By Trainer

The Best Life Diet

From the bestselling author of Get With the Program! and Bob Greene's Total Body Makeover comes The Best Life Diet, a lifetime plan for losing weight and keeping it off. Bob Greene helped Oprah achieve her dramatic weight loss, and he can help you too. You'll eat the same delicious food that Oprah enjoys, and, just like Oprah, you'll have Bob to encourage you at every step. Unlike a celebrity, however, you don't need to hire a staff of experts to aid and advise you, because Bob's plan, easily tailored to an array of tastes, lifestyles, and activity levels, acts as your personal trainer and private nutritionist. Just open the book and let Bob help you get started down the path toward your best possible life.

What sets Bob apart from all the other experts who claim to have plans that work is that he admits that weight loss is difficult: seventeen years of watching people struggle to lose weight on a seemingly endless string of trendy crash diets, only to backslide and regain the pounds they've shed, have taught him that dropping pounds is not simply a numbers game. By acknowledging that it is not simple laziness but a complicated web of social rituals, cultural expectations, and habits that drives people to gain weight, Greene is able to attack the problem of weight loss realistically and offer not a short-lived, quick-fix formula, but a long-term program that accounts for the challenges and constraints of the real world.

Divided into three phases, The Best Life Diet gives you the tools you need to change your life. In each phase, you'll be asked to reexamine the decisions you make on a daily basis and gradually alter your habits to achieve lasting results. The book also includes easy-to-follow meal plans that make it simple to meet your daily energy and nutrient requirements, whether you are on the run and breakfast means a quick smoothie or you have time to shop for fresh produce and make something special.

You'll watch the weight disappear as you learn to prepare festive and flavorful dishes like Fire-Roasted Tomato-Shrimp Veracruz, Chicken Sausage Jambalaya, or Flank Steak with Chimichurri Topping and indulge in desserts like Roasted Peaches with Ricotta and Almonds or Apple Rhubarb Walnut Crisp. And for each delicious recipe, there is a detailed nutritional analysis, so you know exactly what you are eating and how it fits into your personal eating plan.

Most important, Bob's plan doesn't end once you've lost the weight. Instead, it gives you the tools you need to make living your best life second nature, because for Greene, a diet is not something you go "on" or "off" but a set of guidelines that will help you claim the life you deserve.

The Best Life Diet Daily Journal

In The Best Life Diet, bestselling author Bob Greene gave you the keys to losing weight and keeping it off. In The Best Life Diet Daily Journal, the essential companion volume, Greene gives you the tools you need to stay motivated.

No matter what phase of the program you are in, this beautifully designed book will reinforce your long-term personal plan for health and emotional well-being. Each day has space that helps you assess how well you've met your daily goals as well as a place to record your feelings and eating patterns. A weekly summary gives you an easy-to-evaluate snapshot of your progress, allowing you to begin the next week of your program with a clear picture of what you did well, where you fell short, and how you can improve.

Feed Muscle, Shrink Fat Diet

Feed Muscle, Shrink Fat refines how to lose weight with a plan that makes sense and works. With the help of Kathy Smith, readers discover and learn how to implement the scientifically proven, straightforward and incredibly adaptable premise that - by nourishing muscle - you automatically shrink fat.

Fit and Fabulous After 40: A 5-Part Program for Turning Back the Clock

Fitness celebrity and former gymnast Denise Austin always took care of her body. "In my 20s, however, I was more concerned with looking good in a bikini," she admits. "These days I'm focused on feeling good and staying healthy--and if I can still get away with wearing a bikini, that's a bonus!" Writing at age 43, she reminds us that 40 certainly isn't the end of the road--in fact, we probably have another 40 years or more to look forward to.

In Fit and Fabulous After 40, Austin shows us how to "turn back the clock" with exercise (aerobic, stretching, balance, and strength training), diet, health, beauty, and a positive outlook. She challenges us to set a weekly goal in each area for four weeks and provides sample programs in all areas. Photographs illustrate a good selection of strength-training, yoga, and Pilates-inspired exercises, and she provides a workout log to keep you on track.

