This was a fantastic book. I don't like to call it a diet because it's really more of a lifestyle change.

What's great? The recipes and what to eat and how to eat.

What's even better? The excercises.

Why is this book important? Diet alone is not good enough. The wrong excercise are good, but will not get you there. Follow this program and you'll be amazed.

My biggest problem is my spare tire... I don't need to focus on arms and legs, those are easy to build up. I also had no idea how much strength one can generate from their core. Understand that and you will do everything better - from sports to sex.

PS - You'll be amazed how tasty and filling protein shakes are. Speaking of which, that's how I stumbled across this program. A local natural and healthful smoothie shop was promoting this program.

While there are some good things in this book, its overall message is based on some bad science and its recommendations may lead you to gain weight, not lose it. The fundamental flaws are that the author basically ignores the central role of calories, over-hypes weight training, and discourages cardio.

(A) Calories: Short of surgery, losing weight requires you to burn more calories than you eat. Period. The author completely glosses over this central truth and, in fact, encourages you to ignore calories and just focus on eating certain "power foods", which he thinks will get you to consume fewer calories overall. Well, that may be true for some people but not for others. If you check the other one star reviews of this book, you will find people who actually gained weight following his recommendations. If you want to lose weight, you need to figure out what your baseline, sedentary calorie usage is, which you can figure out from a variety of online sources (Google the simply named "Lose Weight Diet" for one, look for the calculator on the second page, and set activity level to sedentary). Then confirm the number by trying to eat that many calories for several days in a row and monitor your weight. If it stays flat, that is your baseline. From there you need to create a calorie deficit by eating fewer calories and burning more by exercising more, and preferably both. A deficit of 500 calories per day will drop you one pound of fat (as opposed to water weight) per week, and that is a healthy and sustainable rate of loss.

From a diet point of view, the author is right to encourage you to eat fewer simple carbs like rice, bread, pasta, and cereals. They heighten insulin, contain a ton of calories, and are too quickly digested and thus don't make you full for very long. Eat more meat and vegetables, some fruit and dairy, and check out the other power foods the author recommends. Throw in a daily vitamin and fish oil or flax supplement for good measure.

But remember that these are means to the end, which is creating a healthy, but sustainable calorie deficit. Buy a decent calorie book and keep track of what and how many calories you eat (and burn) in a diet log. You should also track your protein intake and shoot for 0.8-1.0 grams of protein per pound of desired weight to maintain and build muscle, with the protein intake spread as evenly throughout the day as possible (protein is not easily stored in the body, unlike carbs and fat).

While you do not need to track every single calorie and gram of protein that enters your mouth forever, you should do it for a while to get a real handle on what you are actually eating (vs. what you think you are). After that, use calorie counts to create a daily and weekly meal plan. Once that's in place, forget counting calories and just stick to the plan. Yes, you will occasionally stray, especially when you are out being social. But return to the plan as soon as possible and stick to it as often as possible.

(B) Weight Training vs. Steady State Cardio: The author is right to encourage weight training. But if you are trying to lose fat, he is wrong to say that is all you need, exercise wise. And he uses some bad science to justify his arguments. First, he argues that weight training burns more calories overall than steady state cardio (i.e. walking, jogging), once you add in the effect of after burn and muscle building over the next 24-48 hours. Research indicates that the calorie usage of after burn is actually quite low (1). Overall, even with after-burn, an hour of vigorous weight training will consume fewer calories (200-400) than an hour of vigorous cardio (up to 600 if you run a 10 minute mile). But to lose fat, you really need both.

Second, he says that muscle tissue consumes 50 calories per pound of muscle per day (actually he says "up to," but that is easy to miss). This is so central that it is the basis of the book's title. But the real number is more like 6 calories per pound per day (2). Fat tissue also consumes about 2 calories per pound per day (3), so as you add muscle and lose fat, you will only make tiny changes in your daily calorie usage. And that daily calorie usage may very well drop, not increase, if you are losing a lot of fat.

Third, he neglects to tell you how difficult it is to gain muscle and lose fat at the same time. It requires almost perfectly timed protein and carb boosts (those whey shakes) before and immediately after weight training, and even then, simply focusing on either muscle building or fat loss at one time, and switching back and forth (called bulking and cutting by body builders), may get you there faster. Successful muscle building generally requires a calorie surplus, while fat loss requires a calorie deficit. Usually, when trimming down, maintaining muscle is the most you can really hope for, but weight training is critical to that.

Fourth, he says that cardio can actually hurt you by destroying needed muscle. If your primary objective is building muscle, avoiding cardio is fine. But if your primary objective is losing fat, cardio may be critical to achieving the calorie deficit you need. Associated muscle loss can be minimized or avoided completely by not creating too severe a calorie deficit in your diet alone (no more than 15-20% below baseline metabolism), eating sufficient protein (0.8-1.0 grams per pound of your desired weight spread evenly throughout the day, and tuna and whey protein, which the author recommends, help a lot here), and weight training. Weight training is critical because dieting + cardio alone may indeed be a recipe for muscle loss, and that will just leave you looking skinny and unhealthy rather than healthy and fit. But cardio is a critical addition. It is worth noting that even the author admits running every day after advising against cardio. Interesting.

