Rapid Fat Loss Handbook - Review

[asayers99]

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Hello! I'm Tony and I review things. Let's preface this review with the statement "I'm not an expert\guru\super-fantastic 5000 smart guy". My limited qualifications consist of pursuing my bachelors in Health and Sports Science, being a UFPT (unit fitness and performance monitor) in the United States Air Force, and handful of smatterings in different athletic persuits. I'm a career Airman and the general plan is to retire from the service and move into a personal trainer\coach. I write reviews not because I'm particularly good at it, but because I feel their is a lack of integrity and quality work in the industry. Too often people simply overcharge for mediocre or poor products and I didn't see anyone else presenting real feedback\advice to consumers. After mounting frustration I decided that'd if the "experts" wouldn't do it, then maybe an average Joe could. You can find this and other reviews at my blog http://tonyreviews.wordpress.com/
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What does this product and what does it claim?

Product Description
The Rapid Fat Loss Handbook has been completely updated for 2008 and comes bundled with the Beginner Home Exercise Program and an Online Calculator to set up the diet. The Rapid Fat Loss Handbook can be ordered as a hardcopy book or e-book, both come with digital downloads of the Exercise Handbook and Online Calculator. You can read more about them here.

The Rapid Fat Loss Handbook is an integrated approach of nutrition and exercise to drop fat and bodyweight rapidly in the safest way possible. By focusing only on the essential nutrients, and doing the right kind of weight training, you can drop fat and bodyweight rapidly.

This comes in handy when you only have a short time to generate huge changes. The Rapid Fat Loss Diet approach can also be used to kickstart a more moderate fat loss diet.
Who is the author?

Lyle McDonald has been interested in all aspects of human performance physiology since becoming involved in competitive sports as a teenager. Pursuing a degree in Physiological Sciences from UCLA, he has devoted nearly 20 years of his life to studying human physiology and the science, art and practice of human performance, muscle gain, fat loss and body recomposition.

Where can I get it and how much does it cost?

$35-50 depending on the bundle

Review:

My copy is an E-Book version. The book weighs it at 115 pages. The formatting is professional with quality appearance and content. The bundle included “The Home Exercise Handbook” which is 21 pages in a writing style is similar to the main document, full color pictures demonstrating each exercise. The final product item is the “calculator” page. This is a website that is very polished that removes the entire thinking process out of setting up the diet.


Layout\Commentary:

The book progresses in a strait forward and easy to read manner:

Interestingly enough the book is almost divided in half with the first being the rapid fat loss portion and the latter being “normal dieting”. The first half covers what the crash diet is about, basic bodily workings, and most importantly “how to do it”. This is the meat and potato’s section that supply’s important information about metabolism and why crash diets work\don’t work and the consequences of doing them. After reading this section you could easily set up the diet and explain to others what you’re doing, why you’re doing it, and the expected outcome in a meaningful way. The writing style itself is very well done. It’s pleasant, concise, and at times humorous. There may be an occasional swear word thrown in giving the over all feeling is that you’re riding a bus to a ball game and (for what ever reason) this guy in seat 4b just happens to be explaining how diets work. You’ve only got forty minutes or so and you’ll never see each other again so you get the important stuff and not worry about the fluff. The entire atmosphere is casual and entertaining without being forced while the entire package maintains it’s educational value.

The second portion deals with moving out of a crash diet and into a “normal” diet. This includes counting AND non-calorie counting methods. Both subsections are well executed and are given in the same concise “this is the actual stuff that matters” way. It’s impressive the depth that the items in this section are covered when in all honesty they “could” be their own book or simply not included in any way (theoretically). After reading this section you should be able to execute a more moderate diet successfully and be able to carry on with life and\or transition back into a hard diet stage.

The home exercise book is a product geared towards a sedentary individual that might not be able or feel comfortable going to the gym but wants to better themselves in a safe and comfortable environment. The document briefly discusses what strength training is, some basic terminology, what to do, and how to do it. The exercise demonstrations include color photos and good explanations. The whole document ends with a sample program and some “important things to remember”.

The “Calorie Calculator” is a neat little addition to the bundle. Part of the great fun of “The Ultimate Diet 2.0” is plugging through the math to see that you’re aloud to eat at any given time. This isn’t quite as big of a deal with “The Rapid Fat Loss Handbook” as the answer is going to be “very little” and the sheer volume of math isn’t very intimidating, but the calculator is still pretty cool. You plug in some basic information about yourself and it fires back with essentially everything that you need to do the diet. Hit “print” and you’re done. It’s a really cool way to put everything together really fast and a really nice addition to the package.

As some of you might be aware that this is a revision of a previously released version of a manual by the same name. The major differences outside of the obvious additional bundle items are a greatly expanded “Setting up the Diet” and “Exercise” chapters. Of the 30 additional pages in v2 the majority are in these two chapters offering considerably more explanation in setting up a plan that will match your current level of fitness and purpose for going on the diet. The additional information should cover the majorities of the “What about X?” scenario’s that come from people using the diet for good or evil. Athletic application is definitely covered in more detail and over all you get a better feel of how to apply the diet to any situation the dieter might be in. The largest “new” information that jumped out at me was the expansion of athletes\people that are already in shape and how they should approach the PSMF.

Final Thoughts:

The “Rapid Fat Loss Handbook” v2 is easy to recommend. It is easy and dare I say “fun” to read. The information is top notch and highly applicable. Both the “crash diet” and the “normal diet” could stand alone, but having them both together creates a pretty awesome package. The addition of the home exercise handbook will be a nice addition for those that haven’t exercised in a while and want a complete bundle to help them start down the right path. The online calculator is freaking awesome for the lazy and\or those that are math retarded.

V1 was a great book. V2 is a fantastic package that 99.9% of the people buying it will be able to apply towards their dieting adventures.

[skwpt]

Thanks for the review. I just bought V2.

[Amrn65]

Read the book and I loved the book. Lyle writes in a matter-of-fact style that is to the point. I LOVE this about the book. It has all the meat and potatoes information without all the extra non-useful stuff in-between. I am a bullet point person, just give me the facts and nothing more. Show me the evidence and get on with it and Lyle does this perfectly. I learned alot and I actually did the RFL category 1 plan with great results. Lyle has a new fan! Thanks