Rating: 
Summary: Not a weight loss guide...
Review: Do not buy this book if you are looking for a book telling you to eat right and exercise, that's not what this is, and that's no mistake. This book is to find the REAL reasons we overeat. This book is NOT to tell us what to do to lose pounds on the outside only, as many other weightloss guides do. In other words, this is an actual solution, one that finds the root of the problem, and fixes that, not a REACTIVE solution that is simply a band-aid for most people (hence the yo yo dieting and weightloss)...that is if you have extra lbs. fix it by addressing the lbs. only eat less and exercise. If you want to lose lbs. and lose them for good, read this book. If you simply need to lose a few vanity pounds, perhaps try something else.
Rating: 
Summary: Seriously missing the mark
Review: Given all the publicity (coupled with his own enthusiasm), one would think that Dr. Phillip McGraw was about to release a truly innovative and comprehensively effective plan for fat loss and personal health. Halleluiah!When first picking up the book and reading the title, it became immediately apparent that this was going to be another book about "weight-loss," rather than "fat-loss." Not a good thing. The process of effective fat loss should include the deliberate protection of lean body mass to achieve long-term success. "Weight loss" is less much less particular. With the book divided into twelve chapters, it's not until the ninth that he dedicates any discussion to exercise. Even then, advice given is shallow and ineffective. There is no serious discussion of the importance of muscle, how it's most efficiently developed, nor how it's maintained once you get it. The importance of a well-maintained amino acid pool, and glycogen control are topics not even touched upon. The proposed eating plan is excessively simplistic. Obesity is rampant because we haven't learned the importance of nutrition and how it defines our bodies. Don't expect to find the answers in this "Ultimate" plan. In discussing properly sized "portions," for example, he first makes reference to the size of one's cupped palm (this is good since it reflects the proportionate size of the individual's body)-but then he continues, "or the size of a tennis ball." The tennis ball comparison (a fixed volume) ruins an otherwise reasonable means for determining portions to address body size. When it comes to food, mindlessly grouping them by protein, carbohydrate, or fat (as has been done many, many times before) is overly simplistic. As a single example, while peas and broccoli are both vegetables (and are generally classified as carbohydrates), their nutritional contributions are vastly different. Dr. Phil makes no distinction of the nutritional values offered by [½ cup] servings of each: 1.25g protein, 1.90g carbohydrate, 0.16g fat = broccoli
3.75g protein, 9.87g carbohydrate, 0.27g fat = peas
Peas have 3x protein, 5x carbohydrate (and even 3x in fiber) that broccoli does.
All foods within a particular macronutrient class are not created equal. While it may be important to for readers to understand the social and personal reasons why they let themselves get out of shape, the lack of a quality corrective system makes this "Ultimate Weight Loss Solution" fall horribly short. Success is in the details-but the details are sadly missing. Dr. Phil, and readers wanting to take serious control of their physical fitness, should "get real" (Dr. Phil's commonly issued down-home advice) and look elsewhere for their "Ultimate Solution."
Rating:
Summary: Two girls from Texas
Review: My best friend and I read this book over the weekend. We both loved it and feel Dr. Phil can help us lose our unwanted pounds.
His advice is nothing you have not heard before,it's the way that it is presented that makes it stick. We are both so excited! Great book! Great advice! What more could you ask for?
Rating:
Summary: i am disappointed with myself, not the book!
Review: I have to say that i have read a lot of reviews that say that they are disappointed with Dr. Phil's book, but the only person that i am disappointed in is myself. I let myself get overweight. i let my self eat until i could not see my toes. i am fat and i am disappointed i have not been able to find a diet that i could stick with- it wasnt that the diets could not have works, it was that i was not giving them the chance to. i am ready to give The Ultimate Weight Solution a chance. I watched Dr. Phil's show and he said that he was going to give 24 hour support to everyone, even people not on his challenge list...and i am going to take that support. my first step was getting his book and reading it cover to cover and my second was cleaning out my refrigerator and my closet. i keep all my "overweight" clothes because i think that i will eventually need them again and i am usually right. but this time i am not even giving myself a chance to fit back in them. i am taking dr. phil's advice and making some changes. so far my only changes that people can see have been on the outside, but i am sure that in time people will begin to see a new me inside and out (and hopefully a more healthy me as well).
Rating:
Summary: Stop being a victim!
Review: It's all true... Until you're ready to lose weight, you won't do it. And by ready, I mean you've stopped blaming your weight problems on your childhood, husband, the diet industry, blah, blah... I'm fat too, but I'm losing weight because one morning I woke up and realized that no one was going to do it for me. And I was tired of it. I was the only one who shoved the cheeseburgers in my mouth... it wasn't my mom or anyone in my family. It was ME! Own your problems and do it. It's not easy or quick, but it is worth the work. There are no magic pills. Stop waiting for a miracle -- it's not coming! As Dr. Phil says, "You're fat because you want to be." Buy the book, read it.. and I mean REALLY read it, do the work, own the problem, and you'll lose weight. If you don't, it's not because Dr. Phil didn't write a good book; it's because YOU aren't ready yet. Good luck.
Rating:
Summary: Get this book!
