Body For Life: 12 Weeks to Mental and Physical Strength Audio CD – Abridged, December 26, 2007

I'm on the 11th week of this program and while I'm not in two weeks going to look like the photos inside the book--those are the champions of the Body-for-LIFE challenge--it will probably only take me a month or so more to get there. This is not bad considering prior to this I had more-or-less given up on being much more than thin, since muscle-building programs always seem to take hours. And I have built more muscle working with weights for 45-minutes a day, three times a week, than I have in any previous program I've tried, no matter how lengthy.The thing to keep in mind, if you use Mr. Philips' system, is that you will be gaining weight as well as losing it. I've only netted about a pound a week weight loss--but I've lost much more than that in fat, since I've gained considerable muscle mass. This is a good thing unless you're obsessed with the numbers on the scale.The system for eating isn't a diet in the traditional crash-weight-loss sense. You don't measure stuff out with scales and tape-measures; you do have to maintain your integrity when picking portions for yourself. (There's a simple guideline.) You eat six meals a day from a simple menu. (Philips recommends a powdered drink mix but I don't care for those, and the program still works for me.)This is the real genius of the diet though: One day a week, you can eat whatever you want, however much you want. In the book, Mr. Philips says that you'll be happy to get back to your regular eating pattern after your "free day", even after only six days on the diet. I didn't believe it when I read it; I was astounded to experience it for myself. (I'm a binge eater, normally: I eat one or two huge meals a day, easily go 15 to 24 hours without food, enjoy fasting. This program changed that, quickly and rather easily.) I've enjoyed my free days, and some weeks I've looked forward to them more than others, but I'm glad to go back to (my new) normal diet afterward, every time.This really =is= something you can do for the rest of your life without completely organizing your life around exercise and diet. The exercise routines are quick and remarkably effective. The diet is flexible enough to where you never have to cheat. What more do you want?Well, if Amazon would let me, I would knock a half-a-star out for a few annoying things: The graphic design of the book is not helpful. (Even the typesetting of the title is obnoxious.) The graphics for the workouts communicate the concept, but don't really help you if you're sweataing through one. And why is it that the three groups of foods (proteins, carbohydrates, vegetables) have exactly the same number of entries in the table? Seems like the list could be expanded a bit.And, let's be honest: the number one source of philosophers in America are diet/exercise gurus. This book is no exception, being filled with insights and philosophies of how to live and take control of our lives and so on. I don't have a problem with this (and Mr. Philips' philosophy is fairly workable) but the sheer amount of it can make it difficult to just =find= the meat of the program (the exercise and diet patterns).I also always get a chuckle out of specious analogies like "grazers are horses" where "bingers are bears", so which do you want to look like? Oh yeah? How about cows (they graze) and lions (who binge)?But these are minor points. (Like the editorial review that thinks it's weird that carbohydrates and vegetables are listed separately--well, the vegetables are all of the low-cal variety and it wouldn't do to replace lettuce with a plate of pasta, would it?) The major point is that it works, and is manageable.

I found this book a few years ago, and thought what the heck I will give it a shot, and literally 10 weeks later I was standing in a store and one of my buddies I hadn't seen in a while came in with his wife and they almost didn't recognize me? I went back to put on the pants that I was wearing when I started the program......They were too baggy to wear.If you read the negative reviews here it is usually from people that tried the program for a week and didn't follow thru. It really isn't a difficult program, actually it is quite easy to follow. You get to eat six times a day, and on Sundays, anything you want....Actually after a while you forget about the Sunday thing. The only reason I stopped the program was that I had hurt my back years before, and I finally went in to see a therapist, they tell me to stop working out, with out even asking me what kind of work out I was doing, (For the record the one I was doing was easier on my back then what they were having me do!) and they put me on their w/o, sure enough my back got worse and I gained 20 lbs. (For the record the therapist and their "Chain" are noted in the area that I live as the worst place anyone can go to for back issues, and this is coming from the local people at the local Hospital. Every time I mention the particular therapists name, I see Dr.'s faces cringe!)I have tried w/o with personal trainers, I have tried with PT's & I have tried Gym Memberships, but all I am going to say is this, this book and this program worked better then anything I have ever tried, it is a very easy program, you learn to go at your own pace, (With a Personal Trainer all they wanted was $400 and they pushed me like I was training for the Olympics?) This book is one of the few books on working out, eating a more healthy diet and staying fit that I have ever seen that is reasonable, and works.If you are trying to look like Arnold, this may not be the book for you, this is a book about overall fitness, not overall "Steroid" look. I have read thru most of the posts here, and I noted that the people that wanted an overall healthy life, and who were just trying to stay healthy gave this book a good review, the ones who wanted overnight results and wanted to look like Arnold were the ones that didn't like the book. If you buy this book, and use it for 12 weeks in the way they suggest's, one thing I can speak from personal experience is this, you will lose weight, and you will be more fit and look better then you have in quite a while. No Fluff, no external pills to buy, no special exercise machine, just buy the book, and have some basic work out equipment and you are ready to go. For the record, I used and still use an old Soloflex Machine that I bought off of ebay years ago. If you want, you can just use a basic set of weights. (This time because I am living in a different place and my Soloflex is in Storage, I will be using the "TRX Suspension Trainer". I am sure I will get the same results. BTW the TRX is a pretty neat tool as well, it lets you work out anywhere.)