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
The lessons to draw are obvious: Smoke more dope, eat less meat. Like-minded readers will dig it.
The chef, rapper, and TV host serves up a blustery memoir with lashings of self-help.
“I’ve always had a sick confidence,” writes Bronson, ne Ariyan Arslani. The confidence, he adds, comes from numerous sources: being a New Yorker, and more specifically a New Yorker from Queens; being “short and fucking husky” and still game for a standoff on the basketball court; having strength, stamina, and seemingly no fear. All these things serve him well in the rough-and-tumble youth he describes, all stickball and steroids. Yet another confidence-builder: In the big city, you’ve got to sink or swim. “No one is just accepted—you have to fucking show that you’re able to roll,” he writes. In a narrative steeped in language that would make Lenny Bruce blush, Bronson recounts his sentimental education, schooled by immigrant Italian and Albanian family members and the mean streets, building habits good and bad. The virtue of those habits will depend on your take on modern mores. Bronson writes, for example, of “getting my dick pierced” down in the West Village, then grabbing a pizza and smoking weed. “I always smoke weed freely, always have and always will,” he writes. “I’ll just light a blunt anywhere.” Though he’s gone through the classic experiences of the latter-day stoner, flunking out and getting arrested numerous times, Bronson is a hard charger who’s not afraid to face nearly any challenge—especially, given his physique and genes, the necessity of losing weight: “If you’re husky, you’re always dieting in your mind,” he writes. Though vulgar and boastful, Bronson serves up a model that has plenty of good points, including his growing interest in nature, creativity, and the desire to “leave a legacy for everybody.”
The lessons to draw are obvious: Smoke more dope, eat less meat. Like-minded readers will dig it.Pub Date: April 20, 2021
ISBN: 978-1-4197-4478-5
Page Count: 184
Publisher: Abrams
Review Posted Online: May 5, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 1, 2021
A sweet final word from an actor who leaves a legacy of compassion and kindness.
The late actor offers a gentle guide for living with more purpose, love, and joy.
Mixing poetry, prescriptive challenges, and elements of memoir, Heche (1969-2022) delivers a narrative that is more encouraging workbook than life story. The author wants to share what she has discovered over the course of a life filled with abuse, advocacy, and uncanny turning points. Her greatest discovery? Love. “Open yourself up to love and transform kindness from a feeling you extend to those around you to actions that you perform for them,” she writes. “Only by caring can we open ourselves up to the universe, and only by opening up to the universe can we fully experience all the wonders that it holds, the greatest of which is love.” Throughout the occasionally overwrought text, Heche is heavy on the concept of care. She wants us to experience joy as she does, and she provides a road map for how to get there. Instead of slinking away from Hollywood and the ridicule that she endured there, Heche found the good and hung on, with Alec Baldwin and Harrison Ford starring as particularly shining knights in her story. Some readers may dismiss this material as vapid Hollywood stuff, but Heche’s perspective is an empathetic blend of Buddhism (minimize suffering), dialectical behavioral therapy (tolerating distress), Christianity (do unto others), and pre-Socratic philosophy (sufficient reason). “You’re not out to change the whole world, but to increase the levels of love and kindness in the world, drop by drop,” she writes. “Over time, these actions wear away the coldness, hate, and indifference around us as surely as water slowly wearing away stone.” Readers grieving her loss will take solace knowing that she lived her love-filled life on her own terms. Heche’s business and podcast partner, Heather Duffy, writes the epilogue, closing the book on a life well lived.
A sweet final word from an actor who leaves a legacy of compassion and kindness.Pub Date: Jan. 24, 2023
ISBN: 9781627783316
Page Count: 176
Publisher: Viva Editions
Review Posted Online: Feb. 6, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 2023
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