Body for Life

It was created by Bill Phillips, a former competitive bodybuilder and previous owner of EAS, a manufacturer of nutritional supplements.

If the calorie intake is reduced, the body responds by slowing down its metabolism, and by burning muscle in preference to fat.

When the diet comes to an end and normal calorie intake is restored, the individual starts to gain weight even faster than before.

For best results, Body for Life holds that this exercise should include weight training to build skeletal muscle and increase the metabolism over the long term.

It uses the variant developed by the American College of Sports Medicine, which uses a scale of 0 to 10: These levels accommodate differences in fitness.

Over the course of the 12-week Body for Life program an individual would get noticeably fitter, so their intensity scale needs to be adjusted over time.

Brief but intense exercise provides maximum stimulus for the body to build strength and endurance, but without the risk of overtraining.

Common choices include walking or running (perhaps on a treadmill), cycling, swimming, or the use of a rowing machine or cross-trainer.

[2] Another key aspect of BFL is consuming a diet that is low enough in caloric intake to cause fat loss, while providing enough calories and protein to build muscle and cardiovascular endurance.

In addition, BFL attempts to make choosing portion sizes and food as easy as possible to avoid overcomplication.

The major aspects of the diet program include: Body for Life also encourages people to eat mostly lean meats like chicken, fish, and turkey, as well as tofu.

[2][5] The Gale Encyclopedia of Diets, notes that: The thing nutritionists tend to criticize most strongly, however, is the perceived need for dietary supplements in this program.

Many nutritionists feel that a good, healthy diet should not require protein shakes and other supplements beyond perhaps a multivitamin for certain dieters.