"Waiting On" Wednesday: The Daniel Fast for Weight Loss by Susan Gregory

"Waiting On" Wednesday is a weekly event, hosted by Jill at Breaking the Spine, that spotlights upcoming releases that we're eagerly anticipating.

My pick for this week is:

If you’re tired of chasing the latest diet fad only to find that you’ve gained weight, it’s time to try an entirely different approach. The Daniel Fast for Weight Loss succeeds where other programs fail because it focuses on your relationship with God as well as on your relationship with food. Once you discover the pleasures of eating the food God has provided for optimum health, you will not want to turn back. The Daniel Fast for Weight Loss offers a strategic, biblically based plan backed by solid research that will eliminate your cravings and help you to drop those unwanted pounds once and for all.

Susan Gregory, “The Daniel Fast Blogger” and bestselling author of The Daniel Fast, is back with a spiritual and practical roadmap to this wildly popular 21-day fast for anyone who wants to lose weight and develop a lifestyle of health in a way that honors God. Way beyond a diet plan, The Daniel Fast for Weight Loss includes more than 90 new recipes, multiple tips for successful fasting, a 21-day devotional, and practical guidance for maintaining weight loss and good eating habits even after you complete your Christ-centered fasting experience. Embark on a life-changing journey toward happiness and confidence about the body God designed for you.

What's your "waiting on" pick this week?

Interview with Susan Maiava, Author of Fat Chance! The no-going-back Weight Loss Workbook

Welcome, Susan. Can you tell us a bit about yourself?

Hi Cheryl,

Thanks so much for the opportunity to introduce Fat Chance! The no-going-back Weight Loss Workbook to your readers. A bit about myself? Well I have had an interesting range of life experiences from being an overseas volunteer (like a Peace Corp volunteer) to being a university lecturer, from being a mother to being an author and business owner.

But my chief qualification here is that I was significantly overweight for many years, so I can identify with anyone who is overweight and wants desperately to lose weight. I was tired of the debilitating effect it had on my life and when I looked into the future I didn’t want to be like that for the rest of my life. I couldn’t keep up with my children. It was hugely embarrassing to tell the shop assistant that the XXL was too small. So I gave up shopping for clothes.

Physically I snored, I got headaches and heartburn, my skin chaffed and I was borderline pre-diabetic (all those are gone now). It was hugely embarrassing to walk at normal speed with friends, trying desperately to hide my puffing. So I dropped out of activities (or was not included). I was an observer rather than a participant and I desperately wanted to participate in life.

But for me personally one of the biggest issues was that I had a lot to contribute but was not taken seriously. I was undervalued and overlooked in my professional career. Despite my size I was invisible. I wanted to be taken seriously – that was a key motivation for me.

What made you decide to write Fat Chance! The Weight Loss Workbook?

When I was losing weight I was always looking for good advice but I never found what I was looking for on the bookshelves. There were certainly inspiring personal stories of weight loss. There were prescriptive books full of diet plans written by professionals who had never been overweight (many of these did contain good technical advice which, incidentally, overweight people already know). And there were a range of ‘wacky’ restrictive pseudo-science options.

But most focused on dieting or sticking to diets and there was nothing (in my view) that combined a comprehensive approach to changing your lifestyle, including dealing with emotional hunger, changing your thinking, habits and behaviors, eating better, working with your body and getting active, with a personal, reflective, interactive workbook format.

So after I had lost weight I decided to research and write it myself. I had written a book before and I know how to research so I decided to fill what I believe is an enormous gap in the market. So when I wrote Fat Chance! I combined the best current research with my insider knowledge of what it was like to be overweight and how overweight people think. That combination is key.

How is it different from other weight loss books on the market?

The Fat Chance! slogan sums it up in a nutshell: “Forget about how fat people diet. Focus on how slim people eat.” The key point of difference is Fat Chance! is absolutely definitely not a diet. Instead it facilitates a lifestyle change focused on learning to think and eat like a slim person, forever.

The greatest misconception people have about losing weight is that you lose weight by dieting for a certain time (and then going back to your old behavior). One of my first insights was the realization that if you eat the amount of food needed to maintain your goal slim weight every day, you would, over time, reach and maintain that weight, just as slim people do, keeping the weight off forever.

