Bill Phillips - Body for Life

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salesmanbrad
salesmanbrad Posts: 2 Member
in Fitness and Exercise
I am writing out my 12 week goals tonight. Following Bill Phillips "Body for Life" and "Eating for Life" program. I had great success 2010 thru 2014, but the last year and a half I stopped eating right and exercising and gained the weight back. Starting now I'm back on my first 12 week program of 2017 to lose 10 pounds, of fat, gain strength, muscle, energy and good health. More to talk about. Anyone here previously following Bill Phillips.

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  • dewd2
    dewd2 Posts: 2,445 Member
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    I read the book many years ago. Not a fan of his sales tactics. You don't need all the crap EAS was selling. There's a lot of woo in there as well. Things like meal timing and other nonsense.
  • CalorieCounterGuy
    CalorieCounterGuy Posts: 27 Member
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    I have used the Body for Life program on and off for over 15 years, I love it.

    I have tweaked it a little. For example, during weight lifting, I make it a little more cardio like by doing one set (12 reps) of one muscle, then immediately do one set (12 reps) of the next muscle, then immediately go back to the first muslce and do the next set (10 reps) and so on.

    I do the interval cardio on a treadmill the other 3 days of the week.

    I have elected to experiment with intermittent fasting and calorie counting this go around, so I'm not eating 6 times a day and taking one day off - although I very much did enjoy the one day off and may incorporate that into my regimen at some point.

    The one thing that I wish I knew was how many calories I am burning during my weight workouts. I would love to know how many are burned during the traditional body for life weight workout, and my tweaked one.

  • mom23mangos
    mom23mangos Posts: 3,069 Member
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    I love Body for Life. I did years ago and broke it out again this time last year. I had to come to MFP to actually track my calories/macros however because otherwise I don't eat enough.
    CalorieCounterGuy wrote: »
    I have used the Body for Life program on and off for over 15 years, I love it.

    I have tweaked it a little. For example, during weight lifting, I make it a little more cardio like by doing one set (12 reps) of one muscle, then immediately do one set (12 reps) of the next muscle, then immediately go back to the first muslce and do the next set (10 reps) and so on.

    @CalorieCounterGuy, it sounds like you would like Bill's newer program better, Back to Fit. It's a circuit style program.
  • CalorieCounterGuy
    CalorieCounterGuy Posts: 27 Member
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    @mom23mangos Oh wow, I will check it out. His whole thing on the diet side is not to count calories, but portion sizes and to eat 6 times a day. I am counting calories, and not eating six times a day - I will see how it goes!
  • mom23mangos
    mom23mangos Posts: 3,069 Member
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    CalorieCounterGuy wrote: »
    @mom23mangos Oh wow, I will check it out. His whole thing on the diet side is not to count calories, but portion sizes and to eat 6 times a day. I am counting calories, and not eating six times a day - I will see how it goes!

    When I did Body for Life many moons ago, I was already at the very low of my BMI. I did not need to lose any weight, but was following the plan to help motivate my husband who was doing it as well. After about 8 weeks in, I was so exhausted I could barely get out of bed. I couldn't figure out what was wrong. I mean, here I am exercising, eating 6 healthy meals a day. Why would I feel this way? So I stopped doing it. This time around, I had the inkling that I was not eating enough to fuel my workouts that last time and that's why I bottomed out. So I came to MFP to log my meals and see what was going on. Turns out my estimation is way off and I was only eating between 700-900 calories a day. No wonder! So I set my calories to 1200 and macros to 40/20/40 C/F/P and that worked out well (I'm a very small woman).

    Here's my progress from last year's BFL round. I went from 111 to 97lb. I stopped logging about 6 months out and added about half the weight back on. The pic is about 101 lbs and 15% BF

    tgyil63mzvzo.jpg
  • jmohr8
    jmohr8 Posts: 4 Member
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    I also broke the book back out recently and my wife and I are at about 8 weeks in. Good results in gaining muscle but I couldn't seem to get rid of the belly fat. I think the last time I did BFL, my metabolism was faster! (I'm 47) When I asked around to people I know and trust, one guy suggested I take it to the next level and track my macro nutrients and aim at maintaining a calorie deficit. He suggested MFP and it's been quite an eye opener for me. The fist sized portion of carbs was too much for me and I the regular teas with cream and sugar were hurting me. I've had to make some adjustments but I don't feel hungry which is good.
  • WakkoW
    WakkoW Posts: 567 Member
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    I started weightlifting using BFL when it first came out. I had great success and will reccomed it to people just starting out. While I've found out the meal timing thing is all wrong, it still started me on the right path.

    I count calories now mostly because it's easier, but overall, I think that program is fairly solid and easy to understand.

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