Losing weight is not easy. Jessica Smith agrees because, although she now appears toned and beautiful, she admits it wasn’t always this way. So she and Liz Neporent, a best selling health author, wrote a book about losing weight to help others on their paths to success. It’s called The Thin in 10 Weight-Loss Plan, and she truly believes it can help those who need to shed pounds but have not been able to take that crucial first step to a healthier lifestyle.
Smith tells about her journey in the introduction of the book: “Jessica once tipped the scales at 170 pounds. She tried various diets, exercise plans, motivational programs—you name it, she tried it—but nothing worked. While some plans seemed to work at first, the success was always short-lived. She’d always gain the weight back and then some.”
Any of that sound familiar? One day, Smith had enough and decided to do something about it. Instead of grabbing for another candy bar to soothe her frustrations, she hopped on a stationary bike, telling herself she could have the candy bar after ten minutes. “While those 10 minutes were pretty rough, she felt great afterward—and she had lost the urge to dig into the chocolate,” the book says.
From this, Smith developed her concept of ten minute solutions, sometimes called “exercise snacking” by experts. Her co-author, Liz Neporent, decided she needed an effective weight loss strategy after the birth of her first child. Like many, healthy living became harder with the stresses of parenting, getting less sleep, and going back to work.
The Thin in 10 Weight-Loss Plan was written as a guide for the rest of us, those who don’t have celebrity trainers, an hour of dedicated workout time seven days a week, or disciplines of steel to resist the lure of sugar ever again. The “10” in the title refers to minutes, not meaning you will magically slim down in ten minutes, but as an approach to implement quick segments of time in each day to focus on becoming fit. Ten minute workouts, ten minute recipes, and ten minute fixes to combat an expanding waistline.
The workouts in the book are pretty standard, ranging from walking to planks, bicycles, and squats. Only one set of exercises requires equipment, and that is only a resistance band. The authors do ask that because the sets only take ten minutes that you fully engage during that time to get the most out of the workout. After you’ve become motivated enough to commit to ten minutes, you amp up the intensity by layering workouts for longer periods of time. The advanced plan has you completing four sessions for a total of 40 minutes daily. The book comes with a DVD for additional workouts.
I really liked the premise of the diet section of this book—to make healthy, diverse and quick meals you can take on-the-go. Time is precious in our dizzyingly fast-paced world, and making time to look up, shop for, and cook three meals a day can get difficult very quickly. A typical day on the plan would be Apple Spice Oatmeal for breakfast, a lunch of Cucumber Yogurt Salad in a Pita, and dinner of Parmesan-Crusted Chicken Bake with Mashed Potatoes and Apple Salad. All of the recipes are dietitian approved and take less than ten minutes to prepare. They are also low-calorie, with 300 calories or less for breakfast, 400 for lunch, 600 for dinner, and 200 for snacks.
Overall, Thin in 10 can be an effective plan for what all dieters seek to achieve – lasting weight loss. It stays away from fad ideas and unrealistic goals in favor of simple strategies to begin your journey of shedding the pounds. The book also includes handy chapters on the importance of sleep for weight loss as well as the often-neglected mental side of dieting.
Everyone has ten minutes to devote to their personal well-being. Start with that and successful weight loss will soon follow.
Also Read:
Jessica Smith’s HIIT at Home Workout