So what's the answer? To lose fat, trim your calories slightly below maintenance, make sure you eat enough protein throughout the day, and slowly build toward incorporating an hour of weight training and cardio into your day - either alternating between them from one day to the next or doing both on one day and resting the day in between - to create a daily calorie deficit of about 500 calories, which will result in a pound of fat loss per week. When you are ready to shift from fat loss to muscle gain, lose the cardio, keep the weight training, and adopt a slight calorie surplus of 200-400 calories per day. That's it.

The basic problem with this and many other diet books is that it is only loosely based on real science. Any book that says "studies say" without giving you actual references to peer reviewed scientific literature is suspect. Detailed footnotes and references are a good thing. I have provided references for my comments below.

(1) LaForgia J et. al. Effects of exercise intensity and duration on the excess post-exercise oxygen consumption. J Sports Sci. 2006 Dec;24(12):1247-64. [...]
(2) Wang, Z., Heshka, S., Zhang, K., Boozer, C.N., & Heymsfield, S.B. (2001). Resting energy expenditure: systematic organization and critique of prediction methods. Obesity Research, 9, 331-336. [...]

(3) Ibid.

This book was definitely worth buying. I've been on the plan for 5 weeks now, and I feel stronger, I feel full (more than before I started the diet), I eat a big fatty pizza once a week, and amazingly, my fat has been slowly draining away. The author is editor of Men's Health magazine; part of his job is to read all of the studies anywhere that have been done about nutrition, health, weight loss, and strength gain. He basically took all that information and made up his own diet plan.

I really like the plan. It's got two components: food, and exercise, mostly weight lifting. The food component relatively simple to implement, and he gives a lot of good examples of how it works out in practice, and how it can be fit into every day life. It's designed to be something you can keep up for the next 50 years, not something you "go on" until you're down to the weight you want. The best thing is that I feel full most of the day. (As he explains in the book, feeling really hungry and then eating a big meal is really counter-productive for losing weight.) I also really enjoy weight lifting. I had done lifting before, but his emphasis on gaining "lean muscle mass" is nice.

And yes, he also has 36 different exercises for the abdominal region; but no matter how toned your abs are, they're not very sexy if they're under a 2-inch layer of fat. The total-body workout is to help with the weight-loss part.

The writing is good too - fun and informative. Other reviewers complained that he kept trying to "sell" the diet instead of just getting to it. I think that "selling" the diet itself was still a key component in motivating people to actually stick with it. It's not over-done at all; if you're already 100% sold, you can just skip those chapters.

Overall, a great book; I wish I'd found it 5 years ago.

I have been following this lifestyle for about 5 months now (it's not a diet, as others have said before). I've lost 40 pounds and 4 inches off my waist so far. It is hard to get used to eating so much, and at first you might feel like it's impossible to lose weight when you are eating so much.

Be prepared to go to the grocery store about twice a week to stay stocked up on fresh fruit and other foods that don't keep very well. Also be prepared to spend a lot of money on new clothes. I have had to either tailor or replace everything in my closet. A small price to pay I guess for increased health.

Please read this book, for under $10, isn't it worth the chance that it might just work for you?

I got this book after having great success losing weight with Dr. Shapiro's Picture Perfect Weight Loss: The Visual Program for Permanent Weight Loss, but finding I wasn't doing much on the exercise front and had lost a lot of muscle as well as fat. I had also picked up David Zinczenko's Eat This Not That!: Thousands of Simple Food Swaps That Can Save You 10, 20, 30 Pounds-or More!, which I felt had a practical approach similar to Dr. Shapiro's.

One thing that really bothers me about a diet book is when I see something in it that's just an oft-repeated myth, without vetting it. For example, the Abs Diet recommends that we drink at least eight cups of water a day. Google "eight cups water myth" and you'll see that that's pretty much a myth - check the link from [...]. That makes me even more concerned about downing whey powder, which the Abs Diet recommends, along with a recommendation to take in a gram of protein per pound of bodyweight a day - a really large amount of protein. I haven't seen good medical evidence on this one, but I do know that it's heavily promoted by every whey powder manufacturer in existence, and I bet you the original science is lost in the shuffle. Finally, we're told that a pound of muscle burns "up to" 50 additional calories per day. Even bodybuilding sites question this (maybe it depends on what is meant by "up to"), and there are studies that say the additional metabolic effect of muscle is very minimal. Those last two points throw the entire diet into question in my mind, since the diet is all about eating more protein to build more muscle to burn off more calories.