Her dietary suggestions emphasize a balance of 50 to 55 percent complex carbohydrates, 20 to 25 percent protein, and 25 percent fat, keeping portions moderate and including lots of fruits and vegetables. She describes 10 "nutritional powerhouses" that have been shown to have anti-aging benefits, such as soy, blueberries, oatmeal, and flaxseed, with tips for including more of these in your diet. She also describes 10 "age accelerators" that you'd be wise to avoid, such as breakfast "desserts," fatty meats, creamy salad dressings, and stick margarine. She includes dozens of helpful (and sometimes entertaining) tips, such as "Don't go [to a fast-food restaurant] when you're hungry--you'll order fries." A meal plan with sample recipes makes her suggestions easy to follow.

Her health tips include 6 "body-sense strategies," 10 "must-have medical tests," breathing exercises, and instructions for how to do Kegels (exercises for the pelvic-floor muscles that help prevent incontinence and improve sexual response). She also offers skin, hair, and nail tips. If you think of Denise Austin as just a perky exercise leader, you'll be thoroughly impressed by the amount of helpful, sensible information in Fit and Fabulous. --Joan Price

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 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! By exercising for just thirty minutes a day, using cutting-edge techniques such as yoga and Pilates-based exercises, and eating for maximum health and vitality, you can build strength, shed extra pounds, improve flexibility and balance, and look years younger. Fit and Fabulous After 40 includes:

Easy-to-follow workout plans for every day of the week
Fat-blasting, toning exercises to target specific areas of the body
Weekly nutrient-packed meal plans with delicious slimming recipes
Denise’s personal vitamin and supplement regimen
Invaluable advice on common health concerns for women, such as menopause, breast cancer, and heart disease
Special beauty tips–including anti-wrinkle exercises!

Designed to fit even the most hectic schedules, and easily tailored to individual health concerns, Fit and Fabulous After 40 offers a modern, realistic fountain of youth for every woman.

Workouts for Dummies

Workouts for Dummies by Tamilee Webb, whose buffed body is the star of the Buns of Steel workout video series and frequent TV appearances, is a fine source of motivation, information, and specific workout programs. Even if you've never exercised, don't worry--the book starts with topics as basic as choosing shoes and warming up. Then it covers everything you'll need to create an effective exercise program, starting with an explanation of body types (so you don't think you'll end up looking like Cindy Crawford if you don't already) and the workouts that suit your body type. The book gives directions for stretches, aerobic exercises, muscle conditioning (using weights, furniture, exercise bands, and bars), and workouts for different locations (home, office, gym), all with illustrations. This is a lively, unintimidating workout guide, a good companion if you're just starting out. (A little self-serving, though: one chapter is devoted to "Tamilee's Top Ten Workout Videos.")

Confused by all the For Dummies exercise books? If you want a more strenuous strength-training program using free weights and gym machines, try Weight Training for Dummies--it explains how and illustrates exercises. If you're a beginner, Fitness for Dummies is a terrific introduction to exercise and a precursor to this book, with an overview of everything you need to know to get started safely and effectively. --Joan Price

Every few months a new diet, wonder drug, or workout machine hits the market promising instantaneous results. Unfortunately, none of these fads ever seems to work. That’s because the secret to good health is based on a balanced workout routine, which consists of eating a healthy diet, exercising, resting your body, and doing your best to find balance in all aspects of your life. If you can dedicate yourself to this goal and are willing to work for what you want you can have a healthy and fit body.

Workouts For Dummies by Tamilee Webb, whose buffed body is the star of the Buns of Steel workout video series, will show you how to get the most out of your workout routine no matter what your current level of fitness. If you’re a workout enthusiast this book will help you shape up with easy workouts you can do anytime, anywhere. Even if you’ve never exercised, don’t worry—this book starts with basic topics such as choosing shoes and warming up.

Workouts For Dummie s covers everything you’ll need to create an effective exercise program, starting with an explanation of body types (so you don’t think you’ll end up looking like Cindy Crawford if you don’t already) and the workouts that suit your body type. You’ll also find directions for stretches, aerobic exercises, muscle conditioning (using weights, furniture, exercise bands, and bars), and workouts for different locations (home, office, gym), all with illustrations. Workouts For Dummies also deals with the following topics and much more:

• Creating a personalized workout
• Warming up, cooling down, and stretching
• Preventing common injuries
• Targeting and toning trouble spots
• Evaluating equipment, gear, and gadgets
• Determining your fitness level
• Working out while traveling

Shrink Your Female Fat Zones: Lose Pounds and Inches--Fast!--From Your Belly, Hips, Thighs, and More

