Stars: ★★★★★
Summary: Dustin Maher, America’s Trainer to Moms has a goal to reach 1 million moms by the end of 2015. His book Fit Moms for Life: How to Have Endless Energy to Outplay Your Kids is only one part of that goal. According to Dustin: “My message to moms is simple: Putting yourself first is the least selfish thing you can do. My question is: Who is taking care of YOU?”
I don’t read much about fitness because it usually just makes me feel bad about how much I don’t exercise and how much overweight I am instead of inspiring me to make a change.
I put off reading the book because I felt intimidated by all the photos of skinny women I saw when I flipped through the book. But when I actually sat down to read it, I saw that those skinny women USED to be big, some as big as me and that they made a real change. There was no lost 70lbs in 6 weeks. They were normal amounts in normal amounts of time. Plus it included tips from the moms and an explanation of how they got where they are.
Also the book isn’t a strict guideline of do this do that. It helps you develop the system that is right for you. I really appreciate the goal setting section that has you see where you are first. Dustin mentions how many moms, while happy about their weight loss, didn’t know their exact measurements to begin with (weight, inches, how much exercise they could do) so they didn’t have a specific comparison of how much they’ve improved.
Dustin has us not just weighing ourselves but taking photographs (with tips on how to do so), inches around measurements for many body parts, not just the big three and an explanation of the difference between waist and abdomen (I’d always wondered!) Then he has us do different exercises and marking down how many reps we can do, even if it’s only one. He even has us do a mental and emotional look at ourselves before we get started.
The book includes a very helpful section on eating healthy (better than I’ve seen in other books.) Why is it so good? Because it doesn’t advocate changing our eating habits drastically all at once and recognizes the need for treats. There are even a few recipes.
Another thing that makes this book different is the chapter on Making it Work. Knowing we need to eat healthy is one thing, but it’s a lot harder to implement.
Another great section is the Fit Mom, Fit Family one. If you are the only one in the family trying to be healthier, it’s harder. But the family isn’t always receptive to changing their habits. The book has some tips on changing your kids over which look really helpful. I just wish there was more tips on talking to your significant other.
The Appendices have a section to document your goals as stated above which is nice.
Overall I think it’s the best book on fitness I’ve read (although as I’ve said, I’ve not read that many) and I plan to use it to help me start being more healthy. First things first, I need to do my before stats and goal setting.
If you sign up for the mailing list, you can get access to a free chapter and the Table of Contents.
If the book intrigues you, you may want to check out the video about it. It’s a bit long at over 8 minutes but the first 1:40 minutes is video of real women who have lost weight so you can skip that if you just want information on the book.
Connect:
www.dustinmaherfitness.com
www.fitmomsforlife.com
http://www.facebook.com/fitmomsforlife
https://www.facebook.com/ireallylovebeingamom
http://twitter.com/#!/fitmomsforlife
http://pinterest.com/Fitmomsforlife
*I received a copy of this book for review purposes.
About Kathleen
