Kathy Smith's Getting Better All the Time : Shape Up, Eat Smart, Feel Great!

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Summary: Kathy Smith is my role model!
Review: Earlier this year, I started working out with a couple of Kathy Smith's home videos and liked the physical results I was getting so much I wanted to see what she had to say on paper about diet and exercise. Well, this book really helps you understand what goes on in your body when you exercise and that you HAVE TO EAT in order to lose weight and maintain muscle. Kathy helps you understand the roles protein, carbohydrates, fat and exercise play in helping your body function to its maximum potential. Everything Kathy says makes so much sense, you keep asking yourself "How come I didn't know this already?" I would exercise with her videos but not always eat so great and Kathy's book has helped me really focus on what I'm eating to work in conjunction with exercising. After just a few weeks I'm looking and FEELING better than I have for a long time. Besides learning more about diet and excercise, reading Kathy's story of how she overcame tragedy and adversity early in life is inspiring and motivating. Kathy's explanations of how she balances career, family life (husband and two daughters!) yet still finds time to eat right and exercise every day makes you realize you have no more excuses!! Between her work out videos and this book, I know I've found the right regimen to keep me motivated.

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Summary: Feeling Fine!!!
Review: I absolutely love this book! I keep it handy at home & refer back to it when I feel I need a boost. The exercises in the back of the book are great & you can feel the results right away. This book has kept me on track for over a year now. I refer to it as my own exercise bible. Kathy Smith has been a big inspiration to me! Give it a try!

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Summary: Not a diet book, more of a spritual uplifter.
Review: I have all of Kathy Smith's books, most of her work out tapes and all but one DVD. I found this book to be refreshing. It is an autobiography of sorts, you really get to know Kathy in this book, and it is woven into the life commitment she is pushing for in this book, "Getting better all the time". So many diets these days are focused on a quick-fix sollution, such as my personal favorite, "loose 10lbs. in 48 hours with the Hollywood diet". In this book Kathy drives home the fact that successful dieting and fitness aren't about quick-fixes, but choices and life changes which require learning how to change in a healthy way. She is careful to recognize that we all have different dietary needs (carbohydrates, protiens, and fats), and she is diplomatic in sugguesting which diet is right for you (you know you better than Kathy knows you). I found it to be a very fun read, I must admit that I didn't take away as much as I did in "Lift weights to loose weight", but this is a more familiar subject to me. I found it reasuring to find my philosophies supported here, when usually my friends think that I have an eating disorder because I pay SO much attention to learning about what goes into my body, while they are popping diet pills, or experiencing ketosis. I like that Kathy bluntly tackled two topics that most avoid, first that everyone has an excuse for not living healthy (What's Yours?) and second, she identifies that there are different levels of eating ranging from out of control to eating by the rules, to optimal eating. I think everyone can put themself somewhere in these five levels and use it as a tool to impove their diets. The best part of the whole book though is the recipes. I have tried many of these recipes and a few have made it onto my regular menu at home. I am happy to say that even my husband, Mr. Pizza and Burgers, likes them enough to desire them again, even after I told him it was good for him. I keep the book handy, especially for the recipes. It is a good way to learn to cook more healthy without sacrificing satisfaction and flavor.

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Summary: My least favorite Kathy Smith book
Review: If you're a Kathy Smith fan, this book is for you. It's more like a family memory book than a fitness book: FILLED with anecdotes and photos of Kathy biking in France, Kathy at her daughter's birthday party, Kathy traveling with her husband, Kathy posing, Kathy on magazine covers from years past. There are more of these type of photos in the book than there are of her doing the few exercises at the end (after the photos of her video covers and before the ones of her tape covers).

Her seven-point plan is very general and nothing new. "Find a passion for exercise," she says, with no suggestions for how a new exerciser might go about it. If most readers could do that, they wouldn't need a book.

She offers 3 meal plans, but doesn't go into much detail about which ones you're suited for. What does "for people who do carbohydrates well" really mean to the average person, and how could they tell? There's very little about portion sizes or calorie recommendations for these meal plans, either.

And WORST of all, exercise is given little more than a passing nod, with a small handful of basic weight training exercises at the very end. And no modifications for when your strength and fitness progress.

For a long-time fitness guru like her, this is disappointing. It's a lot of pages for the little you can get from it. I'd recommend "Strong Women Stay Slim" instead. It gives you what you need without all the autobiography.

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Summary: Kathy Smith Guides and Motivates us Toward Excellent health!
Review: Kathy Smith guides and motivates us toward excellent health once again in this great new book, "Getting Better All the Time: Shape Up, Eat Smart, Feel Great". She not only shows us how to achieve good health by eating smart and exercising, she also tells us why it is important.

She discusses excuses and has solutions for them. She gives us a basic eating plan for the type of eaters we are. There are fitness walking tips as well as strength training exercises toward the end of the book. We also gain insight into a process she calls "Periodization" which helps avoid the plateaus that make us feel as if we're not achieving results from our hard work at exercise.

Reading this book will steer you in the right direction, then motivate and catipult you into healthy action! No major figure in the fitness industry provides us with as much comprehensive information as Kathy does. She is down to earth and makes us feel like she is right there alongside to guide and support us as we reach our personal maintenance goals.

I highly recommend this book to anyone who is thinking about improving their lives. The power of choice is strong -- from which activities to participate in, to what foods to eat. It's all up to you. With Kathy Smith's help we will meet our fitness and health goals.

--Amanda Briles

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Summary: Sifting through diet gimmicks and presenting the facts!
Review: Kathy Smith is certianly one of my favorites when it comes to handing out common sense advice on an often perplexing subject. I have read two of her books and I am not disappointed by this one in the least. She is clear and concise on how different foods work to fuel the body. It is discussed in detail why certain people may not have success on a particular diet. You must find the one that your body responds to the best. I enjoy her positive approach on getting healthy and staying

in shape. While some may call it syrupy sweet at times, I think that they're just jealous. When she wrote this book she was 45, she looks great and she works at it! She mentions frequently that she has down falls like the rest of us. It humanizes her and makes her much easier to relate to. Great job on this one, keep up the good work Kathy!

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Summary: The most motivating fitness and nutrition book I've read!
Review: Kathy Smith, gives wise, practical advice in her common-sense style. Her suggestions for diet styles offer something for everyone. She leaves you feeling that with common sense, pen and paper and motivation-you will suceed.

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Summary: Great for fitness newbies!
Review: We all know we "should" exercise, yet have many excuses why we don't, and Kathy Smith provides excellent advice on how to overcome those barriers and achieve good health and balance in our lives. The focus of the book is feeling better, not looking better, and how we can become empowered by living a healthy life. Smith is not a great writer and her message could have been delivered more eloquently or with more power, but her easy-to-follow ideas come through nonetheless. Great for someone trying to get fit!