As a recommendation - just because one scientific study or a thousand different websites say something about diet or exercise doesn't mean it's true. Scientific studies about diet and exercise are often contradictory and confusing, and there are often tens or hundreds for one particular area, making it easy for someone wanting to make an argument to cherry-pick. Websites (and people) often repeat misinformation. David Zinczenko's problem is that he repeats a lot of what he has heard without doing much vetting.

With that said I did start following the exercise plan - which I like a lot - and got a few decent diet ideas out of the book. The exercise plan is written so you can do it with dumbbells or in a gym. You're put through a total-body circuit very quickly. The net effect is that you get cardio and strength training in a single workout.

And the diet as a whole doesn't seem horrible depending on how you interpret it - but I think there are better diet ideas out there, including the Dr. Shapiro one above.

This book is I believe the most common sense eating plan I have ever read. It's informative, and obviously backed up by good research. In Three month's with a moderate workout, I am down almost a total of 20 pounds, from 210 getting close to 190. It's great reading and fun reading which is rare in a book like this. Anyone who gives less than a 5 star review needs to get off their Butt and get to work. Sorry, can't stand the complainers.

The word "diet" shouldn't even be in the title of this book because it's not really a diet. The book explains what you should be eating the most of and what you should stay away from, but not in a 'diet' sort of way by limiting your daily intake. He basically says to eat all you want of the healthy foods nature has to offer! Great book for those who are frustrated with yo-yo dieting and other eating plans that you cannot keep up with for a lifetime. This one can!!

The book has helped me to clean up my diet, however I haven't really lost much weight on the program so I've also started counting calories a bit. I'm impressed however by the exercise regime set out in the book.

The author has good overall ideas on weight loss, but needs to organize his program into a step by step method. The book is too hodge podge considering the fact that what he says is not overwhelming.

I got the hard copy and the book is excellent. The book illustrates why people do not lose weight or perhaps show definition even if they work out frequently. The book also has schedules and foods that you should eat to improve your health. Well worth every penny in my opinion.

This book was recommended to me when I started on my weight loss journey. I had been a yo-yo dieter for years but this book really opened my eyes. It was easy to read and just a revelation. I truly feel it helped me to be successful... in understanding food and making better choices. I've now lost 70 lbs and I think reading this book really helped get me started.

easy to learn nutrition techniques. Personally I lost only a few pounds but I am turning fat into muscle. I would recommend some sort of fat burner to help curve hunger. I used 2 boxes of astrophex


Portion control and buying the healthier foods is the way to go - This is a life style long term dealio.

I would really recommend it for eveybody.

it is not a diet, it is more of a lifestyle. So it is not about eating less like any other regular diet, it is about eating what's right.

I think the book looks too big! the concepts are easy and the author didn't need to repetitive!

buy only this book and one of its workout dvds, and do not bother buying the other abs diet books (same info over and over again!)

My weight (& waistline) had always been a struggle for me. I had read other books about getting in shape, but I could never stick with them. Then I read this book, recommended to me by a co-worker, and it has changed my life forever.

What blew me away was the importance of what you eat. Sure, exercise is important, but think about it: you eat more times a day than you work out, so shouldn't you be paying just as much attention (if not more) to what you eat than going to the gym?

Other books I read stressed diet as well, but this book gave the WHY, not just the WHAT. And now, I do not look at food the way I used to. Foods I used to love, like pizza and fries, I now limit myself to them just once a week--if that.

I cannot recommend this book enough. I just hope it works you like it has for me. For me, it took three weeks before I began noticing the changes, so this is something you will need to be patient with; this is a marathon, not a sprint.

I just finished reading this book, and I have to say this is unlike the other diets I'm familiar with -- it's actually something I can see working! I love eating, and the Abs Diet promotes even more of that to help raise your metabolism. The foods it suggests are quick and easy to prepare, and it gives you several recipes if you would like to get into that part of it.

What I like best is the simplicity and sensibleness of this program. I am a single mother and I don't usually take the time to take proper care of my health. There are simply too many other things that take priority over eating healthy, and spending 2 hrs every day preparing food. The author understands this and works with it. It takes a whole 45 seconds to make a smoothie, 10 seconds to grab a fruit and a handful of nuts, or about a minute to make a bowl of instant oatmeal. Eating often makes sense, eating healthier makes sense, and even the exercise program he suggests makes sense (tho I haven't gone that far yet).

I really like his approach, and I am anxious to see if I can actually make it work. If it does I will certainly plan to come back w/ an update and change this to a 5 star review.

PS. Oh, and one more thing.. I've been raving about the plan, but I really did enjoy David's writing style and odd names for his recipes as well.

