Scan barcode
redpineapple's review against another edition
4.0
The book takes a good selection of latest studies and binds them together in a compelling narrative. This is unlike any other health book I have read and that is mainly because of 3 reasons:
1) Stephen Guise gives implementation strategies that will help you immediately apply the principles and strategies in your life.
2) He believes and propagates a no-shame approach which is amazing. The best part is that he doesn't resort to woo-woo reasons to be more intuitive and mindful. I am a fan of the scientific method and this is what I get from Guise.
3) Instead of a 30 day diet program, he focuses on consistency. Yep baby, the only thing that works.
All in all, a great book. I will reread it the following week, take notes and then apply things in my life. I will report back with results.
1) Stephen Guise gives implementation strategies that will help you immediately apply the principles and strategies in your life.
2) He believes and propagates a no-shame approach which is amazing. The best part is that he doesn't resort to woo-woo reasons to be more intuitive and mindful. I am a fan of the scientific method and this is what I get from Guise.
3) Instead of a 30 day diet program, he focuses on consistency. Yep baby, the only thing that works.
All in all, a great book. I will reread it the following week, take notes and then apply things in my life. I will report back with results.
jessorella's review against another edition
4.0
I think I bought this as a Kindle Daily Deal, and I bought it because I just don’t like a standard “diet” and anyway, none of them seem to work for me any more! Gone (apparently) are the days when I could chug two cans of Slim-Fast and have a normal dinner and be half a stone down in three weeks...
So, these days I’m heavier on the scale than I was after my son was born, and when I got married. In some ways I don’t mind being curvier, but in many more ways, I have a problem with myself when I look in the mirror. I was intrigued by the premise of this book because it delves deeply into retraining your habits to help you lose weight. It focuses on a system where NOTHING is off limits - not carbs, chocolate, takeaway, fizzy drinks or platters of cheese. It naturally suggests restraint in those matters, of course, but it explains HOW these things affect us, WHY we reach for them, how we can reapply our minds when we want those things again - and best of all, the mini habits system is only just a touch stronger than effortless.
A mini habit is called just that because it’s mini - it’s tiny. It doesn’t require a barrel of willpower every day, it doesn’t ask you to make calculations while you look a restaurant menu, it doesn’t ask you to shame or guilt yourself for choices you have (or haven’t) made. It just asks you to make a maximum of four super-tiny choices each day that will never push you further than you think you can go, even on your worst day.
It’s a really interesting premise, and I found the book intriguing to read. I note the author has written another book on mini habits that you can apply to life in general, rather than to weight loss, and I’ll be looking that up shortly.
So, these days I’m heavier on the scale than I was after my son was born, and when I got married. In some ways I don’t mind being curvier, but in many more ways, I have a problem with myself when I look in the mirror. I was intrigued by the premise of this book because it delves deeply into retraining your habits to help you lose weight. It focuses on a system where NOTHING is off limits - not carbs, chocolate, takeaway, fizzy drinks or platters of cheese. It naturally suggests restraint in those matters, of course, but it explains HOW these things affect us, WHY we reach for them, how we can reapply our minds when we want those things again - and best of all, the mini habits system is only just a touch stronger than effortless.
A mini habit is called just that because it’s mini - it’s tiny. It doesn’t require a barrel of willpower every day, it doesn’t ask you to make calculations while you look a restaurant menu, it doesn’t ask you to shame or guilt yourself for choices you have (or haven’t) made. It just asks you to make a maximum of four super-tiny choices each day that will never push you further than you think you can go, even on your worst day.
It’s a really interesting premise, and I found the book intriguing to read. I note the author has written another book on mini habits that you can apply to life in general, rather than to weight loss, and I’ll be looking that up shortly.
mrsfligs's review against another edition
4.0
The concept behind this book (and its related book) is that creating small, achievable mini habits is the key to making a habit a permanent part of your life.
The key is to truly make the habits mini. As an example of how he began exercising, the author says his habit was one push-up a day. Some days he did more, but every day he did at least one.
This isn't a terrible idea for making huge changes. After all, most "resolutions" or commitments to change fall apart because we find them too challenging or difficult to make a part of our lives. By breaking them down into very small goals, they become easier to achieve and allow us to keep them going and in front of us -- with the eventual goal being that we slowly and consistently expand on the habit over time.
I think the book is worth reading as an alternative to trying to follow a diet. Instead, you make a few mini habits that try to get you accomplish your healthy eating goals, and then keep them going. I'm simplifying (of course) but that is the general gist of the book. There is also lots of info on why dieting tends not the work, how to eat healthy (the closer to its natural state, the better the food), and lots of "ranting" on why processed foods are the devil. If nothing else worked for you, why not try this approach?
Full Disclosure: I read the book, thought it had merit, but then didn't bother to put any of it into action. In other words, pretty much the exact same thing I do with all healthy eating and/or diet books. Sigh.
The key is to truly make the habits mini. As an example of how he began exercising, the author says his habit was one push-up a day. Some days he did more, but every day he did at least one.
This isn't a terrible idea for making huge changes. After all, most "resolutions" or commitments to change fall apart because we find them too challenging or difficult to make a part of our lives. By breaking them down into very small goals, they become easier to achieve and allow us to keep them going and in front of us -- with the eventual goal being that we slowly and consistently expand on the habit over time.
I think the book is worth reading as an alternative to trying to follow a diet. Instead, you make a few mini habits that try to get you accomplish your healthy eating goals, and then keep them going. I'm simplifying (of course) but that is the general gist of the book. There is also lots of info on why dieting tends not the work, how to eat healthy (the closer to its natural state, the better the food), and lots of "ranting" on why processed foods are the devil. If nothing else worked for you, why not try this approach?
