Fit2Fat2Fit: The Unexpected Lessons from Gaining and Losing 75 lbs on Purpose

It has taken me over a year to get through this book. I thought that finally, some genetically gifted trainer would get a clue on how it feels to be overweight and unmotivated, and how hard it truly is to try to get in shape, a state that many of us have never been in in the first place. While the beginning was ok because I was interested on how this was going to go, and it was ok as he got fat and unmotivated, but as soon as he hits bottom, he just starts getting super preachy and constantly talking about drawing on his "being fit" mentalities (that is, the stuff he thought while he was super fit, that helped keep him that way). Honestly, I was sick of him before he could get back to being in shape. OMG he learned NOTHING. Because while he has family to push him, a fitness business, colleagues in the fitness industry, and he remembers and has experience on how it is to successfully be fit and strong, many of us don't have that. I was a fat kid, a fat teen, and a fat adult. I never had the years of being super fit or a mindset that helped me run my life that way. I don't need to read any of his preachy "motivation" or whatever he thinks he's pushing. Spoiler: he gets himself out of it and goes back to being fit. *rolls eyes*. I found it even more irritating that he truly never understands, because while he took a mini vacay into being fat, it's not how he's lived for decades. Sure, he knows it sucks to be fat, but what he doesn't actually "get" is the actual struggle to get fit. Remember, he's already genetically programmed to be fit. He's got it in him, and he has had decades of experience being that way. He got back to being fit. He didn't spend 5 years doing it, he did it in 6 MONTHS! AHAHAH. I have worked out with a trainer for YEARS and have not (and will never) achieve a hard body. He's like rich people driving through slums and suddenly thinking they "understand", but then going back to their white picket fence houses in the snooty area, and telling people in the slums that "I been there, I KNOW! All you gotta do is work hard and leave". UGH.

The author, a personal trainer, overtook an unprecedented journey to gain weight in order to understand the difficulties overweight people face.This book is a good insight into what it feels like being overweight. I find it to be very valuable because it also offers a strategy to overcome the challenges on the way of becoming healthy, and not just a quick dieting solution. It provides steps to a fundamental shift in a lifestyle, being super conscious about making everyday choices, owning accountability for being overweight. The negative reviews probably come from people who either look for easier ways, or see themselves genetically unfit, and might benefit from looking into books like The Science of Self-Discipline by Peter Hollins, and Atomic Habits by James Clear.Here is a brief description of each chapter.In chapter 1 the author talks about how it feels to be overweight, and what led him to take that journey from fit to fat.In chapter 2 the author shares his beliefs about why people are overweight, and how these beliefs kept him from making a bigger impact, and that he decided to gain weight in order to get a perspective of what overweight people have to go through when they try to lose weight.Chapter 3 describes the significance of the habits, as well as physical and emotional challenges that overweight people deal with. Extra weight causes personality changes in a way that makes it difficult to change a lifestyle to a healthy one. It is not as simple as “deciding” to be healthy. One needs good reasons, strong will, intrinsic motivation, and support.Chapter 4 is written by the author's wife and describes the impact of the Fit2Fat phase on their marriage. There is a physical-emotional barrier which stops people from getting healthy, the barrier that personal trainers don’t see because they are not surrounded by the same temptations, and don’t understand what it’s like to be comfortably sedentary. Being overweight is never a purely personal issue. It affects everyone, in one way or another.Chapter 5 is where the Fat2Fit journey starts. Being healthy is a choice, getting healthy is an entirely different enterprise that requires a mind shift, a strategy, and a lot of support. Hunger pangs, pounding headaches, and other symptoms of drug-induced withdrawal follow. Author talks about a general flaw of all weight loss programs, and describes a holistic approach to a weight loss. In the beginning he had to force himself to make right choices until the new choices became habits.Chapter 6 is where the author describes how it feels starting the exercises again.Chapter 7 talks about approaching a new goal with a balance between encouragement and accountability, and how to stay committed.Chapter 8 is about the danger of reaching a plateau, and strategies on how to move on.ConclusionBeing overweight is not all about the waistline. Anyone who has been overweight knows that the real battle lies in the emotional and mental difficulties presented. Some people are incapable of pushing themselves adequately. There should be a balance between nutrition, fitness, persistence, and support.