I started to read this book at the beginning of March and I weighed 246 pounds (height: 6'5''). I've never been super fat but I don't remember seeing my stomach muscles since the 6th grade. I followed this book's principles pretty well. It is now May 12th and I weigh 227. More importantly, I feel better. This is not a gimmick diet. I'm not a huge fan of the title because it sounds superficial and the word diet doesn't do it justice. A lot of people lose weight but keep the same shape. This plan really helps you lose belly fat and it is practical enough that you can do it for life. I recommend this to everyone. I'm still a couple months away from seeing my abs but I'm still motivated.

This is truly the first diet/nutrition/exercise book that worked for me. I went from weighing 132 to 109. I first started in the fall of 2005 and now May of 2008 and I'm still at 109! There's no starvation because he encourages you to eat small meals often. He'll tell you the really bad stuff to avoid like high fructose corn syrup but none of the food you'll be eating will be voodoo/hard to find in the grocery store items. It's really about combining foods to keep you full (like apples + peanut butter)

I didn't follow the nutrition part to the T but I took the basic principles and applied it to myself. I really enjoyed the exercise plan and it made a big difference. Some people say the title is misnomer but honestly even though it's not just about abs, it's a comprehensive plan (how can you really only focus on just abs without strengthening and toning everything else?) and it only took a few weeks before i started seeing tone and definition in my abs. I highly recommend this book if you're looking to jumpstart your body.

A Note About the Kindle Edition:
First off, I should say that I read the Amazon Kindle edition of this book and it's worth mentioning because there are a few typos and strangely formatted areas as it pertains to the version. For instance, the segments that highlight success stories seem to be broken up awkwardly in such a way that the segment text and chapter text, although clearly distinct, interrupt each other. Perhaps this works well in a book, where a reader can see two pages at once, but it's disruptive to the way things are read on the Kindle.

Thankfully, the errors are few and forgivable.

The Book:
When I first saw The Abs Diet, I thought to myself "great, another gimmicky diet. This one probably has you doing sit-ups every day or something until you have rock-hard abs," or some other silly, psuedo-science-based diet. Of course, being the always gullible overweight man that I am, I downloaded it right to my Kindle and tried to control my gut-instinct to place on top of the 4 ft. tall pile of diet books gathering dust in a corner of my house.

I would say a good portion of the book (around 90%) has nothing directly to do with the diet and is instead dedicated to the crazy state of our health in America, the devilish food manufacturers and their sneaky ways, why other diets just don't work, and why this one will (and there are many instances where Zinczenko is just repeating himself in case we didn't catch it the first three times); however, mixed into that is quite a lot of useful information, especially about food, nutrition, and the health benefits and ailments gained from eating the right and wrong stuff.

Thankfully, Zinczenko has a good wit about him and keeps things moving briskly. The only issue I had the book itself is that while the author cites dozens of studies, no citations to those studies are ever given (which is pretty common in diet books).

The Diet:
As for the diet itself, I am happy to say that it is not based on psuedo-science, as I feared. Much of what Zinczenko had to offer has been well-known for years, but Zinczenko has placed it all in a format that he hopes will be accessible to most if not everyone in the form of practicality. Gone are the days where cooking elaborate meals, counting every calorie you've consumed, or going hungry until you're next meal. Zinczenko's diet is based on the principle that says "if it's too hard, you won't do it."

The plan is two-fold, first there is the nutritional aspect. Zinczenko wants you to eat six times a day (three meals, three snacks) with foods based on what he calls the "ABS POWER 12" (capitalized because it's an acronym for the 12 food types that are really healthy to consume). He wants you to eat even if you're not hungry. To help maintain your sanity, the diet allows you to eat anything you want (a slice of pizza, deep fried chicken, etc.) for one meal a week.

The second part of the plan is the exercise. Yes, he wants you to exercise, but he doesn't want you to spend a lot of time doing it. Instead, three times a week he wants you to do a quickly paced circuit routine that focuses on building muscle (especially your abs). The routine usually doesn't last me more than 20 minutes to get through, and I'm a pretty slow poke when it comes to weightlifting. Also, don't worry about getting a membership at the gym (although it really helps), you can do all the recommended exercises with a pair of dumbbells and some steps.

That's all there is to it, exercise and eat right, and you've got the Abs Diet. Maybe you don't really need a book to tell you this, but if you're like me you'll appreciate having a plan to go with the principles.

I started the Abs Diet shortly after New Years. After a rough holiday season, and a year and a half of college eating nothing but junk, it took my body about a week to adjusting to eating healthy. Since then I have lost 35 pounds (it is now April 4), and packed on several pounds of muscle. This book is clear and consise, and offers a way to lose weight by being healthy rather than following some fad diet. The diet is easy to follow. I am rarely hungry and love the foods I eat. No matter what I am craving I can find a power food to meet my needs. I seriously recommend this book to anyone who wants to lose weight and start a healthy life.

The book was torn and it was not what I had expected as far as the actual info of the book.

