We have all read endless “success stories” about this or   that pill or  book or whatever.   Not especially interesting to me, I’m afraid. But the Younger Next Year stories  - and the first few Thinner This Year stories – are a little different. The feeling in them runs  so deep, and  the changes they report are so profound that they grab me, at least, in a different way. They are almost  hard to believe, some of them, except they are utterly unsolicited, and there are so very many of them.  And  the patterns are very sharp. The people don’t know each other… it’s not coordinated by them or us. But it is a movement really. A lovely, life-affirming movement.  We thought we’d share just a few of them now… add more as time goes by.  Not just the “best” ones but in a random way.  A hand dipped into this river of lives… grab one… show it to you.

May I say that I have read – and especially  heard  - these stories a  thousand times. The man or woman comes up to me at a talk or a dinner party… stopped me in the airport one time. And says, “So you’re one of the guys who wrote that book? Wow!  Thanks so much!  You changed my life. You really, really did.” Then they launch into the story in great, excited detail.  How many pounds, the cholesterol,  the energy…how great they feel.  How different they look.  People literally  didn’t recognize him, one guy said. They can scarcely believe it themselves… want to share it to make it real.

It never occurs to them that I have heard the story a thousand  times, and I never tell them. I listen to every word with wonder, gratitude and awe. Because there’s this revolution going on out there; it’s just welling up.  And I rejoice.

Lee

I wanted to give you some feed back on your newest book, David gave me a copy in mid December, I read it very quickly and then went right back and read it again slowly to let it sink in a little. Beverly has read it as well. We both enjoyed it very much, but more importantly, it works. I read Younger Next Year, and that's when I really got into the exercise program and lost a lot of weight and got to a weight where I don't remember ever being. I work out a minimum of 1 1/2 hours per day, 6 days

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Fritz

Fritz has not been a perfect disciple. He is carrying a few extra pounds, and he only works out four days a week, but he is religious about that… especially the strength training part. Which turns out to be lucky. The other day, running to catch a train, he went flying down the stairs. Crashed hard to his knees… his head just grazed the concrete floor. He severed one quadriceps… a fearsome injury… and sprained the other. He will be in rehab for six months. But here’s the thing. He is

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Doug

Here's a short one, fresh off the presses... it just came in while I was working on this piece. “Chris I just wanted to write you a short letter about your book. I had a customer recommend it to me and I thoroughly enjoyed it. I subsequently bought 20 copies to hand out to friends and customers. It has been consistently praised and made a difference in several people’s lives I know. I have always been a bit of an exercise fan. About 1200 days ago I made my six kids a bet I would work ou

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Bobby

Bobby is one of the early Thinner stories. He is a good, personal friend and I talked him into being part of the Beta Test we ran on some people, when Thinner was still in the middle stages of being edited. We gave the Beta’s, as we called them, a rough copy of the book and asked them to set a weight loss (and conditioning) goal… see what happened. Bobby was recently retired from a big New York bank… a lovely old Yankee with perfect manners and thedeep skepticism and reserve that they

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David

David - one of the people to whom this book is dedicated - is anything but typical but I have to start with him. He was in his mid-60’s, the CEO of a major consulting firm… a bit of an athlete once but now in wretched shape. 60 pounds overweight, bone idle and basically out of breath. As so often, a friend gave him Younger… begged him to read it. He put it off for a long time but finally took it on a vacation to the Caribbean. And read it through in two days. Picked it up and read it th

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