This all-inclusive two-week diet program--brought to you by the experts at America's #1 weight-loss website, SparkPeople.com--jump starts your own weight loss and radically improves your total body health. Isn't it time to end the yo-yo diet cycle? Relying on willpower, restrictive diets, and deprivation just doesn't work. With The Spark Solution, failure is not an option--whether you want to lose ten, fifty, or one hundred pounds. You will never need another diet again. The goal is simple: remove the bumps in the road, deliver immediate results, and lay the foundation for long-term success through their built-in, no-fail weight-loss program.
With The Spark Solution, you'll get:
- A three-part plan to optimize your metabolism and mind-set while building momentum that will allow you to reach your weight-loss goals - Radically diminished cravings, stabilized blood sugar, lower cholesterol levels, and initial weight loss of at least 4-6 pounds if body fat--not water weight - A program developed by our experts and proven by our most successful members based on the latest nutritional science and research - Recipes so you can eat the food you love with three easy, delicious meals a day plus two snacks - A custom workout plan that helps you maximize your efforts--without spending hours in the gym - Daily motivation and tips from people who've lost weight and kept it off
Quite a few motivational stories from people who have already used the Spark system to lose weight and keep it off. A two week program (including recipes) of diet and exercise ideas - this was my favorite part. I got quite a few new recipes for my repertoire, one of which I am including below. An "after plan" with tips on how to keep the momentum going because I am not on a diet, I am making healthy lifestyle changes.
And here are the changes I made as a result of the program:
Started tracking everything I eat. This made a big difference because I really needed to plan ahead and think about food. Started working out harder and more efficiently. Although I did not follow the exercise plan in The Spark Solution, I did come to realize how many calories I needed to burn in a week in order to lose weight, as compared to how much food I eat. So I switched from just walking 3-5 days a week, to interval training alternating with Walk Away the Pounds videos, plus one day of yoga and one day of rest. I have been exercising more often, burning more calories and actually having fun doing it!! I did not give up all the foods I love. I found ways to make them more healthy or cut them down to very small portions for those times when I am really craving them. For those things I do not have willpower with (yet) I try not to keep them in the house.
Overall, I found The Spark Solution to be a great program for beginners, if followed to a tee, and for those who have been at this a bit longer, a good reminder of what to do, mixed with tips and motivation that can be incorporated into your regular routine.
Reviewing this as a book is weird since this is more of a cookbook. But there is info about weightloss and I do have some opinions on the book so here goes.
The weightloss info is very basic - if you've been actively working on losing weight and understand the basics (whether or not you are achieving your goals) this book might not be for you. It would be most useful for someone who drinks a few six packs of coke per week and eats out at fast food regularly; someone who needs a bit of a come-to-Jesus to get their weightloss started.
That said, I was interested in the meal plans and recipes. However, I found the organization of the book very challenging! The meal plans run on from page to page, so you may start breakfast for Day 1 on one page but it finishes half-way through the next page and immediately starts with lunch. I would rather they made it page to page - so one page for breakfast, one page for lunch, etc. Worse, the recipes are not with the meal plans! So you have to flip back and forth. This makes it VERY cumbersome to use.
The Spark site is useful for weight loss but this book should be rethought and updated.
The book continues with the philosophy of the website, change your lifestyle to get healthy, and gives some tools to make it happen. It is an easy read, practical and offers the free website services to support it. I really enjoyed the real people quotes, motivation and stories in the book to make it all real.
I love sparkpeople.com. This sort of companion book, is LESS helpful than the actual website. The website has trackers, meals suggestions, community forums, recipes, articles. WHY read the book? Nothing new or out of the ordinary here.