I highly recommend this book. I have changed my eating and exercise patterns and look and feel great. Really opens your eyes to how your body processes food and turns you off to eating the junk we have become accustomed to. The biggest downfall is that you become so enthused that you preach to others about how poorly they are eating.

I absolutely loved alot of his healthy eating ideas, but I never lost ANY weight or inches. I stuck to it for 3 months. I really wanted it to work. I think maybe if you are not overweight, it won't work for you. I was just trying to lose some inches...and tone up my midsection.

Thsi book is terrific. It contains quite a bit of detailed information with lots of menus and examples to help you get on the right track with a sustainable diet and an exercise program. It is a diet that you can follow and still function normally, which sets it apart from some other diet plans. I am losing 1-2 pounds per week and am pleased with the results.

I received the book and workout DVD (Abs Diet Workout 2) in December. I was disappointed when I received the book as I was lead to believe that I was going to receive The Abs Diet for Women. I skimmed the book and, finding the tone a bit "macho," put it aside. I did, however, really get into the workout DVD, particularly the high intensity training portion. Still wanting a guide to help me course correct my eating, I purchased a couple of Dr. Mark Hyman's books (Ultra-Metabolism and The Ultra-Simple Diet). After reading through and adhering to the eating regimens outlined in those books and experiencing some success in re-shaping my body (in my abdominal area, while eliminating sugar, bread, dairy, eggs, and drinking broth and tasty shakes with ground flax seeds, and working out), I decided last week to really read The Abs Diet book and find out more about the power foods and the eating and exercise philosophy outlined. Well, I'm glad that I did.

By following the eating regimens outlined in Hyman's books, I only saw a difference in my abdominal area. Ironically, although this book is titled The Abs Diet, I can see changes all over my body. By following the eating plan outlined, I feel better prepared for and as though I get much more from my aerobic strength training (classic FIRM) and cardio/toning (Hard Work Conditioning and Dumb Training by Patrick Goudeau and FIRM Total Body Toner) workouts. My body feels stronger and leaner (which I attribute to the dairy intake) and my mental function is improving. I eat six times a day and never feel hungry. I made the chili (substituting ground chicken for the ground turkey)...and it is delicious! The only power food that I have not incorporated is the whey powder (as I really enjoy shakes made with brown rice protein powder, which I learned about in Dr. Hyman's books). I plan to continue with the "diet" for the foreseeable future.

I received the book and workout DVD (Abs Diet Workout 2) in December. I was disappointed when I received the book as I was lead to believe that I was going to receive The Abs Diet for Women. I skimmed the book and, finding the tone a bit "macho," put it aside. I did, however, really get into the workout DVD, particularly the high intensity training portion. Still wanting a guide to help me course correct my eating, I purchased a couple of Dr. Mark Hyman's books (Ultra-Metabolism and The Ultra-Simple Diet). After reading through and adhering to the eating regimens outlined in those books and experiencing some success in re-shaping my body (in my abdominal area, while eliminating sugar, bread, dairy, eggs, and drinking broth and tasty shakes with ground flax seeds, and working out), I decided last week to really read The Abs Diet book and find out more about the power foods and the eating and exercise philosophy outlined. Well, I'm glad that I did.

By following the eating regimens outlined in Hyman's books, I only saw a difference in my abdominal area. Ironically, although this book is titled The Abs Diet, I can see changes all over my body...and I've only been following the eating regimen for less than a week. By following the eating plan outlined, I feel better prepared for and as though I get much more from my aerobic strength training (classic FIRM) and cardio/toning (Hard Work Conditioning and Dumb Training by Patrick Goudeau and FIRM Total Body Toner) workouts. My body feels stronger and leaner (which I attribute to the dairy intake) and my mental function is improving. I eat six times a day and never feel hungry. I made the chili (substituting ground chicken for the ground turkey)...and it is delicious! The only power food that I have not incorporated is the whey powder (as I really enjoy shakes made with brown rice protein powder, which I learned about in Dr. Hyman's books). I plan to continue with the "diet" for the foreseeable future and will be interested to see what the scale reveals next week.

I received the book and workout DVD (Abs Diet Workout 2) in December. I was disappointed when I received the book as I was lead to believe that I was going to receive The Abs Diet for Women. I skimmed the book and, finding the tone a bit "macho," put it aside. I did, however, really get into the workout DVD, particularly the high intensity training portion. Still wanting a guide to help me course correct my eating, I purchased a couple of Dr. Mark Hyman's books (Ultra-Metabolism and The Ultra-Simple Diet). After reading through and adhering to the eating regimens outlined in those books and experiencing some success in re-shaping my body (in my abdominal area, while eliminating sugar, bread, dairy, eggs, and drinking broth and tasty shakes with ground flax seeds, and working out), I decided last week to really read The Abs Diet book and find out more about the power foods and the eating and exercise philosophy outlined. Well, I'm glad that I did.