Review: If you love, like or feel an affinity for Dr. Phil than buy this book because it is pure Dr. Phil. I have been a fan since my mother and I started to watch him and his son on TV. My mother just bought this book and it actually made her cry- a few of the stories in it are quite heart breaking just like the show. I hope that everyone who is thinking about losing weight- as almost everyone is it seems- this is a great book to get you geared up to lose weight. the plan in it is not very thorough, which is doesnt need to be, but it is very useful as you look at other diets or try to make your own. there is enough variety to do quite a few things with your diet- or eating plan if you would rather call it that. I have been looking at different exercise books too, because Dr. Phil talks so much about exercising and it made me realize how very little i do. I am going out today to find something that will help me there too and i have started trying to substitute eating with activity like he suggested. Dr. Phil is a great man who does care about us and how we are living our lives and i believe that people who can see this should get this book.
Rating:
Summary: It's Dr. Phil time!
Review: I have read a few reviews that say that Dr. Phil is not qualified to write The Ultimate Weight Solution and after reading the book i have to say that those people are wrong. The book is amazingly well written (as are all of Dr. Phil's books) and you can truly see the amount of effort that was put into this book. Dr. Phil is in fact a doctor of psychology and that qualifies him in my mind to be able and qualified enough to write a book not about nutrition per say but about behavior that goes along with eating and more specifically over eating. Dr. Phil fills in the large gaping gap of why people binge on foods that are bad for them and about taking responsibility for your weight.
The nutrition and medical parts of the book are actually quite sound since they are based on the help of a number of doctors and a nutritionist who advised Dr. Phil (you can read about them in the acknowledgement page). Also the book has an endorsement from the AHA (American Heart Association) that is quite glowing (also in the beginning of the book). I find all of these things very impressive and seeing Dr. Phil on Katie Couric's show just cemented in my mind how able i think Dr. Phil is...for all those out there who doubt him i would watch his upcoming shows on weight and see how brilliant he really is with something as simple as common sense advised at the right time in exactly the right way- Dr. Phil's way!
Rating: 
Summary: I highly recommend this book
Review: I just finished reading Dr. Phil's book and I am very impressed. I am not a Dr. Phil or Oprah groupie. I have been a chronic dieter for most of my life, and I am as heavy as ever. I've tried them all...with some success only to wind up right where I started-and then some. In my opinion, the reason is that my focus has always been on the food. How many points can I have? How many carbs can I have? This food is GOOD. This food is BAD. All of it is nonsense. The only thing all my failures have had in common is ME. Does Dr. Phil's book reveal any groundbreaking information? No. But then again, how could it? There is nothing magical out there to discover. We eat too much, for the wrong reasons and don't exercise. There is no one answer for everyone. I think the problem is that people keep waiting for THE SOLUTION to come along that solves their weight issues. And while they are waiting they keep getting fatter and fatter. The solution to the problem is yourself-and most people ignore that. Trust me-I have been the same way. I am sure I have spent thousands of dollars on books, and videos and new diet fads hoping one would finally work. I think it was almost a crutch-rather than putting the time into myself I would put the time into reading about a new diet and get excited about it for about a week until I got tired of it and went back to my old ways. The one thing in this book that hit me the most is how bad a friend and supporter of myself I have been. How can I succeed when inside I keep telling myself that I am fat and because of that somehow "less than"? This one thing has really changed my whole approach and made me conscious of so many new things. For me, this is honestly the first time I have really taken the time to delve into "why" I use food the way I do. And it has been truly enlightening. Is this book for everyone? Probably not-I think you really have to be open and ready to make a change. If I had read this a few years ago, I might have tossed it aside and wanted something "quicker" because I was in a very different place then. I think if this book can just make a few people realize what I have realized than it is completely worth it. Best of luck to all of you out there. Take good care of yourselves.
Rating:
Summary: you get back what you put in
Review: First of all... the book. This seems to be a good solid overview of all the key elements in what you have to do to succeed. What makes this a new twist on the ole diet books is that he spends a lot of time discussing HOW you need to do what you know you need to do. And I think this is key. Yes, we all know we have to eat less and exercise more. The difference is that this book can really help to give you the power to do just that. People get back what they put into it. In reading all of these reviews, I am not sure what the motivation of these readers are. There are many comments about Dr. Phil making money, or Dr. Phil not being buff enough. But what I say is: Who gives a crap? So what if he is making money? Isn't the important thing whether or not the book can help you reach your weight goals? Maybe these readers are p.o.ed that they simply do not want to do what he asks of you to be successful, and not face the fact that yes, you are fat because you allow yourself to be, so once and for all take responsbility and do the hard work that it will take. In summary, if you are ready to do everything 100% that is in the book, you should be successful. It's that simple. And it's that hard. A great book for those who are REALLY ready to do the mental and physical work of getting and staying in shape. Too hard for those that just want a diet plan.
Rating:
Summary: What's going on here!?!?
Review: I bought Dr. Phil's book expecting it to be the "ultimate weight solution", but the deeper I got into it, the more I realized that he wasn't telling me anything I hadn't read or heard a thousand times before. And, shame on him for not giving the reader a dietary plan to follow. In the end, this book is just a bunch of rah-rah-sis-boom-bah blather from a guy who knows how to make a buck.
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