Drew Manning

I read this on the kindle, so not sure how close the ebook is to the real book. I actually really liked the overall mechanisms of the book. Having the recipes and his exercises at the end were really useful rather than breaking up the narrative. It was also nice to see the details from his wife. It definitely felt like more editing could have been done to take this book to stellar territory though. In a followup book I'd recommend pulling out the outline of what is intended to be covered and show more then add the material around those foci. I felt like there were some really important points that haven't been addressed in other fitness books I've read but that it was lost in the repetition and emotion of the book. It would have been nice to have more material from the 6 months of recovery documenting his journey rather than just giving the abbreviated version of "make the right decision every day over and over" and "be prepared" and "have support system like awesome wife who preps your food and makes stickies for you". The abrupt time shifts occasionally confused me. I wasn't sure when something happened and if he was referring to when he was originally fit, fat, or fit again. On the kindle version some of the side bar items definitely are distracting and useless as they don't seem to flow with the narrative. Overall this is definitely a promising book, and I hope the author puts something else together and beefs up the story. show less

The book got better the further along Drew spoke of his journey. I totally recommend that personal trainers read this book to help understand the psychological and emotional struggle of their clients who have been overweight/ obese most of their lives. It also makes me feel better that when I want to reach for that cookie, even when I swear off the sweets, it's normal. LOL.

This was a good book to see how the author purposefully gained 75 pounds and then to lose it again. As a personal trainer, he couldn't understand why his clients couldn't make the decision to lose their extra weight. What was the stumbling block? How could they overcome their addictions to processed unhealthy foods? Could he find a way to more personally help them? This is when he decided to start where most of his clients were, feeling depressed, busy, tired and overweight. The things he show more learned on the journey now make him a more effective trainer having been on the other side. Also includes simple recipes and exercises. show less

This was a quick and decent read. It sounds like Manning gained a new perspective on helping his fitness clients. I've earmarked a couple of the recipes included in the back of the book. I'll likely try a couple of the strength exercises (with photos) from the back of the book too.