By following the eating regimens outlined in Hyman's books, I only saw a difference in my abdominal area. Ironically, although this book is titled The Abs Diet, I can see changes all over my body...and I've only been following the eating regimen for less than a week. By following the eating plan outlined, I feel better prepared for and as though I get much more from my aerobic strength training (classic FIRM) and cardio/toning (Hard Work Conditioning by Patrick Goudeau and FIRM Total Body Toner) workouts. My body feels stronger and leaner (which I attribute to the dairy intake) and my mental function is improving. I eat six times a day and never feel hungry. I made the chili (substituting ground chicken for the ground turkey)...and it is delicious! The only power food that I have not incorporated is the whey powder (as I really enjoy shakes made with brown rice protein powder, which I learned about in Dr. Hyman's books). I plan to continue with the "diet" for the foreseeable future and will be interested to see what the scale reveals next week.

This book is in reality, in my opinion, just a book that helps you loose weight by telling you to eat mostly protein. It also explains why protein is good for weight loss and also how it works. It is an easy to read book with many excercises at the end to assist in flattening your stomach. Without a little sweat however, I dont believe one can achieve 6-pack abs by simply eating correctly.

I purchased about 10 books from Amazon on abs in order to compare them. This one is focused more on the nutrition than the exercise and would be a good accompaniment to any slightly dated exercise books that don't mention the Glycemic Index or distinguish between good and bad fats. If you're looking for an exercise book to help you with your abs, here's my conclusion from comparing books...


If You Want to Trim Your Waistline: You can't trim your waistline without losing fat, and you can't lose fat around your waist without losing it everywhere (focusing on a muscle group like the abdominal muscles doesn't burn fat in that location, just a little bit of fat from everywhere on the body). So, if you want to trim your waistline, skip the ab workout books and go with a good, proven overall weight loss and fitness book like Bill Phillips' Body for Life. The Abs Diet is a similar program, but like all the Men's Health publications, it advertises a 6-week transformation, which is just a little unrealistic. Plan on more like 12-24 weeks to see really noticeable changes if you are fat.

If You Want Sculpted Six-Pack Abs: If you are overweight at all, see above--you can't get a six pack while you're overweight, and you can't lose abdominal fat by doing an ab workout, so go for overall fitness. However, if you are already lean, see below.

If You Want to Strengthen or Build Your Ab Muscles: If you're trying to improve for work, play, or rehab, you might consider the following books: The Body Sculpting Bible for Abs Deluxe DVD Edition contains decently up-to-date information and tells you exactly what to do and when to do it, based on a six-week fitness course. If you're looking for a similar book with more information, you can choose from The Complete Book of Abs or The Complete Book of Core Training. The Complete Book of Abs (1998) is a little out of date in terms of its dietary/nutritional recommendations, but it focuses more on exercises that develop the external abdominal muscles (the ones you see in a six-pack), including lots of variations on leg lifts, bicycle motion, and sit-ups. It will also give you more resources for creating your own program, and, if that's what you want to do, go with this one instead of The Body Sculpting Bible. The Complete Book of Core Training (2006) focuses more on the functional body core, including internal abdominal muscles, legs, etc., and includes more trendy exercises using medicine balls, exercise balls, yoga, etc. A different sort of book is Stronger Abs and Back (1997), which was written before the current fad of selling "core training," but contains the elements of core training because it gives good functional sports-focused advice. Its dietary recommendations are out of date, but it recommends a 24-week workout plan, which is much more realistic than the 6-week plans advocated by many of the other books.

If You Have Back Pain: See your doctor, and if he prescribes abdominal/core strengthening, see above.

My one-book recommendation: Body for Life.
My two-book recommendation: Body for Life + Stronger Abs and Back.
My three-book recommendation: Body for Life + Stronger Abs and Back + The Complete Book of Abs.
My four-book recommendation: Body for Life + Stronger Abs and Back + The Complete Book of Abs + The Abs Diet.

Hope this helps!!

No matter where you are on the fitness scale, beginner or regular workout monster, this is a great book! I was already working out for 3 months 4-5x a week. The program I was on demanded working out 5x per week to get maximum results...but after a month, I wore out because of mental fatigue. I hate seeing the same place so many times a week, with each session being almost two hours. Next thing I know, I only went 3-4x week.

Then I switched to the Abs Diet and I had finally the look I was looking for! Not only am I still big, but I'm lean and cut now. The book guareented results in 6 weeks. I was able to get it in about 4 weeks. All in 30min a day, 3x a week. You're in, you're out, you're done. That simple. (However, my greatest gains were when I did 2 sets of the total body circuit, which means 1 hour a day, 3x a week.)

A 43yr old friend of mine went from 226lbs to 208lbs in 2 months. He's leaner, his ankles and knees feel so much stronger and he's very, very happy with his look. He lost 4-5 inches off his waistline! Another, a 14yr old freshman, went from 202lbs down to 185lbs. No more man boobs and belly. Now he gets notice by girls!

