Stop the Insanity by Susan Powter Summary and Reviews
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Book Reviews of Stop the Insanity
Book Review: I lost weight with Susan
Summary: 5 Stars
Years ago when Susan Powter first came out... the book with the workout tape, etc. I bought it. I had knee surgery & during my recovery time had packed on the pounds. I knew the basics of weightloss but was still unsure of the details. How many calories are too many? You know the deal. The workout tape was great because it wasn't high impact, it worked for my recovered knee. The basics of her diet were easy to understand & easy to work into my daily life. I could easily go through a supermarket & look at the nutritional list & decide if it was ok or not without a calculator, book, cheat sheet, etc. I am horrible at math so this was quite an accomplishment. I've recently bought some of the newer diet books, the ones that focus on the mentality & emotional parts of weight gain & quite frankly been bored silly. Susan Powter did have a lot of hype, etc. but you know what? She was alive & fun & didn't bore me silly & made it very easy to understand. She also makes it clear that you do what you can do. Can't follow an excersize video because you are too large or have a bad joint, then modify it & do what you can because something is better then nothing. You can tweak the diet, it's not an exact science but it gives you a place to start. I should add, that I lost over 30 pounds and her way of watching what you eat & working out was the only one that worked for me.Book Review: Inspiration is Everything
Summary: 4 Stars
In this lively, chatty book, Susan Powter is absolutely inspirational. She offers hope for overweight people who are fed up with diets that don't work, who don't know how to start exercising, and who love to eat.
It's not without its flaws. Her breathing advice, for example, will cause useless and possibly dangerous hyperventilation. The Buteyko Breathing method (not in Powter's book) refutes her theory there, and I'd recommend looking into Buteyko, if you agree that breathing right is part of a healthy lifestyle.
But what's really useful about her book is the attitude. Get out and exercise, and quit eating refined, fatty garbage. She makes diet and exercise fun, interesting, and enticing.
The most intriguing part of her diet is the Powter food pyramid: heavy on complex carbohydrates and drastically low on fats and sugars. Readers are urged to enjoy whole grains and legumes: not bad advice. The very nearly vegetarian mix of foods in her diet really is low fat and very satisfying. I think most people following her diet suggestions will lose weight, but mostly they will be healthier. She doesn't say it, but the high fiber alone will bring enormous benefits to heart and digestive health.
The exercise regimen is totally doable, and I personally have found that her simple prescription of walking is extremely easy and effective.
Readers are urged to make a lifestyle change, and that is the most realistic advice overweight people need to get. I found the book a refreshing alternative to gimmicky diets.
I know she's not a doctor, but she's a former overweight gal, once stuck in a state of depression, who pulled herself out of the funk and offers us a pretty darn good way to take charge of our health. That's good enough for me.
Book Review: It Really does work!
Summary: 5 Stars
I was first introduced to Susan by a friend who weighed before I met her 350 pounds. When I started to gain weight I met my friend who was smaller than me. She would always telling me to watch what I ate. She one day showed me a picture of herself and she was really fat. She explained everything about the Susan Powter program and I now weighing 210 wanted to know more. So I went out and bought her book and tapes. Threw my scale away and never looked back. I began to walk 20 minutes a day. I begin to eat, eat and eat and I watched what I ate. NOw 125 I eat when I want and what I want. If I want steak I have steak. but I also eat my vegetables and fruits. And I love rice and bake potatoes.I have a six pack and two children, born after losing the weight. I don't see my friend that often but I am really happy to have met her. The most important thing I learned was that I had to know what I was putting in my mouth and how much. I had to move, walk, jump and run, I couldn't sit on the couch and expect to lose weight because I knew how much fat I was eating. Knowing wasn't enough. I had to burn off the fat already on my body. And it took me a little over eight months. It works. It really does.Book Review: It's like Susan Powter has no comprehension of reality
Summary: 1 Stars
I read this book and followed it religiously for over 6 months (exercise, low-fat, the whole deal). She convinced me that all I had to do was eat low fat...this is patently FALSE. The basic caloric equation cannot be voided simply because Powter believes in more conspiracies than Oliver Stone (her conspiracy theories throughout the book are incredibly naive and make her sound RIDICULOUSLY unintelligent). At the end of the day, low fat or not, losing weight is a matter of calories in fewer than calories expended. You simply cannot eat 52 potatoes in one day (even though they are very low in fat) if you do not expended 52 potatoes worth of energy (Powter claims you do not need to pay attention to calories as long as you are eating low fat and are exercising). This is patently false--you do need to pay attention to calories to the extent that the calories you take in should be fewer than those you expend. Powter's book smacks of opportunism at its worst... and that is appalling.Book Review: Mistake. BIG mistake.
Summary: 1 Stars
Great motivator although I got really tired of the ex-husband bashing. Also, there are some serious oversights on her part. Go ahead and eat all the bagels you want. If it works for you, congratulations. I wonder what new spin she'll put on this stuff for her latest get rich scheme.