Katherine, can you say more about the program?

Is this the diet where you are eating small meals throughout the day? I'm pretty sure I tried this a few years ago. Remember always planning that next meal within a few hours but never seemed to be too hungry (not a bad thing).

I should really review the discussions here. I need to do something.

Ditto. I need to do something too. And no, spuff and I are not the same person.

are you sure about that Robin? I'm beginning to wonder if we are twins separated at birth.

The program is called Body for Life - the book must be ten years old now. You can look at the program at www.bodyforlife.com.

The basics are fairly simple. You eat six times a day, with a protein and a carb at each meal. In general, a protein portion is about the size of your palm, and the carb about the size of your closed fist. You can pretty much eat vegetables to your heart's content.

You have a 20-minute aerobic session (interval training) three times a week, and resistance training three times a week. One day a week is completely free of exercise or dietary guidelines - seriously, eat whatever you want for that one day.

When I did it the first time, I dropped my cholesterol by 30 points, my blood pressure 20 points, and my triglycerides dropped by half. Going in, I had metabolic syndrome - at the end, I didn't. And I was 20 pounds lighter.

It does require some planning. I carry my midmorning and midafternoon meals in to work with me. It's kind of nice to have something there for those between-meal hungries if they do come - but with the program you're eating every three hours anyway, so you tend to not be hungry.

A standard BFL challenge is twelve weeks - but the weeks are all the same, so you can do it for as long as you like. The changes I talked about above were in my first twelve-week challenge.

Katherine~

THanks for the info. I have the book & I'll review it. Do they have shakes or snack bars with their program? If so how are they? Sometimes ya need a quickie to hold you over when on the road when you don't have time to plan it all.

The company that owns Body for Life is EAS, and they do have a whole variety of protein bars and supplements. They also make Myoplex products, including the meal replacement shakes. I know people who love them, but for some reason they don't sit well with me. I had more luck with MetRx meal replacement shakes.

For bars, I used to use Zone bars, which come in a bunch of different flavors and are overall pretty well balanced. And I used Slimfast as well. Mostly I tried to stick to "real food" rather than bars and shakes, but there are just times when you need something really portable, and the bars and shakes take care of that.