Lean in 15

Title: Lean in 15: 15 Minute Meals and Workouts to keep you Lean and Healthy

Author: Joe Wicks

Year: 2015

Publisher: Bluebird

Synopsis: “Lean in 15” became the fastest debut selling cookbook in the UK, selling 77,000 copies in the first week. Joe Wicks shot to fame in a matter of months after posting humorous Instagram videos of him making quick meals aimed at getting you a lean body. With his first book, “Lean in 15” aims to give us all the knowledge he has acquired about how to sustain a healthy, balanced lifestyle and how to eat around your training for optimal results.

Review: Joe Wicks, The Body Coach, Mr Lean in 15, whatever you choose to call him, is the man who has single-handedly changed the way we think about training to get lean; eat more, exercise less. Who’d have thought it! Joe’s philosophy is about eating high fat and protein meals, with some good carbs thrown in at certain points, doing High Intensity Interval Training (HIIT) and being consistent.

He doesn’t make false promises and he’s not asking you to stick to a strict diet, in fact it’s the opposite. He believes you should eat everything you want in moderation and base it around a healthy lifestyle. After all, he wouldn’t post up pictures of himself eating burgers and chocolate for nothing! As long as you eat healthy most of the time, he says you can and should have the things you love. Don’t worry though “Lean in 15” is full of handy tips on how to sustain such a balanced lifestyle whilst creating the body you’ve always wanted.

When I first picked up this book I thought it looked amazing, it promises that you can cook tasty nutritious meals in 15 minutes. Although it does do that, it also disappointingly contains quite a few recipes that require a lot of ingredients and preparation. If you’ve got some extra time in the evening I’m sure they are worth making but it does initially put you off. Plus there are several recipes that look delicious but require protein powder which means they’re not particularly cheap dishes to make, again not ideal.

But all hope is not lost. Joe’s down-to-earth tone makes the information he gives about living a healthy lifestyle really easy to understand. He welcomes you into his crazy rollercoaster ride of a famous life by explaining how he came to be known as The Body Coach. Back in 2014 no-one knew who he was or paid attention to his catchy ‘lean in 15’ videos. Now with over 100,000 followers on Twitter and close to 800,000 on Instagram The Body Coach has become trusted and loved by fitness lovers nationwide. His hilarious videos have captured our attention as he shouts “guilty” a lot in a high pitched voice, throws food around and genuinely makes a meal look fantastic in 15 minutes. He makes cooking look fun and simple which is exactly what we busy bees of the world need.

But the great thing about this book is not just the ease of a lot of the recipes like the Prawn and Beansprout Omelette or the Big McLean Muffin, but the important education that he gives about proper pre and post workout eating. The book has particular sections for each of these and the HIIT workouts that are included really are simple but effective. He doesn’t lecture you, he nurtures you and you can tell he genuinely wants to help you. He’s fed up with hearing about how low calorie diets help you lose weight or how supplements are the answer, he wants you to know how to look after your body and train it to become what you want it to be. Now excuse me while I tuck into my Cheeky Chicken Fried Rice. Guilty!

Summary: Although this book would be handy for everyone to have, due to its important nutritional information, the meals aren’t all as easy as you’d expect and you need to stock up on a lot of spices before you can attempt them. The book educates on how to eat more, exercise less and still get a lean body but I think I’ll stick to watching the Instagram videos for the quick lean in 15 meal ideas.

Rating: 6/10

Favourite quotes:

  • “I often post photos of myself eating out in restaurants and enjoying treats. I do love a chocolate fondant – guilty as charged!”
  • “People have become convinced that the only way to lose body fat is to drastically cut calories to create a huge energy deficit – but this only leads to yo-yo dieting and people battling their weight for years, which is not a healthy way to live, and it shouldn’t be accepted as the norm.”
  • “I want you to ignore all the adverts trying to sell you fat-burning herbal supplements, meal-replacement shakes or juice diets. They are not the solution.”

Safia Yallaoui

Safia is a lifestyle blogger and coach at the fitness membership company MoveGB. She also has an MA in journalism and has done a variety of freelance work in print, radio and online. After losing 14lbs a few years ago Safia got into health and fitness realising the most important thing about clean eating is nourishing your body. She loves to keep in shape with weight training and going to fitness classes. Whilst training to be a Nutritional Therapist she is learning how to alleviate health problems by including or omitting certain foods and has a keen interest in the affects of sugar on a person's physical and mental health.

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