The main concepts discussed in the book are;

How to increase your metabolism to burn fat.

Build lean muscle.

Improve your emotional eating (bingeing is the main one.)

How to be positive and be social.

Eat foods you enjoy and stop obsessing over food.

How to change your attitude and beliefs.

How to maintain your weight and never diet again.

The book helps you to understand why your eating habits are so messed up and teaches you steps on how to fix them. The book is divided into 4 parts that helps to tie the information together.

Part 1, Setting the Stage- Explains obesity, emotional eating, and beliefs.

Part 2, The Five Principles- There is a chapter for each of the principles.

Part 3, Putting it all together- This is where all the information is tied together and how you can keep your weight off for life.

Part 4, The Appendices- Information on the author’s website,how to do calorie calculations, menu plans, and recommended foods to eat.

I recommend this book to everyone who is struggling with their weight and constantly dieting. The book is honest and easy to follow. The book helps us to think differently about ourselves, and how we can change for the better. As per the Author, “The Body Fat Solution is NOT for athletes, bodybuilders or people who need to get “ripped” or reach extremes of low body fat. Body Fat Solution is especially written for people who struggle with inconsistent motivation, emotional eating, binge eating and other forms of self sabotage.

Disclaimer: I received a free copy from FSB Associates for my honest review. I was not compensated for the review.

Rating: 5 / 5

For the most part, this book succinctly describes Bailey’s account of the biochemistry of burning fat. He describes how fat is (and isn’t) burned by the body and how to increase its fat-burning efficiency.

The book is somewhat technical and therefore dry for those not fascinated by biochemistry. Bailey tries to make up for this with insufferable cleverness. But the book is well worth toughing it through. It’s not terribly long, and an investment of a couple of hours will arm you with enough knowledge to structure your workouts for maximum fat-burning efficiency, if that is one of your goals. Which kinds of exercise increase the body’s ability to burn fat? Which kinds of exercise actually burn the fat most efficiently? They are not the same kinds of exercise, and both kinds need to be developed. There are also sections on improving athletic performance that are probably insufficient for serious athletes but which are very helpful for active amateurs like me.

I read the book about a year ago, and, although it wasn’t the most entertaining book I’ve ever read, it has really helped my understanding of how to train and (yes) how to burn fat. I’ve really benifited from it.
Rating: 4 / 5

Beware that there is some discussion of biochemistry — so you will see references to scary-sounding terms like the Krebs cycle, glucose, lactic acid, pyruvic acid, and triglycerides. However, he doesn’t go into horrible, boring detail about these subjects. In fact, having some familiarity with this from previous biology classes, I think I might’ve enjoyed a little more in-depth treatment of these areas, but then that depends on what you’re interested in. Don’t worry — it’s not super-complicated. He doesn’t go through all the steps of the Krebs cycle for instance. He gives you enough to illustrate the points and to show that he knows what he’s talking about.

Some might find his cute humor style annoying. For instance, he talks a lot about making you a “better butter burner”. And he sometimes makes up silly stories that are not true to illustrate a point. It didn’t bother me, but some people might be bothered by his lack of political correctness. He is quite liberal in his use of the word “fat people”. He is pretty consistent in calling them “fat” rather than “unfit”. Not being into political correctness, I found this amusing rather than offensive.

One other caveat is that the book is a little bit depressing at times in that it talks a lot about fat people (his phrase, see above don’t burn fat well, have a smaller range in which they can rest, have difficulty exercising at the proper intensity for results, and basically are just at a tremendous disadvantage while fit people burn fat well and have many advantages in getting fit. Might be depressing to you, but if it’s true, you need to know so that you can take the right steps to get on the slow road toward fitness.
Rating: 5 / 5

Smart Exercise taught me about our body’s three different fuel systems, and what the effects of different kinds of exercise are on them. Now I know how hard to exercise, how often to exercise, how long to exercise, and how to vary my workouts appropriately for best results.

In a “past life”, I ran regularly, and completed three marathons (last one in 1992), but then my third child arrived, and I got too busy raising (and chauffering) children to spend all that time running. I gained 30 pounds, and floundered badly in my efforts to design and stick to an exercise program. The information in Smart Exercise has been both informative and motivating. So far, I’ve dropped 10 pounds, and I’m enjoying my exercise quite a bit more.

I especially appreciate the book’s emphasis on helping us make sense of the science, and helping us apply common-sense principles to cut through all the propaganda, hype, and misinformation surrounding fitness and its relationship to weight loss. I consider myself an honorary Missourian (the “Show Me” state), and this is a book that lives up to the “show me” standard, with all its points backup up by credible scientific research.

Smart Exercise has been immensely helpful, and highly MOTIVATING in designing my own exercise program, and making sure it is doing what I want it to–feel fit, lose the spare tire, and live longer.

If I could have only one book on fitness and exercise on my bookshelf, this would be the one.
Rating: 5 / 5

I could run 5+ miles, cycle about 30 and walk 20 without hurting too much. But I couldn’t seem to lose that last ten or so pounds, not to mention get the definition I wanted to have in certain trouble spots like my thighs.

I did killer workouts, sometimes running in the morning and cycling at night for only minute changes in my physique. It was so frustrating I wanted to give up.

I wasn’t a fat or out of shape person but I wasn’t able to get the results I wanted though I was working very hard. It wasn’t until I read Smart Exercise and began using wind sprints and longer aerobic sessions in conjunction with a small split weight-training routine that my body began to look and feel significantly different.

I learned how to eat to fuel my body, how long I could work out and what the best frequency was. I learned that more is not always better and I definitely learned the value of allow my body to recover. With Bailey’s help I developed a schedule and routine that allowed me to lose 10lbs in a little under eight weeks. I literally went from burning 500 calories in a 45 minute session to burning over 700 in 35 minute session because of windsprints and cross-training. With what seemed to be 70% of the effort, I was getting twice the results.

If you’re at plateau and you want some good advice. Or if you’ve been working out for a while and want to develop a more efficient routine, this is an ideal book to buy.
Rating: 5 / 5