Fit Gurl: The Total-Body Turnaround Program

by Melissa Alcantara

No excuses, serious results: a non-nonsense fitness and nutrition plan designed by Kim Kardashian’s celebrated personal trainer, Melissa Alcantara, aka Instagram star Fitgurlmel.

In her early-thirties, with two kids, a soda and processed-food addiction, and no expensive gym membership, Melissa Alcantara had enough. She realized her daily hour at the gym was reflected in every part of life, from her productivity and performance to her relationships and sex. She decided to get uncomfortable, to stop “working out” and start working—to kick her own ass at the gym and at home. Because the only thing holding her back from achieving the body she wanted was herself.

Now, she shares the ass-kicking plan that transformed her life with everyone. The Turnaround is a path to self-discovery through fitness. When you begin to truly work your work out and your diet, you will learn to love and intimately know your body—maybe for the first time ever—and its responses, and accept and embrace every part of yourself for who you are. It’s all based on her four-step process that goes beyond good health and focuses on four Cs:

Control
Connection
Concentration
Consistency

As Mel persuasively demonstrates, the Turnaround goes beyond fitness. It’s life.

What do you want? To have biceps, a butt, and defined abs? To wear anything with confidence? To feel resilient and capable in every situation? There’s no insta-anything. It’s about work. If you’re ready to put in the time, commitment, and energy, she promises she’ll get you there.

The Turnaround is illustrated with two-color food and exercise photographs throughout.

Genres: Nonfiction, Health, Fitness, Audiobook

288 pages, Hardcover

Published May 5, 2020

Reviews

[Sage]

I'm not quite finished fully reading this book yet, because the majority of it is what it says it is: instructions for an exercise program. Not the most thrilling read, and I'm probably going to skip most of the rest of it because frankly, I'm not going to do the program. However, I did read the entire first section where she's actually writing about her own experiences and how her program works. That part, I found very inspirational and interesting, and it really did make me want to try her program. I liked it so much that I only knocked one star off for what I would consider to be fairly major problems with the book/program.

What's stopping me from doing the program, and why I knocked that star, is how totally inflexible the program she provides is. I prefer to eat vegetarian as often as possible, and I don't have access to many of the gym machines she makes use of. There appear to be no suggested swaps or alternatives to accommodate people in situations like mine. You eat meat at least twice a day and go to a fully-equipped gym, or you totally sacrifice the main selling point of this book, which is that it is an easy and straight-forward program, because you have to put in the effort to figure out the appropriate alternatives yourself.

Now, putting in the effort to figure out the alternatives isn't inherently a bad thing, of course, but again, it defeats much of the purpose of this book. The program is no longer simple to understand and implement; it becomes somewhat overwhelming to realize how much extra work you'll need to put in to follow this program. So, although I like Melissa's attitude and feel that she has a good philosophy and makes a lot of good points, I can't say I would really recommend this book for everyone. Particularly not during this pandemic.

[Renata Kumala]

Love this book! This is like Jocko’s for girls! Extreme ownership of you life girls!

The recipes are all easy to make and tastes so good! Not your usual extreme diet no taste recipes!

[Vanessa]

I liked Melissa’s straightforwardness but her program wasn’t for me. You need to go to a gym to complete the scheduled workouts because her workouts include smith machines etc. and I prefer working out at home. The recipe section didn’t have anything that interested my taste buds. She does layout a step by step, week by week plan that would probably work if you were able to stick to it.

[Kaila]

I picked this up not to actually do the program, but just to read the words and hopefully get some motivation/ideas. I liked a lot of the philosophy. I disliked the writing style immensely. Here's a quote:

"I've already thrown a lot of information your way, and now I'm about to drop a shit ton more. But before I do, I just want to say that I know what it's like to be on the receiving end of this much info, and to feel confused as fuck about what to do with all of it."

Shit and fuck were said at least once a paragraph. I guess that makes it hip and with it? It was very unappealing.

I'm interested in trying some of the recipes because nutrition is definitely a place that I'm falling down in my training right now.

[Alicia Chance]

So good! Ready to put her advice into action!

[Sharon L]

Audiobook supplement does not contain the workout plan, but includes recipes and a glossary of exercises. Disappointed. Also copious f-bombs will turn some readers away.

[Rina]

This book was a surprise to me. I hadn't expected to enjoy it as much as I did. To be honest, I picked it up from my library because Kim Kardashian wrote its foreword (the marketing worked!).

I expected it to be your run-of-the-mill dieting and exercise book, with recipes showing a range of visually attractive healthy foods. Guess what, it WAS (minus food pictures, at least for the ebook version). But what I didn't expect was the surge of optimism I got from Mel's writing. Even on pages, her energy level was evident and I was gobsmacked! Her words reflected her can-do, no BS attitude really well.

I loved that she prepared workout schedules just like what personal trainers would provide to their clients. I agreed with most other reviews that her program was wonderfully simple (relative to others out there). Her enthusiasm was really contagious, it propelled me to try her program immediately (let's see if I can stick to it).