This book will have you look great and be healthy. But not necessarily strong. I now incorporate chinese internal strength training with the Abs Diet to focus on building strength. If you're going to look strong, why not be strong?

This book helps you change the way that you eat, change in lifestyle, not just a quick diet. I was/am not obese or overweight, just too much fat in areas but after following his eating suggestions I definitely saw a change as did others. Things began to fit looser and I saw muscle definition. The only reason that I did not give it 5 out of 5 stars is because it is hard to keep up the eating with my work schedule (retail). However, it works and once I begin my new job, I will take it up again.

I think this is a great book. All of the Abs Diet books are great.
They focus on good nutrition in the everyday world. I do not really find I follow the diet presented itself for some reason though. I do my own thing but use some of his tips. I learned lots of neat little tips. One tip I continue to use is add frozen OJ in a smoothie to sweeten it.
I also do try to eat the super foods as much as possible that he mentions in his book. His recipes are good too!

I have to admit it... I love to read about different diets and workouts. I checked this book out from the library because I couldn't believe how shallow and cheesy the title was. This book is a really common sense approach to eating, listing the power foods that you must work to include daily, switching to whole grains,etc. A lot of this stuff is common sense, but the value that this book brings is giving you an outline of how much to eat, frequency, and great recipe ideas. I bought this book and my husband uses it religiously. We keep a copy of the Abs power foods and snack combinations on our fridge. There is enough food variety to keep all tastes interested. I really got into the smoothies and really like the freedom of one cheat meal where I can go absolutely crazy!

I lost 33 pounds using the abs diet and its the first one that is a realistic lifestyle change. Its not easy as you must workout and eat right but it works and is very health unlike the the low carb diets.

Excellent advise on condensed work out(circuit training). The work out is able to be done in 30-35 minutes 3-4 times per week. Also very good advice on a feasible diet that will work. The diet is balanced and promotes muslce growth using correct types of protein(lean protein).

This book is great, it has a lot of information on how our body works and how food affect our health and physique; his approach that we should eat every two or three hours to keep our metabolism working all the time in order to more calories works!!!!.He suggests that the meals should be around the power foods (ABS DIET) which are: Almonds and other nuts, Beans and Legumes, Spich and all other vegetables, Dairy: low-fat milk, Egss, Turkey and other lean meats. So far I have been to stick with his approch for about 2 months and I lost 12 pounds, of course doing exercise too, which Zinczenko addresses in his book, that in order to burn twice as calories you need to build muscle, which requires more energy to mantain. Its a great book, and it's a great diet because you will never be hungry, and you will be loosing weight eating more... this diet is for life and now is part of my life. I highly recommend this book.

I read this book when I first started getting serious about my workouts and it really was informative and great! It provides some great workouts for males and females and the diet aspect is easy to follow but you are always satisfied. I have recommended this to many clients and friends. I do not think you will be disappointed!

The Abs Diet offers logical, scientifically supported advice on eating properly. The plan is easy to follow -- I especially appreciated the fact that there is not an "induction phase," just principles to follow over the long-term. My husband and I have been eating this way for about 2 months now. We have found the diet simple to follow, even when eating out, and that our small children enjoy eating this way, too. That's a big bonus. We've experienced an increase in our overall health. The small digest, Abs Diet Eat Right Every Time, is a great resource when eating out. Overall an excellent guide to a healthy lifestyle.

I just started my fourth week and have only lost about 1 lb per week. I've stuck to the diet, replacing my breakfast and lunch with the "oatmeal shake" and I've been walking 3 miles every day. The weight is coming off...just not as fast as I'd like. The thing I liked least about this was ordering from Amazon and expecting the book to arrive within 3 to 5 days as advertised. Three weeks seemed a bit excessive. Aside from that however, the things you can eat are easy enough to live with.

This book reminds me a lot of "Body For Life." It has a very workable plan to lose weight and the diet and exercise strategies are clearly laid out and explained in sufficient detail. Readers will find plenty of pictures too of the exercises that they are instructed to do. Motivational in nature, it's laid back writing style should appeal to many. Readers who like this book might also be interested in The Sixty-Second Motivator to help keep up their motivation to diet. Good luck!

This book reminds me a lot of "Body For Life." It has a very workable plan to lose weight and the diet and exercise strategies are clearly laid out and explained in sufficient detail. Readers will find plenty of pictures too of the exercises that they are instructed to do. Motivational in nature, it's laid back writing style should appeal to many. Readers who like this book might also be interested in The Sixty-Second Motivator to help keep up their motivation to diet. Good luck!

This is an easy to follow, straightforward eating and exercising lifestyle. It is not a diet, but a smart way to eat to maintain a healthy weight and great for your overall well-being. I had followed the same guidelines as outlined in Men's Health magazine and lost over 100lbs.to bring me to a normal weight and 6% body fat.

