My Big Fat Greek Diet

By: Nick Yphantides, Mike Yorkey

Narrated by: Nick Yphantides

Length: 5 hrs and 51 mins

Publisher's Summary

"Dr. Nick" shares the amazing eating plan that helped him shed 267 pounds, and keep them off. As a medical doctor who has personally struggled with his weight, Dr. Nick Yphantides can empathize with the plight of the overweight and offer a proven, medically safe plan for losing weight. In My Big Fat Greek Diet, he teaches readers the powerful 7 Pillars of Weight Loss. His program features practical how-tos anyone can apply, whether they need to lose 10 or 300 pounds. Analyzing components of a variety of well-known diets, Dr. Nick assists readers in customizing a weight-loss program that will handle their specific needs and fit their lifestyles.

©2004 Nick Yphantides (P)2004 Oasis Audio LLC

The perfect motivation you need!

It is a journey you're taking listening to this audio book. The same journey Dr. Nick had to go through to change his looks, his health condition and his life. The tape has information about different diets and ways to lose weight, ways to help you on your way to your weight loss journey. But I think the most important thing about this tape is that it motivates you like no other source I've ever came across.

Inspiring! Great journey of weight loss...

Whether or not you have had luck with weight loss I would highly recommend this book. It is not full of gimmicks or trying to sell you something. It is just a great story of Dr. Nick's weight loss and what worked for him. The content seems to make sense from beginning to end. I especially like the narration because he is talking to you like a friend.

Pfft

The story of Nick's (or DR Nick as he absurdly refers to himself at restaurants and on his t-shirts - big deal, he's a doctor) liquid diet weight loss was interesting. The majority of the book is filled with bland and not that motivational advice for losing weight. Nick is obviously a bit of a narcissist. I lost count of the number of times he talked about how media and fat people everywhere are interested in interviewing/emailing with/being inspired by him. At one point, he asked whether he might be addicted to the attention. You think? His advice is often overly simple and not particularly useful. To the question of how can you afford to work out 1-2 hours, 7 days a week, he offers "How can you not afford to do it?" To the question of how one can decide not to leave your job and focus on weight loss, he offers, again, "How can you not afford to do it?" His more specific advice isn't very new or innovative: cut down calories, limit carbs, work out, etc. In the end, this book is about Dr. Nick, and the advice part is really just window dressing.

Inspiring but of limited value

I found Nick Yphantides' personal story about how he lost weight both interesting and inspiring. However, how he lost his weight is not really all that applicable to people who live in the real world. Nick took time off from his job as a doctor to travel around the US in a camper van going from one baseball game to another (his passion). During this time he drank only protein shakes and despite the tempation of hot dogs and burgers at the baseball stadiums, he never cheated or waivered in his resolve to lose the weight. He was incredibly disciplined and focused, helped no doubt by the fact that he was doing something that he was very passionate about (ie watching baseball games) and he had support in the forms of friends and family who would join him at various stages of his trip. Whilst this all makes for an interesting story, it doesn't make for a helpful weight loss strategy because:
- not everyone can take time off from their busy stressful lives in order to go off and do something else (bills still need to be paid!)
- not everyone has the discipline to live off protein shakes until the weight has come off (I can't remember exactly how many calories Nick was eating but this was definitely a low calorie diet, under 1000 cals a day for sure)
- not everyone has the support network in place to help them shed the weight

I absolutely admire Nick for having achieved what he has, but I note that his story ends with him now living on a primarily protein rich and therefore limited diet. I felt a bit sad upon the conclusion of Nick's story because he's clearly had to trade most of the food he used to enjoy for the pleasure of being in a fit healthy body. I just wish there was a way of having it all !! But if Nick's story has taught me anything it's that will power and self-discipline are still necessary for weight loss and, sadly, most dieters are in short supply of both