Rating: 
Summary: Warning: Read this book with an open mind, and learn
Review: Before you press the "no" button and say that this review is "not helpful" (the real case is that you do not agree with me, because I have valid thoughts that may help someone who truly wants to lose weight make a good purchase), please read my review with an open mind.I am a fellow struggler who is on her path to losing weight. Two years ago I was 275 pounds, and today I am 180 pounds. I bought this book because I thought it would help me out with the EMOTIONAL side of losing weight. OF COURSE this is nothing new. There is not going to be a new diet plan all of a sudden that solves your problems immediately without you doing any work. You have to WANT to lose weight in order to do so, and you must put some EFFORT into it when trying to lose weight. This means finding out WHY you are overweight- do you emotionally eat? If so, why do you use food like a comfort drug? You need to get to the BOTTOM of your emotional problem with food and start to HEAL it. Now, no one here has had time to use the seven steps and see results. The book hasn't been out that long. NO ONE can say that this book is hogwash and that it doesn't work. If this stuff isn't new and everyone knows this stuff, then why is over half of America obese? The seven keys include getting good support, eating healthy while not banning fatty foods (eat small amounts a couple times a week), you must think positively about your weight loss, you must heal your negative feelings, you must have mastery over food and impulse eating, you must have a no-fail environment, and you must have INTENTIONAL EXERCISE. This book contains lots of wisdom. Just give it a try and USE the seven keys before saying nay or yay. Thank you for your time!
Rating: 
Summary: This book doesn't work for me.
Review: I read the book, and it was not that helpful.
It is a behavioral approach, and from my experience, a deeper, more life altering method is needed.
What worked for me was "The Pathway" by Laurel Mellin.
This is the real "solution".
I have worked with this method for four years.
Besides losing over 50 pounds, (and keeping it off for two years,) it has changed my life.
I am more balanced in my daily life. I am happier.
My relationships are more intimate.
I am fulfilled from the inside, and do not look to food to satisfy anything other than my body's hunger.
Food is just food now.
I know how I feel, and I know what I need, moment to moment.
This has been the most important life changing thing I have ever done.
And to think, I was just hoping to lose some weight!
Rating:
Summary: SO TRUE A REVIEW
Review: Ha, I just read that review that said "I use a treadmill, water and slim fast to lose weight". That is so true. That is exactely what I did to lose 60 pounds. Slimfast is a great diet. Only one thing. They say to drink two sensible shakes, one for breakfast, and one for lunch, then a sensible dinner. Well, some days, by the time I got to dinner I ended up binging. But when I started having a shake for breakfast, a sensible lunch, and a shake for dinner, the pounds came off. I also give two thumbs up to the book called The Little Guide To Happiness. Why? No reason. I has nothing to do with weight loss, but it's such a funny book, it made me smile and I thought I'd mention it.
Rating: 
Summary: Insulting
Review: I thought I'd find some helpful insights in this book. There is nothing new here. This is the same message we've always heard in new packaging. That's not to say the message is wrong (diet, exercise, behavior modification). Unfortunately, this packaging includes McGraw making insulting comments on nearly every page. Comments like getting "your fat behind" to the gym and other remarks are insulting to people who struggle with a not-simple-to-solve problem. Perhaps the author thinks that this is part of his well-known 'folksy' style. I was offended, however. Not recommended.
Rating:
Summary: New York Times Best Seller!!
Review: Has anyone seen the New York Times list?!?! Dr. Phil's The Ultimate Weight Solution is number 1. There was also an article about the South Beach Diet in today's New York Times and it quoted Phil. I think this a sign that the times are changing and people are trying to change their lives not for the thinner only, but before the better as well. The Ultimate Weight Solution is a plan for the better you. It focuses on healthy choices, building relationships with the people around you that help support your diet choices, and getting to know who you are. There has never been a weight loss book that made you look at yourself, not as a machine to put food into, but as a human being the chooses and must choose well to live happily and healthier. most diets just tell you what you need to feed yourself instead of showing you why you need to feed yourself a particular thing. The diet plan is not radical (neither is the advice) but it is something that many people take for granted. we would rather ignore that there is something wrong with us- many blame the food instead. we also blame cravings, mentrual cycles and any number of things without once seeing who is really to blame. the Dr. Phil road to reality is not easy, but it is one that will lead you truly and honestly toward your goals.
Rating: 
Summary: I used slimfast, treadmill and water to lose weight
Review: I used my own will power to lose weight.
Slimfast, water, treadmill and watching what I eat did the trick for me.
I also go to Denise Austin's website for inspiration...
Rating:
Summary: Don't be a sheep
Review: You gotta want it. There. That sums up what it takes to lose weight. Where's my book deal? My product endorsement tie-ins? Please. What a self-serving crock. If you want to read a book by someone who's been there and really done it, read "From Chunk to Hunk" by Fred Anderson. No bull. No fad. Just the plain, brutal truth...
