"MY WEIGHT LOSS JOURNEY..." By Andreas Michaelides
Posted by Matt McAvoy on Thursday, February 22, 2018 Under: Book Reviews
If
you are expecting “My Weight Loss Journey...” to provide a fad
diet to help you lose weight fast and easy, you will be
disappointed. In fact, Andreas consciously chooses to dispel
those two very words from your mindset, to his great credit. What
this book actually is, right from the off, is more of a lesson than a
ten-a-penny self-help guide. It is chocked full of good, honest
advice; there are no tricks or agendas here - no lip service – just
the hard truth: weight loss takes hard work and sacrifice. I like
that a lot – I respect health writers who tell it like it is, and
have a cynical distrust of “diet” books which promise clever
shortcuts; I am of the school which firmly believes they do not
exist, other than to simply prey on the denial mechanism of those
individuals who lack the character and discipline to accept and
practice what they already know. Andreas reveals his findings
candidly, and they seem to be ones which many people will only admit
to themselves after having suffered a health scare.
Unlike the name suggests, the book actually promotes a much more holistic approach to nutrition and general well-being than just the diet, making as many small lifestyle suggestions as big ones – when put together, they add up to a very effective sum. Andreas’s first major breakthrough, and arguably the most important (though he doesn’t really say as much, except, perhaps, between the lines), was tackling his own personality; the fact that he mentions his history of depression is very wise and candid - this first real big step is a correlation which is conspicuously (and, perhaps, cynically deliberately) not acknowledged by many other diet writers, yet, to most of us, seems an obvious place to start your quest to self-actualization.
The second half of “My Weight Loss Journey...” provides more of a reference source than the backstory of the first, and includes a lot of very useful online resources, with which Andreas does not seem to be affiliated. The sheer amount of information crammed into these few pages can perhaps start to overwhelm a little in the final third, and this book is not something to be read purely for entertainment, although it is a quick and easy read. It is thought-provoking and motivational, and it challenges you to get off your backside and tackle your problem, with the logic that Andreas is providing you with all the information you need to do this, and the rest is up to you. He does a tremendous job, and has worked hard to ensure that you are aware of this. The book is incredibly well-researched, and is clearly a subject the author is passionate about. It is also well-written – fascinating, captivating and full of interesting information – and I found Andreas to be persuasive in a way that most nutrition “experts” fail to be; I’d take his advice over theirs any day of the week, because it makes sense. As far as I could tell, he is also not corrupted by any other agenda with this book, although perhaps he does mention his first publication a little too often not to come across as an opportunist (still, don’t we all?).
The presentation of this ebook could be improved, to perhaps make it much more aesthetically pleasing; the paragraph formatting and alignment is inconsistent, and it can’t seem to make up its mind whether it is a book or a pamphlet. Personally, I would have liked to see more attractive presentation – perhaps a few images or illustrations, and more eye-catching headers, separated by chapter breaks. Of course, this may just be the ARC version I was sent; I do hope the author chooses to make the book prettier, as I think it deserves to be read by its target audience. Otherwise, the writing is of a very high quality, and the presentation should not deter you by any means - “My Weight Loss Journey...” is short and sweet, and just too cheerful not to be read. Andreas has a very personable writing voice, and you can almost hear the smile on his face, just by reading it. A great book, and a great guy – I wish him well.
BUY IT NOW FROM AMAZON >
Unlike the name suggests, the book actually promotes a much more holistic approach to nutrition and general well-being than just the diet, making as many small lifestyle suggestions as big ones – when put together, they add up to a very effective sum. Andreas’s first major breakthrough, and arguably the most important (though he doesn’t really say as much, except, perhaps, between the lines), was tackling his own personality; the fact that he mentions his history of depression is very wise and candid - this first real big step is a correlation which is conspicuously (and, perhaps, cynically deliberately) not acknowledged by many other diet writers, yet, to most of us, seems an obvious place to start your quest to self-actualization.
The second half of “My Weight Loss Journey...” provides more of a reference source than the backstory of the first, and includes a lot of very useful online resources, with which Andreas does not seem to be affiliated. The sheer amount of information crammed into these few pages can perhaps start to overwhelm a little in the final third, and this book is not something to be read purely for entertainment, although it is a quick and easy read. It is thought-provoking and motivational, and it challenges you to get off your backside and tackle your problem, with the logic that Andreas is providing you with all the information you need to do this, and the rest is up to you. He does a tremendous job, and has worked hard to ensure that you are aware of this. The book is incredibly well-researched, and is clearly a subject the author is passionate about. It is also well-written – fascinating, captivating and full of interesting information – and I found Andreas to be persuasive in a way that most nutrition “experts” fail to be; I’d take his advice over theirs any day of the week, because it makes sense. As far as I could tell, he is also not corrupted by any other agenda with this book, although perhaps he does mention his first publication a little too often not to come across as an opportunist (still, don’t we all?).
The presentation of this ebook could be improved, to perhaps make it much more aesthetically pleasing; the paragraph formatting and alignment is inconsistent, and it can’t seem to make up its mind whether it is a book or a pamphlet. Personally, I would have liked to see more attractive presentation – perhaps a few images or illustrations, and more eye-catching headers, separated by chapter breaks. Of course, this may just be the ARC version I was sent; I do hope the author chooses to make the book prettier, as I think it deserves to be read by its target audience. Otherwise, the writing is of a very high quality, and the presentation should not deter you by any means - “My Weight Loss Journey...” is short and sweet, and just too cheerful not to be read. Andreas has a very personable writing voice, and you can almost hear the smile on his face, just by reading it. A great book, and a great guy – I wish him well.
BUY IT NOW FROM AMAZON >
In : Book Reviews
Tags: anthony-michaelides self-help diet health-and-fitness nutrition holistic health well-being personal-development weight-loss reference non-fiction