Good book, easy to read, great recipes. Drew actually went through everything that an overweight person would go through, made it possible for anyone to take this book and learn from it

It was a good read, I enjoyed knowing the story behind his choices & hearing his wife's point of view. Initially purchased for more info regarding his keto lifestyle & eeactly how he transformed after his weight gain so was a bit disappointed there wasn't more about that.

One of the best "diet" books our there. The recipes that are included are amazing. By following this simple plan I lost over 40 lbs.

If you want to start a Keto Diet or want to learn more about how you can do this diet then this book is for you... Very easy to digest and informative.

I read this book with an open mind and no expectations. It was absolutely an amazing and inspirational read. I no longer feel self conscious and like an annoyance that doesn't belong in the gym. And being a fat girl, that's a big thing to say!

Good book full of awesome information.

This was a foolish purchase on my part, for 2 reasons.1)I bought it on Kindle and didn't realise half the book was diet and exercise. The diet is ludicrous - 2 meals a day are protein shakes for the most part - and the exercises are ones any gym goer will know.2)I hadn't thought fully about the implications of Drew having got fat on purpose and thought that, while his journey from Fit to Fat was bound to a be a nonsense, ultimately he'd end up in the same place as anyone else needing to lose weight. But he doesn't. Let me explain why.In conducting a well intentioned experiment to gain weight over 6 months, Drew had the admirable aim of better understanding his clients. But most of us didn't gain weight in such an extreme way. If you gained a few stone over the years and barely realised it was happening, if you carried on your normal exercise routine and don't have trouble climbing stairs etc, you have a very different experience than Drew. The average overweight person was not drinking a litre of sugary soda daily to get that way. In a way that's good news; you won't feel as bad as he did trying to lose weight.But here's the bad news - Drew was originally a health nut who thought carrots were too high carb for him to eat. I doubt that the majority of us - overweight or not! - were ever that extreme; that alone makes him representative of a tiny minority of the population. So when he goes back to being fit, he has a natural affinity with a diet that relies heavily on protein shakes; he enjoyed it to begin with! I would hazard a guess that most of us wouldn't survive the boredom of such a regime for long, but Drew actively enjoyed it for several years before becoming overweight.What Drew has done is gone from being a less sympathetic trainer to a more sympathetic one, who understands when encouragement is more likely to be useful. There is an argument that many trainers would have been just like that in the first place, without needing to become fat themselves. I think he was lacking a lot of empathy initially and his "carrot" story underlines this. (To summarise: some friends brought him carrot sticks in lieu of popcorn on movie night and instead of thanking them, he said "Those are too high carb for me". He admits he completely ignored their thoughtfulness).The overweight Drew has very little in common with anyone else looking to lose weight. He was eating tons of food on purpose and being miserable, not having a bit too big a portion at each meal, or eating out with clients and finding it hard to resist nice restaurant food. I commend his efforts to understand his clients better but as a real world theory, it has very little to offer. The inspirational stories offered in a slimming magazine would be much more help than this.Drew writes very well, but his ingrained stereotypes don't help the book. There's a lot of bizarre and pointless "man/woman" talk in here and it's very annoying - not talk that relates to weight loss, just bizarre gender stereotypes about marriage.Only plus of the book - well written, and re-established in my mind the importance of diet over exercise. I've exercised continually over the years; it's a set habit for me and I enjoy it. It's the diet I find it hard to get to grips with. But there are nicer meals you can have for your calories than a spinach shake. And better books you can buy with your money.

His blog was a lot more inspiring. This books did not live up to my expectations. There was not enough if the journey and how he did it. I wanted a plan to follow but mostly I got his thoughts of the process. His journey was incredible and I wanted to replicate it but this is not that kind of book.

Love it

The story is brilliant and its great that the author learnt some valuable lessons. However is a bit "overly american" for my liking. Lots of positive messages etc. Overall an interesting read but not amazing.

Ic it ever arrives should be a good read ..