Rating:
Summary: Eat Less, Exercise More
Review: This book, like most diet books, is simply a few hundred pages of tips and tricks that can all be summarized in four simple words: EAT LESS, EXERCISE MORE. It's a shame that people like Dr. Phil capitalize on people's desperation by making them believe there's some other answer, some trick that will make it easy to do what has become a very hard thing in this world. Spend the money you would have spent on this and other diet books on a pair of 5 lb. hand weights, new running shoes, or something else actually useful. Don't waste your cash on this.
Rating:
Summary: Change Your Focus
Review: Dr. Phil, TV's evangelistic down-home self-help guru, tackles the country's obesity problem in this newest in his series of books designed to help you be the best you you can be. Does he suceed or will suceed if you follow his advice? Perhaps. Folks whom have already gotten passed the hype of American consumerism and have realized that all those gorgeous models popping fast food, donuts, sugared soft drinks and candy in their mouths are being paid by these products' manufacturers to simply get you to open your wallets, will definitely profit from Phil's no nonsense approach.
The good Dr. does not give you a diet secret combination a la the Zone, the 30-40-30 plan, or D'Adamo's blood type, to help you understand you body's reaction to food, so if you have already made the decision to be realistic about the daily onslaught of the media advocating the American push towards excess-- somewhere in our minds we all know that the all-you-can-eat buffets, super-sized meals, and man-sized portions result in getting more for your money but also means logically being physically larger in general---then you need to come up with a plan of attack, push aside all the images you see on television and figure out exactly how much food your body needs to maintain good health and how portion-wise you are going to adminster that nourishment. I don't think Dr, Phil provides a detailed plan, even though he does include sample menu ideas in the book; he takes the same common-sense country boy approach to dieting as he does when delivering his one-two punch tag lines on his television show. So if you like Dr. Phil and his down-home philosophy, I believe this book can help you. If you need something with more structure that will teach you what a portion is, use Phil's advice as a springboard and find a dieting group or on-line club that will offer support as you delve into the diet you choose.
If you are sick to death of counting calories, you still need to define portion; you still need to be able to realize when your body is no longer hungry and you need to stop eating. I have found that looking into the French way of eating has helped me to do this. Check out the Fat Fallacy by Will Clower or hook into the Fat Fallacy discussion on Yahoo Groups. Read Anne Barone's Chic and Slim books which relate 50-something Barone's own struggle with being overweight and how she won the battle by observing the eating habits of French women. Sometimes the simplest advice is the best----for me--thanks to Anne--- wearing a pair of slacks or a skirt with a waistband and a zipper instead of an elasticized waistline helps me to stop eating--that pressure in the waistline gets you everytime.
Getting your mind off the food and onto something else is also key. If all day long you are watching television and are bombarded with diet success testimonials, miracle drugs and other reminders of your lack of a life---turn off the TV and go out and live your life. The weight comes off as you get your mind on other things.
Bottom line: ...
Rating:
Summary: Dr. Phil + Belly dancing = Weight loss?
Review: What does self-improvement guru Dr. Phil know about belly dancing? Quite a bit apparently. So much so that it is the cornerstone of his Seven Keys to Weight Loss Program. If I may quote his testimonial on Page Eleven: "Belly dancing is a safe, high impact exercise routine that is GUARANTEED to shave the pounds off even the porkiest of people. Get real! Belly dance!" For those not interested in reading through this rather arduous tome, allow Gaston to reveal the seven keys to weight loss freedom, as proclaimed by Dr. Phil: #1 - Belly dance. Morning, noon and night. Belly dance on the subway, in your cubicle, standing in line at the cinema, etc. Just belly dance. Now!
#2 - Skittles. Eat nothing but Skittles.
#3 - Canned sauerkraut juice. Drink nothing but canned sauerkraut juice.
#4 - Shriek at people eating in public.
#5 - Snacking is OK. Page Fifty-three is completely edible.
#6 - Surround yourself with people who are fatter than you. Quote on page seventy-eight: "If you want to look thin, get real and hang out with fat people."
#7 - Get real. (Apparently weight loss hinges upon a person's ability to get real.) Over one hundred and eleven pages are devoted to the topic of belly dancing alone. Other than that, there is not much in the way of useable advice. It is going to be interesting and entertaining to watch the Belly Dancing clinics opening up across America. They do love their fads in America. We here in the socially svelte and dietetically superior region of France do not fall for these fad diets, nor their surprisingly chunky authors. 2 stars for the rather amusing photos on page eighty-eight of Dr. Phil dressed in his belly dancing ensemble. What was meant to be an informative photo spread made for hysterical giggling fits.
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