Question:
Has anybody tried the Body For Life challenge?

I just started the challenge this Monday. The six small meals with protein appeals to me. The exercise program also seems very do-able. I just wanted to know if anybody has ever tried this and what kind of results did they get. I'm getting closer to my goal and want to shed all the rest of my excess body fat. Thanks for all your responses. Beth    — Elizabeth C. (posted on April 9, 2003)

April 9, 2003
Hi Elizabeth, I did BFL in 2001 and it was very successful for me. To build the muscle you have to make sure your protein levels are high enough and you will probably need less carbs than the program allows. However, the six small meals a day will fit in well with being a gastric bypass person because I still eat that way. I don't know if you dump or not but one of the great things about BFL is that it has "free day" where you can eat whatever you want but this will probably not apply to you unless you just use free day to have a treat that you normally wouldn't eat. In the early stages of the program, people go nuts with free day and later on, as a healthy food plan and exercise become more important, they reign themselves in. Since you've had surgery you won't be able to utilize free day as others do but don't be discouraged because only the real newbies go nuts on free day anyway (if you participate in internet message boards there will be a lot of "what did you eat on free day?" talk from beginners). The other thing is that you will no longer be able to rely on the scale for your progress. When you put on that muscle you will see a gain. I went down 2 dress sizes in the 12 weeks in 2001 and yet only lost 11 lbs (and about 9 of it in week 11). The exercises are designed for maximum results. Out of all the "diets" and "programs" I did before surgery, BFL is the only one that I can say truly worked for me. I have my before and after pictures if you'd like me to email them to you. As a matter of fact, I was returning to BFL once I was 8 weeks out but have been sidelined due to a car accident. If you have any more questions or want links to info and BFL support groups on the web, please let me know. Good luck!
   — susanje