OMG book author makes millions from cold bath and coffee regime

North London gym instructor said to have signed two lucrative deals after book rewrites publishing rules
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OMG prescribes, as a metabolism-boosting alternative to breakfast, black coffee and a cold bath. Photograph: Getty

Skip breakfast, go easy on the broccoli and take cold baths: the advice from a unorthodox and controversial new diet book has just made a north London gym instructor a millionaire.

  1. Six Weeks to OMG: Get skinnier than all your friends
  2. by Venice A. Fulton

After self-publishing his book under the straight-talking title Six Weeks to OMG: Get Skinnier Than All Your Friends, the 39-year-old Venice A Fulton has now signed two lucrative publishing deals on either side of the Atlantic after a bidding war lasting several days.

Fulton (his pen name) is revealing little about himself except that he wrote the book in a Finchley library, has a degree in sports science from the University of Bedfordshire, and came up with his theories after trawling through scientific papers on metabolism and weight.

Literary agent Richard Pine, who represented Fulton, said in a statement that the US deal with Grand Central was worth seven figures and that terms with the UK's Michael Joseph, an imprint of Penguin, were "equally spectacular".

The diet, said to be followed by unnamed celebrities, recommends avoiding fruit juice, starch and carbohydrates, and drinking black coffee and dousing oneself in chilled water for 15 minutes in the morning to kickstart the metabolism rather than having breakfast. It promises readers they can lose 20lb of fat in six weeks.

Fulton says plunging into cold water will cause the "metabolic rate to shift to overdrive" and if you're not brave enough to immerse your whole body you can just expose your legs. He adds: "Most of us have a hard-wired fear of all things unusual. It takes a few brave humans to stand up and try something new. Eventually, the truth spreads from these explorers, and makes all our lives better."

Six Weeks claims that fruit juices and smoothies cause overeating and that the carbohydrates in broccoli can be worse than those in Coca-Cola.

While the majority of reviews have been positive, some remain unconvinced by Fulton's unconventional techniques, although he has responded to critics in his blog by saying no one should trust doctors when it comes to diet.

"Doctors are the mechanics who patch things up when they go wrong," he said. "I'm extremely grateful for the job they do, and have fond memories of doctors visiting me as a child, and making me better again. But in terms of preventative advice, they can't be trusted. In terms of cutting-edge advice, they're even more behind the times."

Six Weeks to OMG – a title Fulton says was inspired by watching the reality TV show The Only Way Is Essex, became a word-of-mouth e-hit in the UK.

It is rivalling the bestselling Dukan Diet, whose equally controversial author, Dr Pierre Dukan, faces an ethics hearing in his native France after suggesting children could pass a new exam by staying thin.

Weight and body image are becoming increasingly explosive topics. Last week there was outrage when the coach of former world heptathlon champion, Jessica Ennis, revealed a senior figure at UK Athletics had described her as fat.

Ennis's coach Toni Minichiello claimed that an unnamed "high-ranking person" within the governing body said the 26-year-old was "fat and she's got too much weight".

The message to young people, especially girls, that an athlete like Ennis was overweight was enormously damaging, he said.

For Six Weeks Fulton claims to use a mix of nutrition, biochemistry and psychology to help people lose weight, and given the huge market for diet and nutrition books, which has seen bestsellers The Atkins Diet and The South Beach Diet make millions and create their own spin-off industries, we can expect a lot of people drinking black coffee in a cold bath this summer.

One UK book agent said: "I read it the day it came in because I liked the idea. I just didn't think it was publishable. It lacked professional credentials for a diet and fitness book. Normally with these kinds of books you'd need a doctorate. If you look at Arthur Agatston, who did The South Beach Diet, or Dukan or Atkins, they're all doctors. This just seemed so not based in the going medical wisdom that I couldn't see how it could be seen to work commercially. But I was massively wrong.

"The qualities of this book were not apparent to a lot of people who saw it, but good on him. You can't underestimate the power of a strong concept in publishing. Diet and fitness is historically a strong area of the market. I suspect it will be huge."

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