With Fat Chance! you learn to eat for your slim weight from Day 1. The new skills and strategies you adopt to do this are yours for the rest of your life. I think that is the key difference and is why this is not a diet. The end goal is to live differently. The weight-loss will happen as a result of changing your lifestyle.

The second major point of difference is the engaging, interactive workbook format. Research has shown that food journaling alone is a very effective weight loss tool but it is more than that. The question and answer format enables the reader to slow down, become much more self-aware, reflect deeply and draw out of themselves and make the changes they need to make at a very personal and individual level.

How easy is your book to use and understand for someone who hasn’t tried anything other than traditional diet plans?

I agree that it seems strange to not think you are supposed to be dieting. After all we have always been taught that is how you lose weight. But think instead of how slim people naturally maintain their slim weight.

Fat Chance! is extremely easy to use as you work through it just one day at a time. The journal style has several advantages. It provides a very safe environment in which to deal with weight issues, especially emotional issues; a sort of “dear diary.” Many people have written to me describing it as their new best friend. The workbook itself becomes the encourager, the friend who walks beside the reader on their journey each day.

Fat Chance! is well designed and organized so everything is covered. Each day of the week has a different theme: The six themes are: Thinking like a slim person, Working with your body, Establishing new habits, Dealing with emotional hunger, Getting active, Enjoying a healthy balanced diet and Day 7 is a Debrief and reflection. Groups can come together on Day 7. So each day is interesting and new but the full picture layers and builds week on week.

How much time does it take to implement the plan in your book?

Fat Chance! The Weight Loss Workbook is a colorful and stylish but very practical, interactive workbook which engages the reader every day. It can take as little as 15 minutes or up to 45 minutes a day, depending on the reader. Many prefer to delve into it both morning (to plan) and evening (to reflect).

The program is 12 weeks long, but because it is life-changing, in this sense it never ends. There is no going back to old ways. I don’t mean that you have to diet forever (a terrible thought). Instead you reach a healthy new equilibrium; a new lifestyle where you think and eat like a slim person forever.

It is important the workbook journey is undertaken one day at a time. It does take time to identify the changes that have to come from within and discipline to slowly and deeply embed those changes. The discipline is not in resisting food (we know that doesn’t work) but rather the discipline is in changing your thoughts and habits. And that is where Fat Chance! walks with you as you journal your progress.

What is one piece of advice you would give to someone considering a lifestyle change?

Completely abandon the idea of dieting, and completely embrace the idea that you are going to change your lifestyle and there will be no going back to your old behavior. If you are not prepared to change, don’t do it!

But also know that it is absolutely possible, and Fat Chance! will be there right there beside you, showing you the way. Ask yourself (Fat Chance! asks you a lot of questions): Do I want to live differently or do I want to be fat? It really is that simple.

Where can readers purchase Fat Chance! The Weight-loss Workbook?

Readers can purchase a hardcopy of the Fat Chance! Weight Loss Workbook from Amazon or www.ShoppingMoa.com Links to the specific buying pages are found at www.fatchanceweightloss.com (note it is also called “Fat Chance! Forget how fat people diet, Focus on how slim people eat” – I like that!).

Recently I have created an interactive Online web-based version of Fat Chance! which is available globally from www.fatchance.co.nz/new-fat-chance-online-programme

Do you have anything else to add?

I’m absolutely delighted with the response Fat Chance! has been getting. As well as individuals it is being used by groups of friends (meeting on Day 7) and health professionals working with overweight clients. Apart from the fact it really works, people love the design, colors and the layout of the book which is really stylish and fun as well as practical.

I’d love your readers to read the success stories of people who have used Fat Chance! lost weight and changed their lives at www.fatchanceweightloss.com/testimonials. Some of the stories and photos are just amazing and are why I know Fat Chance! works.

Your readers can also read and download the Introduction from www.fatchanceweightloss.com/sneak-peak and everything and anything else they want to know is there as well.

Thank you for allowing me to share Fat Chance! with you.

I wish all your readers all the best in their weight loss journey!

Kindest regards,
Susan Maiava PhD.

