Commit to Get Fit. Laura Dion-Jones. Original Cosmo Girl Press, January 10, 2014, Trade Paperback and Kindle, 284 pages.

Reviewed by Sierra Kay.

Commit to Get Fit by Laura Dion-Jones is an honest, frank and in-your-face assessment of her weight loss journey, providing a road map for the reader to follow. She begins with accounts of people’s perceptions of her—because of her weight—and how those perceptions influenced her decision to change.

The book details a thirty-five day health and wellness program designed to break old bad habits and replace them with personal responsibility. It emphasizes the individual’s role in taking control, and in building a lifestyle that focuses on a healthy diet and consistent exercise.

It was inspiring to read of Dion-Jones’s struggle with an injury that sidelined her, and how determined she was to find the right answers. She was not afraid to see a number of doctors until she had the necessary information. She exemplifies the energy and focus that we need to make a significant lifestyle change.

Commit to Get Fit mixes personal stories and anecdotes with useful, factual information to help guide decision making. The openness and strength of the author’s voice makes this book easy to recommend, helping readers identify with the author and encouraging them to look at their own choices.

If you’re looking to make a major life change, whether it’s weight loss or another area of your life, I suggest you pick up a copy of Commit to Get Fit. 

Commit To Get Fit Review

Source: The Commit To Get Fit review by Clare O’Beara can be found at FreshFiction.com

Obesity and poor health know no prejudice and have no bounds, says the brave author of this book, Laura Dion- Jones. But being obese is just plain unhealthy. A black-run skier until a serious accident interrupted her life, she started to pile on weight as her leg was gradually repaired. While not a binge eater or a glutton, she got sick of being large; of being constantly sick and tired in ‘a food induced coma’. Tired of disparaging remarks and ‘beyond mortified’ by what people said of a successful, intelligent, attractive woman when all they saw was her 317 pound weight.

“COMMIT TO GET FIT” says Laura. Thyroid and glandular issues can be treated with medication. In her own case, her pancreas produced insulin in an over-reaction to any kind of carbohydrate and the insulin prompted her body to store fat. She needed to take on a different diet and a different exercise regimen; a whole different persona. She needed to be responsible for every bite she took and every step she took. This book explains her methods and encourages others to follow in her lighter footsteps.

I was shocked and amused by some of the anecdotes Laura tells of the steps she took before dieting; from psychoanalysis to attempting to have gastric band surgery, and Weight Watchers which still allowed her the complex carbs that turned out to be causing her harm. The time and cost alone makes being overweight a major issue. There was no quick fix. I also found it fascinating to look at the attitudes expressed by people who don’t want to change enough to change. The statistics quoted are in journalist Michael Moss’s book ‘Salt Sugar Fat’ and both authors agree that the ‘big food’ and media industries are responsible for pushing unhealthy food onto consumers. If there was no profit in sugar-laden breakfast cereal, or sweet fizzy drinks, how many advertisements for them would you see?

Laura explains how to change. Low-fat diets she tried did not work for her. A modified, lower-fat Atkins diet with portion control suited her system, but a walk which increased to five or six miles daily was what threw off the pounds. Make better choices and set goals, she learned. Take control. Weigh yourself daily. Take a walk instead of stuffing yourself. Food is not love; if you bake, use healthier ingredients. She reinforces her message with brief quotes from many inspiring figures.

Laura Dion-Jones was a top plus-sized model prior to her skiing accident, and she designs clothing. She is a motivational speaker, TV and radio host and wellness coach. If you need inspiration and convincing to lose some weight, encumbrance, improve your health and prolong your life, this book COMMIT TO GET FIT should be at the top of your list. Laura adds, “I’m a healthier, happier, leaner, less encumbered, and more beautiful person these days. And I wouldn’t go back to being that fat for all the tea in Taiwan.”

Clare O’Beara is an award–winning writer of fiction and non–fiction, whose journalism work has been published in more than thirty countries. Her credits include Mensa Magazine and Mensa International Journal. She contributed a story to A Pint And A Haircut (Lon Dubh, 2010), an anthology in aid of Concern’s Haiti fund. In 2013 Clare independently published seven books of crime, science fiction and romance. Clare reads extensively and reviews books for Fresh Fiction.com.

Learn more about Commit To Get Fit

SUMMARY

NOT JUST ANOTHER DIET BOOK

The failing of most “weight loss” books is that they are strict, regimented plans complete with recipes, rules and long, long lists of do’s and don’ts. This approach is exactly what Chicago author Laura Dion-Jones challenges and changes in her revolutionary new book, Commit To Get Fit: Find the Secret to Your Own True and Everlasting Weight Loss.

Rather than continuing to bombard readers with one more rigid program aimed at weight loss, Laura simply aims to inspire and change the reader’s approach to weight control through a detailed, self-effacing, fun-filled and yet poignant journey of her own success.

The book includes insights, thought processes and other information detailed during her journey to a healthier lifestyle, all of which are intended to positively influence the reader’s view on his or her own attempts at weight loss. It also, while remaining entertaining and positive, stays realistic. Rather than make claims about some secret “trick” that magically transforms your body, as is too rampant in the weight loss industry, it details both Laura’s successes and mistakes, her moments of gratification and of disappointment, which make for a guide that is as honest as it is refreshing.

One reader review of an advance copy of Commit To Get Fit has described the book as “careful to skewer the diet industry, entertainingly, from the beginning” and “a valuable read for anyone who wants to lose weight, particularly if you have tried and tried and have given up the ghost on that particular goal.”

One of Laura’s goals in writing Commit To Get Fit was to change the way dieters view the process of losing weight by taking control of their own personal lifestyle, rather than following guidelines and those rigid rules that could possibly be unhealthy or not suitable for each and every individual. And putting an end to our country’s obesity epidemic because being over weight is not a disease. Obesity is totally and unequivocally preventable. It all comes down to choice and personal responsibility. Period