The girls have been WILD tonight! Not like that’s such a surprise, but I’ve had so many things to do this evening and they just kept going. I finally had to force them to go to bed just so I could have a moment of peace.

We made dinner together – sort of – Regan opened the refrigerator door when I needed her too and Linsey turned on the oven for me. I ended up making roasted red potatoes with dill, steamed peas with sundried tomatoes and Quorn gruyere cutlets.  YUMMMMM…if I do say so myself.

After dinner I promised the girls we would “bake” cookies. I bought them some of the Pillsbury Simply cookie dough a while back A) it was on sale B) they like to have cookies for dessert C) it’s excellent portion control D) don’t judge!! We ended up baking 4 of the peanut butter kind and having that for dessert.

I only ate 1 (LIE…I ate 2, but who’s counting??)

After the cooking, cleaning and “baking” I was still B-U-S-Y! I’ve been running up and down the basement stairs to start laundry, throw it in the dryer, start another load, bring it upstairs to fold and throw the other load in the dryer… You get the point!! Does that count as cardio? Funny I should ask because I was recently approached by a publishing company (not to write a book – DAMN IT!) to read and review a book that was coming out. I happily agreed on one condition – they had to send an extra copy for me to giveaway here. They did!!

So – here’s my HONEST review of the book…

I’m not going to lie – the title threw me off right away. I try VERY hard NOT to compare myself to celebrities I see on television or in magazines (not always succeeding) because I know that things have been airbrushed and make up has been applied all in the hopes of making them appear even more untouchable and perfect. In turn I will desire even more to try and attain that goal which is impossible, but I’ll spend money on gimmicks and pills and drinks and whatevers to look like “insert celebrity name here”.

I decided that I was going to give it a fair shot regardless of the title with a little boost from Caitlin who told me, “Just be honest”. Not hard for me…I’m always honest. I’m also always trying to be positive so that’s where I will start.

POSITIVES

• It gives you many good ideas on how to exercise at home with little or no equipment.
• There is a Personal Fitness Evaluation you can fill out to know where you’re starting fitness level is and you can keep track of your progress in the book.
• There are good tips on how to go about purchasing home exercise equipment if that is something you are considering.
• There are little tips on how to sneak exercise in through out your day simply by adjusting your routine i.e. parking farthest away from your destination and getting in a little extra cardio, take the stairs instead of the elevator, how to exercise while sitting at your desk, etc.

Negatives

• Even though the title initially turned me off it gave me an unmet expectation of what I would find in this book.
• The chapters were written like bullet points in an infomercial.
• I don’t think this book would be beneficial to anyone who has been working out even for a very short period of time because most of the ideas and tips are things that have been written about forever in fitness magazines.
• No offense, but I’m not going to look like Jennifer Aniston if my only exercise everyday is household chores and that happens to be a section of the book – “Seven Best House Chores Tips“

All in all I would say that this book, Celebrity Body on a Budget, written by Personal Trainer to the Stars Cornel Chin, is an expanded version of a magazine article that anyone who has EVER wanted to lose weight has read in multiple fitness magazines over and over again. I didn’t feel like anything new and exciting was covered in the book and more so seemed like I was being sold the trainer and not the fitness program. I’m not really impressed that you trained Leonardo DiCaprio (whom I love!) for his role in The Beach ten years ago as much as I am with how knowledgeable you are about fitness in general. Reading this book didn’t show me that the author was all that much more knowledgeable than I am.

To end on a positive note the book does offer a few good recipes that may end up being tried in my house at some point, but 75% of them will have to be tweaked so that the girls and I can eat them.

If I have to give this book a letter grade I would be generous and give it a solid C…

Like I said in the beginning – I was given an extra copy to giveaway to a RealFitMama reader and I NEVER go back on my word. So starting tonight and ending Sunday night just leave me a comment on this post telling me what your favorite trick is to sneak exercise into a busy day. I’ll pick a winner at random Sunday evening.

Now that it’s all over, what did you really do yesterday that’s worth mentioning?  ~ Coleman Cox

Be Sociable, Share!

•