Bob Greene's Get With The Program and Don't Get With It!
Written: Mar 31 '02 (Updated Jun 30 '03)
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Pros: He talks about almost everything related to eating. It is bound for easy writing.
Cons: He talks about almost everything related to eating.
The Bottom Line: A comprehensive and daunting 4 Phase, 5-month program consisting of Phases. A new name, very little new in the book.
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| jo.com's Full Review: Bob Greene - Get With the Program: Getting Real Ab... |
If you have never read a self-help book about eating, this is a really nice choice. Get With the Program! is confusing at first glance but once you have read it and understand that the author, Bob Greene, is building a program with 4 phases and that they build on one another, it will be easier.
~If the name of the author sounds familiar it is because he has been Oprah Winfrey’s mentor. In my opinion, Oprah made him a very wealthy man. He is the author of several books one of which, Keep the Connection, was co-authored by Oprah. If you are not new to the world of eating issues (and if you are a woman in the United States I would guess that you have been part of that world at one time or another) there is nothing new in this book. Bob Greene may say this book will change your life because you will examine how you think about diet, exercise, and emotional eating, but are there any ways of eating or diet books that haven't addressed all those issues? I am famous for asking people how many “diet” books there are on the bookshelves. They usually say hundreds, to which I say “If any one of them worked would there be 999 or just 1?"
~Given that, I will concede that Greene’s approach to this whole merry-go-round of diet/exercise/emotions is a bit different. I have never seen The Phase approach, but Bill Phillips has a unique program also. There are many unique programs around. The Zone’s philosophy may not be unique but the program is. It is also hard to understand, in my opinion. Get With The Program may take a couple of readings to understand exactly how to work his phases, but it really is quite simple when all is said and done. Let’s look at it.
About the book:
~The book was written in 2002 and published by Simon & Shuster. It is 221 pages long. It looks like some cookbooks and that makes it very easy to read. On many editions the inside is bound. You can’t tell from the outside but if you open it up you will see that. This is also a workbook so I imagine he set it up this way so we could write in the book easily which was a really nice idea. It is difficult to write in a book that isn’t bound in this way!
~The introduction is short and Greene admits that his program is not a quick fix. Becoming healthier, slimmer, happier and stronger – getting in touch with emotional eating triggers and getting on with finally living “and feeling really good about yourself” will take time to accomplish. Now I really don’t want to be terribly cynical because this isn’t a terrible book or plan, but if it can accomplish all this even in a year can you imagine how much in therapy it will save us all? For a list price of $24.00 we can get all that. Now that is some bargain!
~“Get With The Program” is all about patience, persistence and pacing. It’s about self-discipline, self-control, and personal commitment. Most of all, it’s about feeling good about yourself and taking good care of yourself. This program is a realistic life-changing process – for life.” How many authors have you read have said these words? I have over a dozen life-changing ways of eating books on my shelf at this moment. To me, that says a lot. I will reiterate as I do for every review I write that has to do with food: if you take in more calories in a day or week then you expend you will gain weight. There is no magic bullet, no magic scheme, plan, program. There are just fancy, simple, creative or confusing ways to say the same thing.
Phase One is Truth, Commitment, and Self-Control
~Each chapter is laid out similarly and once you get the hang of it and get over the fact you have to write you may enjoy this book. It is true, I think, that keeping a journal in some way, shape of form does help you achieve whatever goal it is you are trying to achieve. In Greene’s case his goal for you is to explore your beliefs, attitudes and behaviors, learn about the process of how you gain and lose weight, drink at least 6 glasses of water a day (If nothing else, these diet gurus will try to flush the fat from us!), move more, maybe even do some basic exercises (uh, huh...this is where calories expended comes in – if you do nothing and eat the same way but burn some calories each day you’ll lose weight whether you have performed a self examination or not! (He gives some examples of moving – polish the floor, row a boat, paint a wall, hide your remote control and jump rope – just to name a few.)
~There is one part of this first Phase that I do like a lot and that is the signing of a pledge to Get With The Program by signing a contract with yourself. I like contracts and used to use them with one of my kids. Contracts are just a little trick in the behavior modification world that sometimes work and Greene uses it in his book.
In Phase One he asks 12 question to which you circle yes or no. The first one is crucial and most likely you have asked and attempted to examine this a million times if you are reading this and that is “Do you believe that once you reach a certain size or weight, you’ll be happy?
After each question he has a section that is a bit confusing at first. He explains what he wants you to do for each question. For example, he starts the written exercise for #1 with “Make a list of all the things you could do that would make you happy and that you feel would benefit your life...” After each blurb there is a goal and space to write it in; start date and a few lines to write in “what needs to be done” (to get this accomplished). You will read good anecdotal stories of real people. Perhaps nothing new you haven’t read, but it may reinforce once again what you already know. Each question has a slightly different way to answer it. For example, question #3, which has to do with excuses, has for the written exercise a blurb and then the date and lines for the excuse.
~Phase One ends with the question “Do you ever feel that you don’t deserve to be happy or successful” and the written part is a Happiness Journal. He also has a final essay where you reflect on and write about why you have failed in the past with other programs.