Fitness guru Denise Austin helps you "zero in on your personal trouble spots" while increasing metabolism with this 6-week exercise and eating program. Her formula includes toning workouts that target the waist, thighs, abs, buttocks, hip, lower back, and upper arms; regular walking and stretching; and eating strategies (not dieting). Her tips are refreshingly sensible: Avoid chronic dieting (it hurts your health and makes you fatter), stretch to decrease stress, fill up on high-fiber foods, eat a balanced diet, build muscle to increase calorie-burning, and walk almost every day. Austin's clearly illustrated and varied exercises use body weight, dumbbells, resistance bands, or a stability ball. A sample exercise schedule takes 15 to 60 minutes a day. For especially busy days, she offers a series of exercises that work two or more muscle groups at once. Austin's "Shrink-Fat Eating Plan" emphasizes portion control, 1,400 to 1,800 calories, and a nutritional breakdown of 24 percent "good" fat, 20 percent protein, and 56 percent high-quality carbs. Whether you just want a foundation to get started or you need a structured, daily program (including menu plans, shopping lists, and daily logs), you can find it here. Profiles of happy and successful followers of the program add interest. Highly recommended. --Joan Price

Sculpt Your Body with Balls and Bands: Shed Pounds and Get Firm in 12 Minutes a Day (With Your 3-Week Plan for Fast, Easy Weight Loss)

Arnold's Bodybuilding for Men

The complete program for building and maintaining a well-conditioned, excellently proportioned body -- for a lifetime of fitness and health.

In Arnold's Bodybuilding for Men, legendary athlete Arnold Schwarzenegger shows you how to achieve the best physical condition of your life. For every man, at every age, Arnold outlines a step-by-step program of excercise, skillfully combining weight training and aerobic conditioning. The result -- total cardiovascular and muscular fitness.

Arnold's program of exercise features stretching, warm-up and warm-down routines, and three series of exercises, each more ambitious than the last, all calculated to help you progress at your own speed. In addition, Arnold contributes important advice about equipment, nutrition and diet, and getting started on your program of exercise.

Special sections of Arnold's Bodybuilding for Men cover training for teenagers, exercises designed to keep you in shape on the road or when you can't get to the gym, and the regimen Arnold followed to win his seven Mr. Olympia titles.

Illustrated with hundreds of photographs of Arnold and other top bodybuilders, Arnold's Bodybuilding for Men will help every man look great and feel terrific.

Bob Greene's Total Body Makeover: An Accelerated Program of Exercise and Nutrition for Maximum Results in Minimum Time

Fitness is a lifetime commitment, but you can accelerate results and transform your body in 12 weeks, says Bob Greene, best known as Oprah Winfrey's personal trainer. Not for the "move a little" crowd, this program is intense and challenging, whatever your starting level. "It's a bit like boot camp," Greene acknowledges. You'll do vigorous aerobic exercise 15 (beginning level), 30 (intermediates), or 45 (advanced) minutes 6 days a week, and increase 2 minutes each week--and double your usual minutes for one workout a week. You'll also strength train with dumbbells or machines and do functional training (strengthening stabilizing muscles).

The eating plan is not a diet--rather Greene describes 5 eating rules to help you eat fewer and burn more calories: curb emotional eating, eat breakfast, establish an eating cut-off time, drink lots of water, and limit alcohol. You'll get enough calories to sustain your intense exercise routine, but cut out the calories otherwise stored as fat.

Greene, author of Get With the Program and Make the Connection, also analyzes popular diets, and fills the book with motivational stories of his successful clients. Recommended for those who are ready to commit to an intense program to burn fat, increase metabolism, and change habits for the long haul. --Joan Price

Amazon.com Exclusive Content

Special Interview with Bob Greene
Not for the "move a little" crowd, Bob Greene's Total Body Makeover promises "Maximum Results in Minimum Time" to readers who are ready to commit to an intense exercise regimen during this twelve-week program. Sounds simple enough--but it wouldn't do the book justice to oversimplify its premise. Greene's genuine attachment to address the root causes for poor eating and activity habits, and to guide the reader through building the strong emotional foundation necessary to undergo physical changes, make Total Body Makeover a standout companion to transforming your body, inside and out. Amazon.com editor Nathalie Farage recently caught up with Greene. Read on.

Tone Your Tummy Type: Flatten Your Belly and Shrink Your Waist in 4 Weeks