Choose More, Lose More for Life
Chris Powell
Read by Chris Powell

Hachette Audio
January 2014/ ISBN B00HHH3KBK
Nonfiction / Health / Nutrition / Audio Book (5 hours and 42 minutes)

Reviewed by Leslie Halpern

This is a follow-up to the previous book, Choose to Lose: The 7-Day Carb Cycle Solution. This new guide to healthy weight loss by “Extreme Makeover” fitness trainer Chris Powell provides more options for achieving that goal. His first rule in accomplishing weight loss (extreme or moderate) is to realize the power of keeping promises. He writes that every transformation begins with a single promise that can be fulfilled. This commitment to transformation involves 101 “power promises” regarding food, body, and mind.

Once readers have achieved the proper mindset for losing weight, they can pick a carbohydrate cycling program in which planned low-carb/low calorie days and high-carb/high-calorie days keep their metabolisms from stabilizing. In addition to his “classic” carb cycling program outlined in the first book, three additional versions of carb cycling offer more options for different lifestyles: “easy” (slower weight loss with lots of cheat meals); “turbo” (faster weight loss through additional low-carb days); and “fit” (an extra high-carb plan for athletes). A chart included on the accompanying PDF helps readers identify which plan is right for them. The PDF also features photographs and lists from the book, plus exercise plans based on everyday movements.

Read by the author with compassion and enthusiasm, this audio book repeats and elaborates on some material from his first book, plus features new ideas including the additional carb cycling plans and more exercise programs. Powell says to eliminate the need to read both books, he includes pertinent material from the first book, including the concept of eating five meals daily at three-hour intervals, eating protein at every meal, and eating SMART (specific, measurable, attainable, relevant, and time-bound).

Powell’s plans simplify weight loss without an extraordinary amount of sacrifice or compromise. The basic ideas are easy to understand and make personal transformation seem within reach for everybody. The PDF includes photographs featuring extremes such as obese before-and-after shots or, on the opposite end of the spectrum, photographs of Powell and his wife, Heidi, looking happy, healthy, and perfectly fit. All the pictures are inspiring in their own way, though perhaps don’t necessarily represent the average reader.