Anyone try the Body for Life Program

fatboy235

Good morning all my MFP friends. With all the diet trends out there (and believe me i've tried my share to include low carb, vegan, paleo, weight watchers etc) I always seem to plateau. I first tried Bill Phillips Body for Life challange in 2005. I had great success with the diet portion. The strict exercise program I was not able to maintain due to several sports related injuries over the years. I can lift light to medium weight and do some cardio but that's really it. Like some of you on this site, I have struggled with weight issues since I was a little kid. Once I went over 200 pounds i've never been able to get below it. Once again I have dropped 23 pounds with the help and support of my friends on this site and am currently sitting at 223 which is where the dreaded plateau hits. My calorie goal is 1680 and for the most part i'm usually around 1400-1500. I walk 2 miles everyday and still play some softball during the week but that's it. Work and family duties have my time compressed. Since i've stumbled a bit on the topic, have any of you had continued success on the Body for Life program and if you did how did you break the dreaded plateau. Thank you for the response and taking time to read this. Make it a great day.

d2footballJRC

Good morning all my MFP friends. With all the diet trends out there (and believe me i've tried my share to include low carb, vegan, paleo, weight watchers etc) I always seem to plateau. I first tried Bill Phillips Body for Life challange in 2005. I had great success with the diet portion. The strict exercise program I was not able to maintain due to several sports related injuries over the years. I can lift light to medium weight and do some cardio but that's really it. Like some of you on this site, I have struggled with weight issues since I was a little kid. Once I went over 200 pounds i've never been able to get below it. Once again I have dropped 23 pounds with the help and support of my friends on this site and am currently sitting at 223 which is where the dreaded plateau hits. My calorie goal is 1680 and for the most part i'm usually around 1400-1500. I walk 2 miles everyday and still play some softball during the week but that's it. Work and family duties have my time compressed. Since i've stumbled a bit on the topic, have any of you had continued success on the Body for Life program and if you did how did you break the dreaded plateau. Thank you for the response and taking time to read this. Make it a great day.

I've done the Spike84 diet which follows along the same lines as Body For Life. I did really well on it. I'm a firm believer that plateau's are our bodies way of telling us we need a refeed.

Smackemdanno

Did it and loved it over 10 years ago. I lost 50 lbs in 12 weeks. The only problem I can share is I didn't view it as a permanent livestyle change and when I quit after the 12 weeks, I gained it all back about 2 years later. I have been doing MFP with the 6 meals per day with the carb and protein ratio as on the Body For Life program but not the exercise and am down 38 lbs in 110 days which is more than 12 weeks but I view my current conditions as a permanent lifestyle change that I can live with. If I hit a plateau, I plan on going to the 12 week challenge to break the plateau but hopefully I will weigh less by then. I don't know if my 10 year older knees can keep up with my previous challenge pace.

ladyfingers39

I did it about 12 years ago and lost 35 pounds. I LOVE Bill Phillips! Great program.

sengseng74

How is your progress going, now that it has been a couple of weeks since you posted?

I tried the BFL program back in 2003, and had some success with it. I was in my early 30s, so I did not take eating as seriously as I have started to today, now that I'm pushing my late 30s.

The challenge with the BFL program, in my opinion, is that it is made to work with exercise of some form. After all, you are encouraged to eat 6 times a day, and many of the food combinations amount to around 300-600 calories per meal. You can easily see how this will quickly fill up your "calorie deficit", but yet it is explained to us as being incredibly important to not send our bodies into "familne mode".

With the program, it really counts on the dieter building muscle and spiking the metabolism through cardio intervals, which are two proven methods for the body switching gears and eating fat through the plateau which occurs while dieting.

Since you explained that physical activity is difficult for you due to prior injuries, you might want to consider reducing your balanced amounts of protein and carbs (for instance the 40% / 40% / 20% ratio of protein/carbs/fat per day), and try finding food combinations that will still give you the protein your body needs, but adjusted downward for the lower metabolism your body may have due to the lack of extra muscle mass and exercise routine which would otherwise cause more metabolism. Are you able to cycle at all? Or use an elliptical machine? There are some great low-impact machines that can help you get your heart rate up, without placing stress on the parts of your body that were injured. Many times, people will even take to a swimming regimen, since that is a very controlled and effective way to increase your body's need to draw from its fat deposits.

If you already tried all of those approaches, the only other option I can think of is to use supplements during your meals. There is a bevy of research that is backed by clinical trials through the LEF organization. They have many solutions that use natural extracts to work with the body's natural metabolic processes to offset unwanted effects like extra blood sugar and fats being converted into your body's own fat stores. I've tried some of these myself, and they work really well. If I were not trying to build more muscle mass at this time and following the Body for Life program, I'd be working with those supplements to assist with my weight loss and fat loss goals.

Again, this is just an opinion, and there are many people who swear by all sorts of plans and techniques. You'll have to be the one to determine which combination of exercise/diet works, given your own known limitations and intentions.

Send me a message if you'd like to talk more about supplementing. But whatever path you end up settling on, good luck!

monyango

I am starting BFL tomorrow with a friend of mine. We have both done the program before a long time ago and found success. Neither of us is really overweight (I have 8 pounds to lose and her about 15). We chose the program more for the success we had in toning our bodies previously. I have my fingers crossed we'll find the same success 10 years later!

If you are currently doing BFL, please add me:)