Joe Dowdell - Ultimate You: A 4-Phase Total Body Makeover for Women Who Want Maximum Results

Heres the truth: We dont know all there is to know about weight loss, nutrition, or exercise. Also, the published scientific literature is often well behind practical application in Joes gym and at Dr. Brookes office.

But heres another reason theres always another weight-loss book: Often the programs dont work at least for the long term. Most offer a quick fix forrather than a solution tothe underlying issues of how women become overweight in the first place. Issues like hormones and digestion and behaviors like emotional eating are often ignored in favor of the rapid weight loss (notice we didnt say fat loss) and short-term promises that youll be bikini ready or one-up an old rival at a high-school reunion.

Whats worse is many diets are unhealthy. Quick-fix plans in particular tend to be low calorie, super low carb, and too low on veggies and whole, natural foods, or they tout the use of chemical sweeteners.

If the book does address hormones, it tends to focus on how one hormone in isolation causes weight gain, such as one of the hormone of the month diets out there, and single-minded focus tends to wreak havoc on the balance of other hormones.

If the book touts natural, whole foods, the plan tends to be too high in carbs (often as whole grains, which raise insulin) or miss the point entirely (i.e., Asian cultures are healthy and they eat soy, so drink a bunch of soy milk and youll be healthy, too). Although plans that have you eat whole foods are a step up from those that allow processed foods, they are still far from perfect.

Our book factors in all of those things. Think of your hormones as a symphony: multiple instruments that need to work together to create a wonderful whole. If the tuba player decides to play her own tune, the overall effect is unpleasant! Whole foods and healthy food-related behaviors can help you achieve a harmonious balance.

Our plan is plant-based, emphasizing real, whole foods (but not excess grains). Its focused on fiber, quality protein, healthy fats, and managed carbs rather than no carbs, and it doesnt sacrifice one hormone for another.

Our plan also addresses the beneficial nutrients in certain foods that not only promote weight loss but help manage hormones. For example, we use veggie fiber to keep your tummy satisfied and superfats like conjugated linoleic acid (CLA), found in grass-fed beef, and omega-3 fatty acids, found in fish, to balance hormones and melt belly fat.

Our overall aim is to address the underlying issues of weight gainto fix the problems, not the symptoms. We also want to teach women how their hormones influence fat gain and fat loss and how to manipulate them easily and naturally.

It all comes back to controlwe want to put it back where it belongs: in your hands.

Youll achieve this through proper nutritional habits, smart exercise, managed stress, and better sleep.

Heres how Ultimate You is different from every other book or program youve ever seen: This isnt a weight-loss plan. Its a fat-loss plan that uses a revolutionary conceptmetabolic disturbanceto set in motion an almost magical fat-burning environment within your body. This environment switches on fat-burning hormones during your workout and creates a post-workout afterburn that burns calories hours after you leave the gym.

Youve probably tried the old move more, eat less weight-loss advice, with little to show for it. Its not your fault. That paradigm might help you lose weightfor a little while, anywaybut it wont help you lose fat, which is what you want.

On the Ultimate You program, youll eat better, move smarter.

On the Ultimate You program, youll eat better, move smarter, and lose body fat from all over. Joe gives you the workouts. Dr. Brookes in charge of the nutrition and lifestyle program. Together, we offer a plan that can help you reach your ultimate best in size, shape, and health.

Weve used these protocols to help our clients achieve the bodies they want. Funny thing is, many of them have told us that, along the way to achieving peak physical results, they became the people they always wanted to be. Thats why we called our program Ultimate You: It introduces you to your best, healthiest, most vital self.

So prepare to take control, get lean, and meet your Ultimate You. (And do take the time to do the little visualization on page 9.)

But first, let us explain what youve probably been doing wrong and how to make it right.

You cant achieve an Ultimate You body by sticking to the same low-to medium-intensity workout over and over again. First, youll be bored to tears and will likely quit. Second, within as little as a few weeks, your body will adjust to those movements and that level of effortand burn fewer calories.

Ultimate You workouts are based on the principle of metabolic disturbance, and they turn your body into a calorie-burning machine, which will ultimately lead to less body fat.

Your body is adaptiveit does what it must to survive and work at peak efficiency. You see this adaptive quality in action when you cut calories to lose weight.

If you drastically reduce calories, your body thinks its starving. In response, to conserve fuel, it uses the paltry amount of calories it does get more efficiently. Result: Your metabolism slows.

The same dynamic applies when you run on a treadmill every day for 40 minutes or repeat the same strength-training routine for months on endyour body adjusts to that routine to conserve energy. Result: The same effort burns fewer calories.

The workouts youll find in this bookwhich team total-body strength training with moderate-to high-intensity interval trainingrecruit the greatest amount of muscle fibers and trigger the greatest release of anabolic fat-burning hormones. Why is all this desirable? This is where the hormonal stuff comes in.

As you perform the workouts, you create a metabolic storm inside your body. That storm sets in motion a cascade of hormones that burn fat and maintain lean muscle tissue.