~Bob Greene packs a lot of information into Phase One. It may be overwhelming for some. After all the above you will read some good information on such topics as “aftereffects when you quit smoking;” “seasonal weight gain;” information on your metabolism, water......basically you name it, it is here. He even includes 13 pages of pictures and explanations of them of stretching exercises with some abdominal exercises thrown in.
~The whole section ends with a form to keep track of 3 weeks of Phase One keeping track of how much water you drank, the exercises you did (The requirement is one set of 15 of each of the exercises shown on the 13 pages – we don’t know we will have to do this until page 88 so be prepared to stretch.) and other comments about the week. Phase One lasts one – three weeks.
Phase Two is Revving Up Your Metabolism
~This phase can last 3 weeks to 3 months and focuses on aerobic exercise. He lists best and worst aerobic exercises which are a good addition. Many people would not guess that, for example, swimming, according to Greene is on the worst list. Each exercise is described with aerobic, convenience, risk of injury and overall ratings. It tells who it is most and least appropriate for and is an excellent section of the book. He again offers anecdotal stories that we can relate to and ends this Phase with another chart but he has added: aerobic minutes (a minimum of 10 minutes a day; an additional day of functional exercise; number of alcoholic drinks and comments about the week. Greene spends a page discussing alcohol. We all know that drinking in excess is unhealthy but we often do not think about how many calories alcohol has so he has us keeping a weekly alcohol log as well.
Phase Three is Getting Real About “Emotional Eating”
He starts this chapter with this:”If there is a secret to the mystery of permanent weight loss, it is the complete elimination of what I call emotional eating.” I wanted to say, “Well, duh, Sherlock.. if we could eliminate it, we wouldn’t be in this mess," but refrained.
~His goals for us are to increase our exercises to two sets of each exercise 5 times per week (stop groaning); increase aerobic activity to 100 minutes per week or even better 125 and maintain the exercise log which as in the other chapter is in the back of the book. Again unless you have been under a rock this information won’t be new. Do you want to read again how to change your behavior? Do you want to read again that instead of eating fudge have fruit? Do you want to read again that loneliness and emotional issues create a need to fill a void and that void is often filled by food? If you want to read it again, he does a nice job in writing about it. There is no technical jargon. You do not have to be a psychologist to understand it. There is no research or footnotes in the book.
Phase Three can last up to 3 months and he ends the chapter with the same chart noting the addition of the exercises and a page set aside to write your “Journal of Eating” and date completed.
Phase Four is Securing A Life Of Health And Emotional Well-Being
~In this chapter we added strength training (You knew we would, didn’t you?) Sorry, but you have to lift those weights if you want to get through Phase 4! After talking a bit about the basics of weight training, Bob gives us 8 pages of very basic weight lifting exercises. They really are basic so don’t be afraid of them if this book sounds like one you would like.
~We also learn (well re-learn) that we should cut the fat in our diets, limit sugar and bad carbohydrates. He makes recommendation on how to do this by telling us to avoid fried foods and that brown rice is better than white. You may be a visitor here and never read a review of this type of book so this information may be new to you. If it is, I would love to know....leave me a comment, please.
~He gives us 5 pages of fruits and vegetables (2 servings of fruit; 4 of veggies) and don’t eat more than 7 servings from the whole grain group of foods (brown bread, brown rice, etc.) He gives us one sample menu and asks that we keep a record of what we eat. If anything works, keeping records and as I said above journals may be the best advice he can give us.
~Phase Four may last 12 weeks to maintenance. He adds resistance training and the 24-7 which he calls the 2 fruits-4 veggies and no more than 7 carbs per day to the chart we have been using. He also adds strength training log, and a 24- Guideline Log.
A summary of my thoughts:
If you have no other books on your shelf and are looking for a decent self-help book and are willing to work, this may be it. So comprehensive that it can be overwhelming at times, Greene leaves out nothing except a discussion on vitamins. He does mention them but in a couple of sentences and they pertain to some causing water retention.
I like his implementation of keeping charts and I think they are an important piece to the puzzle but surely you have heard that keeping journals, etc. of what you do and how much you exercise is important. I am rating this based on the need for you as a consumer to own this book. This isn’t a book you can just take out of the library if you want to do his Phases. You must own it. Sure you can read it and remember to keep track but if you really want to do this right you have to own it. I feel that is true of most Plans which is why, I guess, I have at least 12 on my shelf!
The question is, “Is this THE ONE?” If you have tried many other plans and nothing has worked I really don’t think there is any magic potion hidden in this book. If you are new to Plans and are looking for a way to lose weight, I think you may find this complicated. I also know that losing weight and getting fit takes time and is a life-long process. The fact that this is approximately a 1 year plan is a bit daunting when you see it in black and white. I am a Weight Watchers or Bill Phillips fan myself and recommend those two plans and Phillips book before Bob Greene’s.
I recently saw Bob Green on Oprah promoting this book. There is something about his style I don't care for and I really tried hard to not let that interfere with my review. In fact there were some points as I said that I liked. Overall, however, I am not recommending this as the ONE to buy.
You may also be interested in the following:
The Zone
The Atkins Diet
Weight Watchers
Dr. Atkins New Diet Revolution- the book
Body for Life by Bill Phillips- the book
Get With The Program" (Bob Greene - Oprah's mentor)
Recommended:
No
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