Title: Ageless Mirror Athlete™: Overweight and Unfit No More
Author: Marc T. Woodard
Publisher: iUniverse
ISBN: 978-1-5320-5373-3
Genre: Health and Fitness
Pages: 367
Reviewed by: Allison Walker

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The weight loss industry should be ashamed, opines lifestyle consultant and author Marc Woodard. Fad diets, the inundation of weight loss pills, and fitness equipment that sits in the corner gathering dust sells people gimmicks instead of solutions. Woodard’s book, Ageless MirrorAthlete™, promises to expose the industry’s cheap secrets and offer readers a healthier way to live.

As a person looking to make a healthy lifestyle change, to lose weight or gain strength, maybe even to manage a disease, you are entrusting your lifestyle coach with not only your well-being, but with your life. Woodard knows this, is passionate about his job and it’s clear he holds equally high standards for others in his industry. This is why Woodard scorns the half-truths of weight loss products, and favors a more wholesome diet, regular exercise and good old fashioned calorie counting along with self-awareness.

Calorie counting, or at least awareness of caloric intake, is a key component of Woodard’s fitness plan. Understanding your body’s basal, resting and exercise metabolic rates is how Woodard’s clients lose weight safely, without sacrificing the foods they love. The book becomes technical, explaining the differences between carbohydrates, fats and protein; how the body utilizes each nutrient; and how to calculate how much of each you need. Thankfully, Woodard follows up with, “You don’t have to finish reading to begin losing weight and feeling well right now.” Instead, Woodard says, make a commitment to daily walking and minimizing processed foods. Ageless MirrorAthlete™ scorns fad diets in favor of this holistic, educated approach. As an example, Woodard points to high protein, high fat diets like Atkins and KETO. These diets work by throwing the body into a metabolic state of ketosis, wherein you lose weight very quickly but may suffer health complications with continued use. Woodard notes an extended state of ketosis may result in gout, kidney stones and kidney failure.

The Ageless MirrorAthlete™ plan focuses on habitual adjustment to daily routine, since unless you can maintain your lifestyle long-term, no diet or exercise plan is going to work for you. Instead of limiting the types of foods you eat, people learn a better awareness of the food being consumed, the quantity and their nutrient value. Exercise plans favor daily walks or bicycle rides. By making healthier lifestyle choices, clients have greater sustainable energy to get through their day. Woodard offers the example of a client, Sally, who was placed on a popular diet plan by a previous lifestyle coach. Sally was eating a high carbohydrate, low fat, low protein diet. At first she was able to meet her exercise goals, but eventually found she barely had energy to get through her work day, never mind spending energy working out. Under Woodard’s tutelage, they developed a more balanced diet plan to give Sally more energy, and an exercise program she was more easily able to commit to. Several months later, Sally lost weight and still practiced her healthy lifestyle.

Just as he promises, Woodard is the real deal. He promises to expose the truth behind the weight loss and body building industries, and he does. Ageless MirrorAthlete™ is a no-gimmicks call-out to all the diet plans, weight loss pills, and exercise equipment founded of false promises made by commercial interests.