I like the fact that the authors explain how things work in our bodies (how protein intake relates to the increased metabolism resulting from the workout, and to the muscle growth; which foods are good for metabolism; which of them aid in weight loss or lowering cholesterol levels). Although the idea of having six meals a day does not always fit my busy schedule, the one of snacking with fruits and/or nuts between main meals does seem to be effective in my case. What I like most about the book is the well balance diet that does not exclude any food groups. I am a great believer in the nourishment based on natural foods and The Abs Diet fully supports this belief. Dr. Tombak in the book "Can We Live 150 Year" farther explains proper food combination and its effect on our bodies. For that reason his book is a very good addition to The Abs Diet.

The book overall is good, but the sections about eating fats confused me.
First he talks about the 1980's war against fat, and he says they were wrong, and that fats are good because without fats you cannot get your fat soluble vitamins, A, D, E, and K. I agree. But, then he says saturated fats are bad, and saturated fats are in milk and meat which is also the best protein sources. So I just want to know why he is advocating low fat when he says low fat diets are bad. He does recommend olive oil, nuts and fish because of the fats in those. I believe that whole dairy is better for you than skim, because it's more natural and less processed. Altering natural foods is what got us into trouble in the first place.

I do understand about choosing leaner meats because we fatten the cows by feeding them way too many grains and it increases their fat deposits, which is unnatural.

Also he recommends eating lunch meat, and lunch meat has an awful lot of chemicals, unfortunately.

I would have liked a recommendation of what to look for in a whey protein powder, because I had never purchased any before.

I am a subscriber of Men's Health magazine and am very familiar with the author. I know this author is excellent. This book explains, in great detail, nutrition and how the body processes food. It also provides rather basic excercises that anyone can do. Yep, I need to lose weight about 20 pounds. I am not a big "restrictive diet" person becuase I have tried them and failed in the long run. What this book really is about is eating better(more healthy), changing our eating habits and excercising - very basic. It gives you a diet plan to follow which is rather easy...eat six small balanced meals a day to keep your metabolisim running. This book heavily emphasizes custom "smoothies" (all with whey protein in them) as regular meal substitute but, personally, I am not a shake/smoothie fan. I am not a big fan of "cold" food either. Luckily the book gives you recipes for "hot" food you can make and they are easy to make. Please be aware that you need to excercise often if you use the shakes becuase of the whey protein and peanut butter in some of them. If you don't you will get even fatter.
Monotony is also a problem with diets so I also recommend the "6 minute meals for 6 packs abs book" as well. It gives you even more recipes. Realistically I can't imagine getting 6 pack abs in 6 weeks. I can see an already skinny person who might have gained a few pounds to accomplish this in that time frame but heavier people will take longer.
Overall it is a great read and helps you form a base for healthy eating and excercising.

This book reminds me a lot of "Body For Life." It has a very workable plan to lose weight and the diet and exercise strategies are clearly laid out and explained in sufficient detail. Readers will find plenty of pictures too of the exercises that they are instructed to do. Motivational in nature, it's laid back writing style should appeal to many. Readers who like this book might also be interested in The Sixty-Second Motivator to help keep up their motivation to diet. Good luck!

I'm a dietetics major and I think this book offers a lot of sound advice about food and exercise. Zinczenko does an excellent job of describing the diseases most related to food choices which is great because people generally don't know why it matters for them to know anything about disease processes.

A knowledge of what could happen is the first step in prevention.

The information in this book can be summed up in 5 pages or less. Basically there is a list of foods to base your diet on and they're no big surprise. It is what you would expect to eat. Recipes are basically no-brainers - lots of smoothies and egg dishes. Has some good exercises with pictures which was nice if you don't know what type of exercises you could do to strengthen your abs, but I have an extensive collection of exercises so a lot were duplicates of exercises I already have. I bought the book used, so I got my money's worth. I would suggest getting a copy from your local library before you spend any money buying the book.

It works - finally something that makes sense, does not require great expense or special equipment. Follow the suggestions, use a bit of common sense and you will achieve all that David Zinczenko says you will. Welcome to a healthier life style and a fitter you.

This book reminds me a lot of "Body For Life." It has a very workable plan to lose weight and the diet and exercise strategies are clearly laid out and explained in sufficient detail. Readers will find plenty of pictures too of the exercises that they are instructed to do. Motivational in nature, it's laid back writing style should appeal to many. Readers who like this book might also be interested in The Sixty-Second Motivator to help keep up their motivation to diet. Good luck!

I have read other books, most on nutrition. I saw an interview on tv about this book and decided to give it a try. I was very glad I did. This book is an easy read and just plain makes sense! My husband is actually reading it now. We just started the plan and feel great. I can't wait to read his other books. I will say this book seems geared more toward men, but he does have one out for women.