James O. Hill | John C. Peters | Bonnie T. Jortberg
1 This ONE Approach Will Help Kids, Seniors + "Diet Failures"
Although over 50 diet books grace my bookshelves, I did not order, "The Step Diet" for over a year. I thought that it would be "too simple." I saw the pedometer that came with the book and thought that it was "just another gimmick" in the diet book lineup.
I was so, so WRONG. In fact, this may be the ONE APPROACH that will help kids, seniors, teens, and the most stubborn of "diet failures." It is a wonderful tool to help motivate anyone.
This is SO MUCH MORE than a book that tells you to log your steps with the pedometer. It provides the science behind what they specifically suggest regarding how you build up to the required steps, how long you should do the program, and how many steps are required to lose and maintain your specific weight.
Ironically, one of the problems that made me resist this formula was that I often wear dresses and really wasn't sure about how to log my steps. This book gives you plenty of options.
This is a great book to follow in conjunction with a particular diet or with their suggestion to reduce your regular daily intake by approximately 25% less.
But most of all this is the best book to get a family or work place or group (teens, young moms, seniors, ANY group!) motivated. The two most important people in my life are over 60 and I have been concerned about their health and longevity. For my birthday, I asked for one gift: That they would join me as a group for a 12-week period on this program, where we could keep track of our progress and encourage one another. ( I'll let you know our results!)
2 A heavyweight in the diet book arena.
It's nice to see more diet books coming out that are based on good, sound science- just like this one. In a nutshell, this book emphasizes walking to lose weight; in fact it even comes with a handy step counter so you can get a good idea where you've been (and for that matter, where you need to go). All in all, I found this to be a great concept, the only drawback being people who don't have places to walk year round or just plainly get bored with walking. And the diet part? Basically, it's to just eat 75% of what you normally do. Now how easy is that? Anyway, all in all its a great book. Other evidence-based weight loss books I liked include "The No-Beach, No-Zone, No-Nonsense Weight Loss Plan, A Pocket Guide To What Works."
3 Simple no nonsense weight loss
A really great book with a simple idea. Walk a little more, eat a little less. Solid basics that are simple and fun. The book is motivating and easy to read, although I wouldn't use the pedometer that comes with the book, it's inaccurate.
The one complaint I have is the meta-steps. The book makes the claim that you can forget about counting calories, but the meta-steps is just like counting calories. As is the steps that equate to different types of exercise, for example, 1 minute on a bike is 100 steps. You are just counting calories in a different way, but it is no big deal if you don't mind the counting.
Otherwise, it is an easy way to exercise and get fit with lots of science and stories to back it up.
4 Learn how to walk off your weight !
"The Step Diet" is a compact 7 and 1/2 by 5 and 1/2" book that explains exactly how you can lose weight by walking and making small dietary changes. According to the authors the average American will gain a little bit of weight each year. You can prevent this gain by adding 2000 steps to your daily walking. To lose weight you add more steps and cut back on what you eat.
These simple changes can be made one at a time and add up to permanent change thats easy to incorporate into your everyday life.
The book teaches you how to determine your current average step amount and increase it week to week. There is also a chart to show how to convert other activities into steps so you can track all of your activities. Information is included on how to make minor dietary adjustments so you can reap the reward of a fitter, slimmer body.
Overall the book is excellent at helping the reader learn how to regulate weight through step activity. The authors do however confuse the issue with "megasteps". The authors help you determine your megasteps and then at the back of the book they list common foods and tell you how many megasteps each food is equal to. For example an egg will cost you approximately one megastep. praline ice cream about 6. This is just another way of calorie counting and really not needed in the book in my opinion.
Instead it would have been nice if the authors had included the number of steps you would have to walk to burn off certain foods. For example to burn up an order of small fries (210 calories) you would have to walk about 4,200 steps. This type of information in the book would have been great. But it's not included.
A pedometer comes with the book. As others have noted here I personally have and would recommend that others purchase a better quality, more accurate pedometer.
The book is linked to the americaonthemove.org website and its GREAT! A lot of information on walking for individuals or groups. You can set goals at the site. For example you can pick a trail like the Lewis and Clark trail which requires you step about 9,000 paces a day. Each day you record your steps and see visually how far you are on the map and your average steps, plus you can read about the area. What fun and its free!
Overall, the book is a "breath of fresh air" with it's focus on making small changes in eating and increasing walking activity (not killing yourself with intense exercise programs) to see big results.
5 Excellent Weight Loss Book..
This book is very good and a novel approach to losing weight. I think this book is especially good for the past fifty crowd. Its easy and fun. The pedometer that comes with the book is pretty cheesy..I would recomend getting a better one from a sporting goods store. Overall the book is well written clear, except in figuring out the mega-steps.. That could have been written a little clearer. Overall the book tells the truth about weight loss and gives a plan to keep it off. That is the problem...keeping it off. Much better than the fad diets that get the weight off but since they are so restrictive the weight eventually returns and then some. This book gives you the tools and knowledge to only have to get the weight off one more time and then know how to keep it off. Excellent book for anyone stuggling with obesety.
6 A great book on living a realistic active lifestyle
I have been using the principles of this book as I learned them from one of the autor's website for America On The Move. The ideas and concepts of energy balance work. I am a 37 yr old male with a wife, two kids and a busy career. I have lost 54lbs in the last 7 months. I have done it using the concepts in this book. Step counting is a great way to really evaluate a persons physical activity. The step diet book gives you realistic ideas on how to get more steps into our busy days and give you sound scientific reasoning why. The studies it uses are not some oddball never heard of study but real science based upon years of study of real programs that work. Before I read this book friends would ask me if I was using Atkins or South Beach. I would simply tell them I was using common sense, eat less move more.
