three exercises (cardiovascular, resistance and flexibility) necessary for whole body health are covered, with explanations of how they benefit the body, the types of sports that involve them and how to use them for maximum effect. Each of the chapters is supported by a number of practical exercise programs. Diet is also examined. Using scientific research, sample daily menus, recipes and advice on snacking and nutritional supplements, it shows how to eat and drink to optimize and boost energy." (from Amazon.com)