Graham Park tells his personal story of weight loss in the Introduction. He establishes himself as 'just a regular Joe' whose only qualification for giving weight loss advice is that he's done it himself. He also introduces a number of experts in different fields to give more informed opinions on the various issues involved. The first section of the book is devoted to debunking 7 common weight loss methods, including diet shakes, lap-banding surgery and diet pills. There is some interesting information and statistics, but it doesn't really tell you anything the average person with common sense wouldn't know anyway.
The second section of the book is devoted to how to lose weight 'the right way'. In the chapter "Do It Yourself" Park gives some tips for losing weight without any outside help. This amounts to one single page of information. One of the tips is to "just decide to do it and then stay on it" [referring to your diet]. Not very helpful advice for someone with severe chocolate cravings standing in front of an open fridge door at 3am! The 'Do It Yourself' way is advised only for people with 5kg or less to lose. For people with more weight to lose, he advises the reader to join the plan of a company called Adventures In Weight Loss. Yes, that's right, the company that he himself conveniently started. The rest of the book consists of an explanation of the company's methodology and testimonials from satisfied customers. Some of the components of the plan sound suspiciously like the ideas Park debunked in the first section. For example, he says that diets are not helpful and will only lead to failure. The Adventures In Weight Loss plan consists of a diet based on a modified Mediterranean Diet which must be strictly adhered to. He claims that with a healthy, balanced diet, no shakes or extra vitamins are necessary, yet on the plan it is essential to take nutritional supplements that Park's company sells to participants.
This book was a huge let-down. Park builds himself up in the beginning to be a regular guy who understands regular people's wants and needs when it comes to weight loss. But by the end of the book, the reader is being told that the only way to successfully lose weight is to spend almost $1,000 on his diet plan. (The price is not listed in his book; I found it on the website which he mentions frequently.) It left me feeling very disillusioned. ( )