Dear God, Let Me Lose Fat, Amen by Dr. J.R. Paine and Professor S.N. Gupta

Today's guest bloggers are Dr. J.R. Paine D.SC. and Professor Dr. S.N. Gupta, Ph.D. They will discuss why their book Dear God, Let Me Lose Fat, Amen is the only book on weight loss that you'll ever need.



Dear God, Let Me Lose Fat, Amen

by Dr. J. R. Paine, D.SC. and Professor Dr. S. N. Gupta, Ph.D.
Available at www.amazon.com


Let us now tell you how our Dear God book provides the one and only lifelong fat loss formula that is totally fail-proof. “Dear God, Let me Lose Fat, Amen” is not based on the same old, same old laundry list of do’s and don’ts, recipes and pre-cooked foods, diet pills and surgical procedures, hormonal injections and starvation. It is based on facts, rules and laws that universally govern the human body. This book and its lifelong fat loss formulas are based on the laws of nature, physics and science.

Believe it or not, your body is programmed, starting from the first second of its creation, by Nature. Nature sets your inner compass, biological hunger clock and internal cravings switch for a whole lifetime. No diet, pill, surgery or anything that is transported into the body via the mouth can reset and/or reprogram them. Not a trillion diets, not a trillion dollars, not a trillion scientists, doctors, nutritionists, governments, years of starvation, food deprivation, risky diet pills, hormonal injections. liposuctions, surgical procedures, Botox injections, punishing workouts, recipes, despair, pain, anger, and frustration hold the power to change the way Nature has programmed the blueprint of the human body and soul except on a very temporary basis and at heavy cost to the body. But, our “Dear God, Let Me Lose Fat, Amen” book, based on the laws of nature, will do this job for you.

We humans are creatures of Nature and creatures of habits. Our brains form a million new connections for every second of our lives. It is in these changing connections that memories are stored, habits learned and personalities shaped, by reinforcing certain patterns of brain activity like desire for survival, health, vigor and vitality, and losing the craving for nutrient-poor, killer calorie-rich, high-fat, high-sugar and high-salt fatty Fast Delivery, Fast Foods and fluids.

“Dear God, Let Me Lose Fat, Amen” is a slim book packed with concentrated wisdom supplied by legendary thinkers, educators, scientists, philosophers, physicians, researchers over 2,000 years. This book houses the one and only, never before available, fast delivery system for Fast Knowledge and Fast Facts 30-second, Hot Tips Team of virtual nutritionists, tutors, trainers, bodyguards, and more to feed the brain the knowledge it must have to make the right health and weight decisions for the body it governs.

“Dear God, Let me Lose Fat, Amen” is literally a “Pot of Gold” filled with health gain and weight loss, delicious nuggets of hot tips for instant, Nature approved results. For instance, dieters worldwide will be thrilled to know how to lose 150-200 calories in just 30 seconds. All they need do is look at Pages 28 and 31 of the “Dear God, Let Me Lose Fat, Amen” book.

Dieters worldwide will be delighted to know how to naturally boost their metabolism by feeding their body the foods it must have to be healthy and by limiting the foods that carry acid/ash, killer/calorie, disease inducing foods. To own a list of “Foods to Eat and Love” and “Foods to Fear”, just see pages 47 and 48 in the “Dear God, Let Me Lose Fat, Amen” book. This is just a tenny-weeny sample. The Dear God book is loaded with know-how and hot tips ready to go to work to protect your health and weight.

The sole objective of “Dear God, Let Me Lose Fat, Amen” is to ensure that everyone who owns a human body is able to benefit from Nature’s enormous healing power through our never before available counter-attack fast delivery, fast facts nuggets of knowledge nutrition for the BRAIN served by a team of forty 24/7/365, Auto Slim Hot Tips, virtual Therapists, Personal Trainers, Tutors, Coaches, Nutrition Bodyguards and other health Experts.

Readers will learn the easiest, safest and lifelong way in the world to protect and defend their health and body against obesity/overweight and 32 obesity related diseases. They will make exciting new ways to save time, save money and best of all save their health.

Having reached the Zero Obesity Zone ourselves by using our Patent Pending Auto Slim Hot Tips Team of Health Info-Experts, 24/7 Info-Therapists and Tutors and having sustained the compact body size for better than five years without starvation, food deprivation, risky diet pills, hormonal injections, liposuctions, surgical procedures, punishing physical workouts, pain, anger, and frustration, it is our joy and privilege to help others enjoy the incredible benefits provided by the newly minted virtual team of Health Experts (Patent Pending).

