29 Days to...Your Perfect Weight by Richard Fast

Richard Fast has compiled a unique approach to weight management in “29 Days...to Your Perfect Weight”. Fast provides a psychological approach to breaking down the mental blocks which thwart would-be dieters. Instead of seeing a list of arduous tasks, Fast tries to help a dieter create a list of small, sustainable changes which lead to an overall healthy lifestyle. His process could work while trying to form any good habit, and his wife, Michele Bertolin, takes readers through more specific changes geared toward weight-loss.

Any one of Fast's “29 Days to...” books start with him explaining the psychology behind bad habits and why they are so hard to break. Unfortunately, you have to take most of this information on his word. While he does reference many modern authorities respected for their words on wisdom itself, or healthy eating, Fast does not properly cite any of his sources. With few exceptions, Fast's academic support relies on name dropping quotes, and when he does tie a work to the author, you'll find no information on where the bit of wisdom lies in the alluded pages. Moreover, the advice to speak to a medical professional comes late within the chapters; a scary thing seeing as how Fast never sets a guide for when to stop cutting calories.

Since his references are far too incomplete, I suppose it serves Fast well that his book also physically demonstrates his points. All the chapters are noticeably short and repetitive in their subjects. It gives a reader the feeling that they've divulged much more than they actually have. Moreover, readers spend more time on psychological reprogramming in the “29 days” than anything else, so the book ends in about your second week of initiating the small changes. Need more support? Just rinse and repeat the instructions in the last couple of weeks, or go to the online coach that will be there to help for a few months at the start of the rest of your life.

Overall, if you know someone who needs to get rid of a mental block to break a bad habit, “29 days” is a good start, but don't count on its directions to provide a comprehensive guide.

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Sara Messina, Reviewer
Mind Fog Reviews