Essay, Research Paper: Body For Life

1. Body For Life
2. Author Bill Phillips, is the chief editor of Muscle Media Magazine and a fitness guru. Dedicating his life to physical fitness, Phillips’ work is known universally throughout the world of bodybuilding and nutrition. Phillips is also an executive officer of EAS (Engineered and Applied Sciences), the leader in sports nutrition and supplementation. Along with his professional business background, Phillips is a certified personal trainer, whose teaching is acknowledged world-wide.
3. Copyright 1999
4. Published by Harper Collins Publishers
5. The intended audience of this book is anyone, and everyone, ages 18 and up, who want to change the way they feel, think, and live!
6. The purpose of this diet is to help people attain the body that they always wished for. It’s meant to help lose weight in a healthy fashion, while incorporating another helpful weight-loss method, physical activity. This type of diet incorporates working out as well as balanced healthy nutrition.
7. The main principle of the Body For Life Diet is consuming portions of healthy foods, instead of having the burden of counting calories, and weighing foods. Participants eat six smaller meals a day, each containing a "portion" of carbohydrates and proteins. A portion is measured as the size of the palm of your hand. So, an equivalent size of chicken is a breast the size of your hand. These meals are spaced out over equal time periods. Consuming six smaller meals speeds up your metabolism, because your body doesn’t get a chance to stop digesting. Also, incorporated in the meals are two to four servings of vegetables or salads. Water is also a major factor in the diet.
8. Here is a sample day in the Body For Life program:
8am- Glass of cold water, Egg Omelet (1 whole egg, 4 egg whites) w/salsa, a regular sized banana.
11am- Glass of cold water, Turkey Sandwich with lettuce and honey mustard on
wheat bread.
2pm- Myoplex Strawberry Cream Protein Shake.
5pm- Glass of cold water, salad with fat-free dressing, portion of lean pork loin,
green beans, and an apple.
8pm- Glass of cold water, salad with fat-free shredded cheese, sliced chicken
breast, salsa, and baked tortilla chips.
11pm- Myoplex Cinnamon-Swirl Protein shake.
9. The estimated number of kcal for this program is going to depend upon the size of your body. In my case, for the 3 weeks that I counted calories, I took in about 1900-2100 kcal per day. On the average, I took in about 185-215 grams of protein, 250-275 grams of carbohydrates, and 8-20 grams of fat. In measuring my significant nutrients, I consumed an ample amount of calcium, vitamin C, sodium, and just about every other nutrient.
10. This diet is nutritionally sound. You can throw out the numbers, amount of kcal, amount of nutrients taken in, and by eating balanced healthy meals as described in the book, you fulfill you daily requirements. The biggest evidence of the success of this diet is the before and after pictures of people who combined this program with regular cardiovascular and weightlifting exercise. The transformations that occurred are amazing, if you don’t believe me see for yourself. (http://www.bodyforlife.com)
11. To be honest with you, the diet is remarkably easy to follow once you get into it. The first week is the toughest as you change your eating habits, but after that it gets easier. The toughest part of the program is meal preparation. The meals can take time to make because you may have to plan for the next day or plan your meals in advance. On average, about an hour to an hour and a half is spent preparing food for the current and following day.
The cost of the program is not expensive, you can purchase the $20 book at any book store. As far as the food is concerned, figure how much a person spends a week on junk food, stuff like chips, ice cream, cookies, pastries, and candy. See, all that you do is replace those items with healthier foods, foods that are low-fat, reduced calorie, a better carbohydrate source (complex), and simply better for you. As far as cost, I would say that from your usual diet, the cost is about the same, or possibly even cheaper.
As far as availability, everything on the diet is located at your local grocery store. It can’t get any easier than that!
12. I personally feel that this diet is great. Any program that combines diet with regular physical activity will help those who try it. I have seen from the before and after pictures that over 300,000 people have gained outstanding results from this program. The reason this program is so good is that its not time consuming (the exercise aspect takes between 25 and 50 minutes a day), the diet isn’t tough after the first week, and because of one final aspect of the diet. This aspect is the big one. The best part about the diet is that on the seventh day of each week you can eat, anything I’ll say it again, you can eat anything, and everything your heart desires. The reason behind this day is to reward yourself. The biological thinking behind it is this "free day" tricks your body so it doesn’t get used to the set amount of food taken in. When you body gets used to a certain amount of food, it adjusts to it and you stop losing weight.
13. I have tried the Body For Life program and let me say I am very happy with the results. In 9 weeks of doing the program, I lost 19.6 pounds of body fat while decreasing my body fat percentage from 24.86 to 18.3. I feel I would have gotten even better results from this is I didn’t become ill in the second week of the program and if I didn’t get bronchitis in early April. I think that without sickness, I could have gotten my body weight down to a healthy 215 (from a starting point of 240!). Overall, my results were very good and I’m looking forward to doing this program again.
14. Author Bill Phillips lives up to what I have heard about him. In my opinion this man is the best when it comes to nutrition, bodybuilding and transformation of person’s body. I truly believe in what this man writes and in his products. Its takes a lot to have me believe in a product, and his is one that I believe in totally. As far as a writer, Phillips does an excellent job of making it seem that he is talking directly to you as an individual while you read the Body For Life book. The book is quick, easy to read, and inspiring. The way Phillips writes it, he will hook you into reading the whole thing in one night.
15. On a final note, I would urge anyone, that’s right anyone, who is unsatisfied with the way they look, feel, or live to give this program a try. I tried it and now I too am a believer. A good thing about this program is your not alone. About 100,000 people have transformed their lives with this program this year! Any information that someone needs about this program can be found on the Body For Life web site (given in section 10). On the site you can find everything from inspirational pieces, pictures, to actual daily postings of people who are on the program. So I’ll say it again, if you want to change your body and your life, give this program a try, its the best thing you could



Bibliography


Bill Phillips. Body For Life, 1999, Harper Collins Publishers


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