[Anna]

Awesome fitness resource. Mel really understands how the body works and doesn't expect you to go super hard in the beginning. The book also provides tips for mental wellness and meal planning aside from workout routines.

[TinaGav]

An interesting read, with great tips for workouts, but pretty basic and repetitive when it comes to food recipes.

[Candace]

Think & do in harmony. While I am not a Kardashian fan, I wanted to hear her story to becoming a trainer. I like that this program is meant to be done over 6 months. It incorporates exercise, food, and mental transformation over a 3 stages (45/90/180 degree). Its about self love & moving forward with continuous improvement.

[Mallory]

I listened to this book on audio but it doesn’t really make sense to listen since the majority is a workout and meal plan. The plan is very in-depth and Melissa’s workouts are killer based on the ones I’ve done. I’m currently on week 6 of her 12 week Built Aesthetics 2.0 program so I’m excited to be able to do this next! Get the ebook or hard copy

[Kerri Peacock]

An excellent book if you're a total newbie to health and fitness, but didn't have much on offer to me. It is simple and easy to follow but noticed the meals are very repetitive and that all the workouts needed to be completed in a well equipped gym.

[MaureenM]

Great book. Thorough approach, nudging one into the practices required for weight loss, looking good & feeling good about onself. Enjoyed seeing the workout photos that so many other books are deficient in.

[Markie]

Overall, a great program for fitness. Instead of a get thin quick scheme or yo-yo dieting, Melissa offers a six-month heathy strength program. I absolutely love her positive encouragement sprinkled though out the book. One downside, a lot of the equipment mentioned wasn’t available to me.

[Stacey]

I loved the simplicity of this program. This is The 1st program that encouraged loving yourself. I would recommend this to anyone who wants better health.

[Shawn Lowe]

This book was an interesting read. It is a shameless plug for Shaun T's Insanity workout. I appreciate much of the stuff she said. It is certainly helpful.

[Rachel Nancy]

Everything I expected from her - raw, grit, truth

[Marta Jarosiewicz]

Pretty useless as an audiobook.

[The Devil of Loudun]

2,5*

[Rachel]

Not that helpful for vegetarians or non-gym goers, but an inspiring read.

[Betsy]

The author’s meal, exercise and mental health plan is specific enough to take the guess work out, making it a fitness protocol that is easy to start.

[Mo]

Good Tips! 💪🏼

[Imani Jaldin Hartsough]

This book was an interesting self help book I liked it but I wasn't crazy about it.

[Cassandra]

Today was day one.
Recipes aren't really for me.
But definitely going to give it a go

[Shirin Reh]

just finished reading the first part seems excellent so far

[Rashe]

"Game of Groans"
"The scale doesn't move if you don't move"

[Nicole Shum]

3.5 stars. It was motivating and encouraging with good tips, but it was repetitive and would be much better with a hard copy and not just as an audiobook. Although, hearing it in the author’s voice added personality to the text. But don’t listen to this around children. She likes to use a LOT of language.

[Angela Hahn]

Review 2: Enjoyed the program so much, I wanted to do it again! It's easy to follow and empowering.

Review 1: This program was great! I started mid November of 2020 and was 10 weeks c-section postpartum and finished July 2021. It is only supposed to be a six month program but I had Covid in that time frame as well as some vacations and an ankle injury (not related to exercise). I lost about 25lbs and definitely gained muscle. My clothes fit better and I feel all around healthier and more energetic!

I appreciate how *real* Melissa is with sharing her story and calling you out with all the mind games we often play with ourselves when it comes to exercise and nutrition. She doesn't have a filter so be prepared for swear words, but this definitely adds a personal touch to the book. The program is gym based so you'll definitely want a gym membership with access to all equipment. The recipes were delicious and easy to follow. I have experience with strength training but some moves were new so the exercise guide with images was helpful. Melissa did a great job of also relaying body positivity, emphasizing food over supplements, and simply enjoying moving your body and not worrying about having the latest gear.

I'd do the program again and am also considering the fitgurlme app.

[Chloe]

This book is amazing! If you want to turn your life around and are tired of feeling tired she will teach you everything you need to know. She shows you how to calculate macros and eat properly. She also lists all of her favorite foods during a workout week and how to make them. She gives her entire workouts for 26 weeks total with mind training. Lastly she shows you how to do the exercises with a description and picture for each. I was looking for a inspirational, motivational, and a step by step how to turn my life around. This is by far my favorite book at the moment and I will definitely be re-reading this in the near future.

[LaToya]

Amazing! Definitely changed my whole viewpoint. I’ve restarted my fitness goals over and over, never truly learning how to turn it into a habit. Melissa has helped me be able to accept the journey and not the rush to get there. I’m so used to getting there THEN learning. With this book and her instructions I am able to learn as I get to my goal AND stay there. I am able to truly make this my lifestyle. I’ve been able to modify all exercises during this quarantine since I have no access to a gym. These plans are no joke.