An accessible approach to weight loss delivered in the voice of a supportive coach.
Losing weight and getting healthy are all about the numbers, according to a self-proclaimed “fitness nerd.”
Forget fad diets and fitness crazes: Shedding pounds isn’t as complicated as some people make it out to be, argues Clark in this debut guide. You just need to burn more calories than you consume. Those who want to get off “the weight-loss roller coaster” can do so, but it will require discipline, plus some basic math skills. Drawing on his own experience, the author explains how he decided to “ignore the never-ending stream of bullshit fitness products people try to sell me” and embrace a simpler, more effective way to transform his physique. In frank and often funny language, Clark encourages readers to take charge of their lives and bodies, to set goals that make sense for them, and to not get discouraged by setbacks. Using an inverted pyramid approach, he begins with advice on how to change your mental approach to diet and fitness. He then tackles calorie counting and macros, strength training, and cardiovascular exercise. The suggestions get more complicated as the book progresses. Readers who can handle counting calories and weighing food may find themselves overwhelmed by more detailed instructions on how to measure body-fat percentage and track strength-training gains. Still, the author clearly explains his strategy. He firmly believes that “data from our small, daily goals keeps us excited, responsible, and in control of our trajectory.” By focusing on quantifiable data and measuring daily progress, people can achieve their goals since the fundamental “secret” to weight loss is creating a calorie deficit—“energy out must be greater than energy in.” Yet that deficit has to be achieved in a sustainable, consistent way. Quick fixes in the form of crash diets and severe calorie restriction might work in the short term, but “your body will wage a secret war to sabotage your efforts, and eventually it will win.” Clark also deftly explains why it’s nearly impossible to exercise away extra calories while illustrating how building muscle helps with long-term weight-loss goals.
An accessible approach to weight loss delivered in the voice of a supportive coach.Pub Date: July 14, 2020
ISBN: 978-1-951876-01-2
Page Count: 345
Publisher: FITNRD
Review Posted Online: Sept. 3, 2020
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
A conversational, pleasurable look into McConaughey’s life and thought.
All right, all right, all right: The affable, laconic actor delivers a combination of memoir and self-help book.
“This is an approach book,” writes McConaughey, adding that it contains “philosophies that can be objectively understood, and if you choose, subjectively adopted, by either changing your reality, or changing how you see it. This is a playbook, based on adventures in my life.” Some of those philosophies come in the form of apothegms: “When you can design your own weather, blow in the breeze”; “Simplify, focus, conserve to liberate.” Others come in the form of sometimes rambling stories that never take the shortest route from point A to point B, as when he recounts a dream-spurred, challenging visit to the Malian musician Ali Farka Touré, who offered a significant lesson in how disagreement can be expressed politely and without rancor. Fans of McConaughey will enjoy his memories—which line up squarely with other accounts in Melissa Maerz’s recent oral history, Alright, Alright, Alright—of his debut in Richard Linklater’s Dazed and Confused, to which he contributed not just that signature phrase, but also a kind of too-cool-for-school hipness that dissolves a bit upon realizing that he’s an older guy on the prowl for teenage girls. McConaughey’s prep to settle into the role of Wooderson involved inhabiting the mind of a dude who digs cars, rock ’n’ roll, and “chicks,” and he ran with it, reminding readers that the film originally had only three scripted scenes for his character. The lesson: “Do one thing well, then another. Once, then once more.” It’s clear that the author is a thoughtful man, even an intellectual of sorts, though without the earnestness of Ethan Hawke or James Franco. Though some of the sentiments are greeting card–ish, this book is entertaining and full of good lessons.
A conversational, pleasurable look into McConaughey’s life and thought.Pub Date: Oct. 20, 2020
ISBN: 978-0-593-13913-4
Page Count: 304
Publisher: Crown
Review Posted Online: Oct. 27, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 1, 2020
BOOK REVIEW
An above-average celebrity memoir from an intriguing spirit.
The longtime Hollywood actor looks back.
“What does it mean to be a ham?” asks the author, rhetorically. “Was I a ham? I was naturally and inordinately theatrical. I liked to carry on. I liked attention. I liked extravagant speech. I liked to emote. I liked to talk.” All of these qualities are abundantly evident in Kilmer’s memoir, which is as much a spiritual journey as it is a chronicle of his life and career. The author recounts the depth of his Christian Science faith, his formative years in a family of privilege in Los Angeles, his teenage romance with fellow actor Mare Winningham (“my first real girlfriend”), his training and rebellion at Juilliard, and his decision to leave Broadway for Hollywood. There, he writes, “I was not yet a burgeoning talent but ‘Cher’s lover,’ ” when she was in her mid-30s and he in his early-20s. After scoring big with Tom Cruise in Top Gun, Kilmer turned down Blue Velvet and Dirty Dancing: “Neither part spoke to me.” He played Jim Morrison in Oliver Stone’s The Doors, which he considers “one of the proudest moments of my career.” Marlon Brando and Sam Shepard went from being idols that Kilmer worshipped to becoming friends. He was slated to star as Batman in three films but jumped ship after Batman Forever, which he considers “so bad, it’s almost good.” He married and divorced British actor Joanne Whalley and wooed Daryl Hannah (“kind of the female me, only better”), and he wrote and starred in a one-man show as Mark Twain. When he was hospitalized for surgery due to his throat cancer, he prayed, he read Twain and Christian Science’s Mary Baker Eddy, and he “didn’t wrestle with my angels. I sang and danced with them.” Kilmer was never a shrinking violet, and he still refuses to wilt.
An above-average celebrity memoir from an intriguing spirit. (photos)Pub Date: April 21, 2020
ISBN: 978-1-9821-4489-0
Page Count: 320
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Review Posted Online: March 11, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 2020
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