As health researchers, scientists and educators, our job is to make it simple and easy for you to comply with nature’s laws and rules. We have done so in the first book “Dear God, Let Me Lose Fat, Amen”. As British Lord of the Treasury, Dr. Charles Simmons said, “Sickness [disease] is the vengeance of nature for the violation of her laws.”

The massive scope of the obesity and overweight epidemic that currently confronts the nation is not due to indifference. The simple truth is that most humans instinctively know that having their body covered with layers of fat endangers their life. In its May 19, 2006 issue, foxnews.com reports that “Nearly half of the people responding to an online survey said they would give up a year of their life rather than be fat; many said they would walk away from marriage, the chance to have children, be depressed, or become alcoholic rather than be obese.” Clearly, Americans have strong feelings about obesity. Yet, the number of obese Americans is rising rather than falling. The billion dollar question is “How did we get into such a severe health and obesity crisis and how do we get out of it?” The answer is: (a) For decades, we have had 100% easy access to fast foods but ZERO, ZIP access to Fast Knowledge.

Listen to what Nobel Prize Winning Physician Albert Schweitzer said, “Every patient carries her or his own doctor inside.” And, listen to what Nobel Prize Winning Physicist Albert Einstein said ““Nature is the only trusted therapist”.

The DEAR GOD LET ME LOSE FAT AMEN VIRTUAL BOOK TOUR '08 will officially begin on October 1, '08 and end on October 30, '08. You can visit the authors' tour stops at www.virtualbooktours.wordpress.com in September to find out more about them and their new book!

As a special promotion, Pump Up Your Book Promotion is giving away a FREE virtual book tour to a published author with a recent release or a $50 Amazon gift certificate to those not published who comments on our authors' blog stops. More prizes will be announced as they become available. The winner will be announced on our main blog at www.pumpupyourbookpromotion.wordpress.com on October 30!

Dear God Let Me Lose Fat Amen! by J.R. Paine and Dr. S.N. Gupta, Ph.D.--Book Review

Are you seeking for a way to better understand the nutritional value of foods? Do you know the difference between nutritional calories, killer calories, and fat calories? Are you tired of the roller coaster of gaining weight, losing weight, gaining weight...?

If you said yes to any of the above, you'll want to check out Dear God Let Me Lose Fat Amen! by J.R. Paine and Dr. S.N. Gupta. In this book the authors have managed to squeeze a monsterous amount of information into only 50 pages and those 50 pages could make all the difference in your eating habits.

Paine and Gupta discuss how obesity and being overweight are not beauty issues, but "life and limb" issues. They provide anatomical information on the stomach and show the reader what her body does with the food she eats. You'll find out more about protein, complex carbohydrates, fiber, "friendly" and "unfriendly" fats, water, salt, and sugar.

This book teaches you how to gain or lose a pound of fat a day, provides helpful weight control formulas and dieting information. The last several pages include motivational material that can be used to keep you from overeating and encourage you to exercise.

When this book came in the mail it's small size made me think this might be one of those quick weight loss programs, but Dear God Let Me Lose Fat Amen! is a truly remarkable approach to weight loss because it not only provides you the information you need to make smart choices about your diet, it also provides the motivation to stick with your new lifestyle and it encourages the reader to speak with her doctor and nutrition professionals. And while I don't see me posting all the pinups around my house, I know that the "Foods to Eat and Love" chart--which groups healthy goods into five categories--will be stuck to my refrigerator and encourage me to make healthier selections when putting together my grocery list.

My only disappointment is that the editing is sloppy. I found numerous typographical errors--four of them on the first page of the book.

Speaking as someone who struggles to maintain her weight, not to lose it, I see Dear God Let Me Lose Fat Amen! as being the answer to a lot of people's prayers as society moves toward healthy living.

If you are at all interested in what you put into your body and how your body uses it, then buy this book!


Title: Dear God Let Me Lose Fat Amen!
Authors: J.R. Paine and Dr. S.N. Guptam Ph.D.
Publisher: BookSurge, LLC
ISBN: 1-4196-5101-3
U.S. Price: $25.99