Full Disclosure: I read the book, thought it had merit, but then didn't bother to put any of it into action. In other words, pretty much the exact same thing I do with all healthy eating and/or diet books. Sigh.
fufina's review against another edition
4.0
Tried a few mini steps and most of them did work. Started with drinking 1 large glass of water upon awakening and now I am drinking 80-90 ounces a day which is vastly more water than when I started. The 1 pushup, 1 situp, 1 plank did not develop into an exercise program. Taking a flight of stairs at work has developed into more flights of stairs at work but I also still use the elevator for long trips from my 1st floor to 9-10th floors but I am still logging more flights of stairs daily than when I started. Now I have fruit after lunch for dessert and if I still want chocolate then I have a few bites versus my half chocolate bar I was eating. I like that he focuses on eating real food and to ignore the low fat or science made foods. Overall, my body feels happier about eating real food.
Though losing weight was not my main focus, I have lost over 8 lbs since starting this book. Came on slow so coming off slow is healthy.
Though losing weight was not my main focus, I have lost over 8 lbs since starting this book. Came on slow so coming off slow is healthy.
bookitalum's review against another edition
3.0
This book is like a one-hour Zoom meeting that could have been covered in a 2-sentence email. The book’s premise is solid and there are certainly some gems worth taking away from it. Unfortunately, it’s at least 5x longer than it needs to be. (Maybe it’s a quicker read when you’re really invested in the content?) The author also talks out of both sides of his mouth. In one breath he demonizes any non-nutritious, unhealthy, processed/packaged food, and tells the reader they cannot and will not succeed by eating these foods in any amount; in the next breath he preaches moderation, and making small, reasonable changes over time for lasting success. He also relies on science to support numerous points, but then ignores all of the extant literature while needlessly demonizing GMO’s. The cherry picking is a bit nonsensical, and reduces my confidence in the author. Overall, my hope was to find a book I could recommend to some clients that promoted a healthful, positive approach to weight loss, with incremental behavior change at the forefront. This is that book, but I don’t feel great about recommending it.
erinmk's review against another edition
Can’t quite decide how to rate this book yet. Some worthwhile ideas about how to deal with food and exercise but the writing style seemed a bit scattered at times. I’ll have to come back and rate it later.
zhelana's review against another edition
3.0
I like to write a review as I finish each book, but I'm not sure I've given this book enough time to really decide if it works. I know from experience that the mini habits techniques work to change my life, but I'm not sure it's actually going to change my weight.
For one thing, I've gained 3 lbs since starting to read this book. I'm not sure whether that is muscle weight from doing more push ups, or because I came from Britain to America and the food just isn't as good for you here and I don't walk as much as I did there (I lost over 20 lbs in the 3 weeks I was in England just because the food is better for you and I was walking a lot), or because I've added eating fruit to my diet but haven't really stopped eating anything else since I wasn't eating much else to begin with, or because I've cut back on Starbucks refreshers which have green coffee in them which is known to help weight loss. Or if I've changed my eating habits without noticing, like eating more fast food. Or if the whole grain bread I've started eating is actually more calorie dense than the white bread I was eating. Or if I just drank less water or more salt yesterday and thus was a little bloated today when I weighed in. Anyway there's a lot of things that could have gone wrong in the past week to cause weight gain, and most of them aren't the fault of this book.
The big takeaway from this book may be that i'm exercising wrong. 10 minutes of dancing a day is great, but Guise suggests that better may be 4 30 second sprints with 4 minutes in between them a couple times a week. And of course since it is mini habits, one 30 second sprint a day is better than no sprints.
If one assumes the goal is really to be healthier, rather than a number on a scale, then this book has probably helped me, though honestly I could have worked out the gist of it from the original mini habits book. I've started eating more fruit and standing up every hour as well as changing how I exercise at least some days of the week. We'll keep an eye on the scale and see if it starts going down again, or at least stabilizes itself
For one thing, I've gained 3 lbs since starting to read this book. I'm not sure whether that is muscle weight from doing more push ups, or because I came from Britain to America and the food just isn't as good for you here and I don't walk as much as I did there (I lost over 20 lbs in the 3 weeks I was in England just because the food is better for you and I was walking a lot), or because I've added eating fruit to my diet but haven't really stopped eating anything else since I wasn't eating much else to begin with, or because I've cut back on Starbucks refreshers which have green coffee in them which is known to help weight loss. Or if I've changed my eating habits without noticing, like eating more fast food. Or if the whole grain bread I've started eating is actually more calorie dense than the white bread I was eating. Or if I just drank less water or more salt yesterday and thus was a little bloated today when I weighed in. Anyway there's a lot of things that could have gone wrong in the past week to cause weight gain, and most of them aren't the fault of this book.
The big takeaway from this book may be that i'm exercising wrong. 10 minutes of dancing a day is great, but Guise suggests that better may be 4 30 second sprints with 4 minutes in between them a couple times a week. And of course since it is mini habits, one 30 second sprint a day is better than no sprints.
If one assumes the goal is really to be healthier, rather than a number on a scale, then this book has probably helped me, though honestly I could have worked out the gist of it from the original mini habits book. I've started eating more fruit and standing up every hour as well as changing how I exercise at least some days of the week. We'll keep an eye on the scale and see if it starts going down again, or at least stabilizes itself
stierbri's review against another edition
5.0
This is one of the first books I’ve read that gives true lasting advice. It’s not a diet and exercise book, it’s a change your life forever book! It has really helped me!!
maxineha's review against another edition
5.0
Love this book! Lots of great ideas, and different from the usual diet book.