I now average 15,000+ a day, it was not easy but I simply worked at it using some of the ideas to slowly increase my steps. I also cut back on my intake slowly. I am not restricted in what I eat but know it will cost me and I think if I want to pay the price.
I do not fully adhere to the mega steps concept in the book, it does get a little complicated I have a simpler approach. I do not feel weight loss is as simple as a math problem so I appreciate the idea but do not live by it.
The pedometer that came with the book I do not use I have a quality pedometer. I originally used one for less than $10 and found it to be very inaccurate so if you get serious do your homework and expect to pay $30-$35 for a good one. As far as the freebie you get with the book, it is better than nothing so use it but you do get what you pay for.
This book is all about lifestyle change which has been the biggest thing to me I am not on a diet I am changing my life.
7 Most helpful "non-diet" book I've read...
I am a nut for healthy, weight-loss information so when I came across this book, I thought I would try it out. It was the best decision I've made.
I've always worked out for maybe 30-45 min. a day, but I would sit on my butt the rest of the day. This book had wonderful ideas on how to increase your movement throughout the day, not just in the 30 minutes I worked out.
My other problem is that I like food. I could not get used to the idea of giving up the food I like in order to lose weight. I think the best part of the book is the idea that you need to cut back on your food intake by 25% in order to acheive weight-loss. I eat what I like to eat, I just eat a little bit less at each meal. I have tried this over the past two weeks and I have lost 2 pounds and I am confident that they will stay off as long as I continue to follow the plan.
The pedometer is a great way to pace yourself throughout the day. I set goals for myself such as getting between 6000 and 7000 steps during work. It's a great way to keep moving.
It is not a quick, weight-loss gimmick or diet. I call it a "non-diet" because the authors offer ways to change your lifestyle in order to lose healthy amounts of weight in a reasonable timespan in order to acheive weight-loss for life.
8 Not Your Usual Diet Book
This book is full of useable information, great advice and something you can "get going on" the day you get it. It's not about a radical or fad diet - it starts with first monitoring your current moving (steps) and eating patterns. Only after some beginning self monitoring (for seven days) and then to a two week phase of showing you why you are continually gaining weight does it switch to trying to actually lose weight by taking more steps each day and turn passive overeating into healthy eating.
It tells you step-by-step how to change unhealthy fully ingrained habits and gradually change to a lifestyle that allows you not just to lose weight, but to keep it off. It's a gradual but effective process. It teaches you to stop relying on "willpower" and instead makes you face tough choices, such as if it's REALLY worth it to supersize that fry or eat a Whooper instead of a regular hamburgar.
A step counter is included in the book - but the book itself is the big value. When using the stepcounter, I noticed that when I placed it over my stomach, it doubled the amount of steps I take (probably because I carry most of my weight in my stomach). So I followed the advice on page 2 and switched the counter to my hip area so that it counts the steps accurately. It has you take a "test walk" of 100 steps to check the accuracy of the step monitor.
This is a fantastic book for anyone wanting to permanently get and STAY in shape. There are no magic pills . . . or easy magic formulas . . . but this is a healthy way to obtain real results.
9 Best walking advice ever
This book is very easy to understand and implement at a comfortable pace. I like the fact that the changes are implemented in a manageable way. The authors examined what it takes for successful weight loss and maintenance. The charts were very informative and the suggestions excellent. I began to implement them right away. It is the simple things like walking from the farthest parking spot instead of the closest one. I'm amazed how many more steps I can add by small changes. The included pedometer is the key.
10 Great book--sound concepts and nutritional basis.
The book is outstanding. The way of presenting the hard facts about weight loss and exercise makes so much sense. I have always converted non-essential food consumption (like the referenced McDonald's fries) into how much exercise I need to burn it off. Since I walk, hike, do step classes, this method works so well for me. I am glad to have the handy reference tool. I was also so surprised at the basic expenditures, and the conversion results for some foods.
The pedometer is a great instant feedback system, a reminder, and a coach. I don't need to lose weight, because I adopt programs and tools like these to avoid getting into a situation where I have to fix a problem. After reading all types of nutrition and diet books, I like this approach the best.
11 THE BEST DIET BOOK BY FAR
I have never been able to get myself to exercise. And when I moved from Manhattan to California, I no longer walked from place to place, but instead drove everywhere. I noticed that I was gaining a few pounds a year and became concerned. I don't believe in gimmick diets because I've seen how they take the weight off in the near-term but not in the long-term and I also think they can be damanging to your health. So I was very excited when I saw the Step Diet. The pedometer that comes with this book provides instant feedback and the program is safe, healthy and even--dare I say it--fun. Amazing what a little gizmo can do. Most importantly, as a result of wearing the step counter I am now getting a very respectable amount of exercise each day. This is an amazing book that can be used for the whole family.
12 Realistic dieting
Instead of looking for the books that all have some kind of gimmic, where you can lose weight with little to no effort, this book actually makes sense. Walk at least 10k steps a day and you will maintain or lose weight. Eat 25% less of what is on your plate, and you will LOSE WEIGHT. There is no catch. The kit includes a book and a pedometer, and that is all you need for this diet. No gym membership, no crazy menus, and no pills. This works, and its fun.
