I did the bill philips BFL as opposed to the womens version. But then I worked out with my husband and his friends, and never liked a work out that was too girly. I never got too bulky on his routine. ( I know that is a common concern with some ladies)
I'll throw my 2 cents in as well - I did BFL for 2 years straight, and loved the results. However, I got off track, and then tried to take short cuts - doing everyting BUT BFL to try to lose weight - South Beach, WW, Biggest Loser.... I just ended up gaining even more when I couldn't stick with those programs!
I'm back to BFL because I know it works for me. One caution is not to rely on the scale to measure your results, but instead use the "pants-o-meter" - your measurements, to check your progress. Since you're gaining muscle, you'll lose weight less quickly, but you will be smaller than you were before.
The first weeks are tricky - you'll struggle with getting used to eating 6x a day, and the workouts seem a lot, but then it will all suddenly fall into place, and you'll realize that it's easy to eat that way, and it's less than 4 hours of working out a week! I agree about the cardio - I plan to do more this time around, schedule permitting. I actually squeeked by with only 2 cardio sessions a week last time, so if I can get in 3, and maybe 4, I'm hoping to see even better results.
Good luck with it - we'll be here to help you if needed! I highly recommend trying to find a BFL Success Journal to purchase online - I find that if I write in one (in pen!), I'm more likely to stick to the plan, see how I'm doing, and keep my Challenge on track.
Cindy
Yes I agree with Liza...definitely a good program and one that can be artfully tweaked in subsequent challenges. I recommend Challenge One by the book (Bill Phillips book NOT the ladies book!) and then change up two and so on for you.
I really had to rely on the pants-o-meter and still do. According to my scale, I never lose any weight.
Well, today is only day 6 and I never stick with anything however ... I pretty much eat this way to lose anyhow and I was looking for some structure exercise-wise. I think it'll be good.
Things are going well! I am spot-on with the exercise, but as I've been called out on before, the eating clean can be my challenge. HOWEVER, the pants o meter is my friend, my bf measurement on my scale (however inaccurate it may be, the "trend" is favorable) is good, and I'm a whole different person than I was while working only on a cable machine. But the whole psychology of using food as a treat/reason to go out/etc. is my downfall and needs more work. I usually never stick to anything either and when I lose 20-30 lbs say, Woop! OK, Now I can eat what I want again. But I've been consistent with this since Sep 1!!! So the food may not be 100%, and because of that it may take me a little longer to lose the fat, but the lifting and cardio are good so that's progress for me for sure!
For me the food is the best part. My percentages aren't always good. I don't do a free day cuz that sends me into a downward spiral! But I don't usually have too much trouble keeping my calories reasonable. Usually
But I need to work on exercise intensity. I can dicker in a 30 minute workout ... without breaking a sweat. Not much help that!
It's day 11 now. The structured exercise plan is working well for me. I'm quite, quite enjoying it.
I confess to not doing just an upper and lower split. I've focused on lower back and glutes one day and shoulders yesterday ... that sort of thing. But basically some part of my upper body one day and some part of my lower body the other. I'm having trouble keeping it inside 30 minutes as well. Can't hurt I guess.
The hardest part for me is keeping cardio to every other day. I'm leaning toward Tom Venuto and doing it more often ... for fat burning doncha know?
Another challenge I have is with food. If I'm stickler sticky all day, I end up short calories in the evening, which ends up in bad choices. Nothing for that but to plan better.
Hey Susan, sounds good! Myself, I actually do the cardio every day, well, 6x/week. I have tremendous amounts of fat piles to burn thru, so I need all my cardio. I do 30 minutes on the treadmill, interval training, with inclines as high as 5 and speed as high as 3.7. I'm considering bumping that up to 45 minutes just because the 30 minutes is not as challenging to do anymore and I want to see what will happen. I have been increasing the incline and speed gradually as well.
My weights take between 1/2 hour and an hour, but it's never under 30 minutes. My ubwo takes 1 hr and lbwo 1/2 hour. My ubwo was taking even longer, but I started doing my tricep kickbacks and back rows double arm instead of single. That maybe shaved off about 10 minutes; it was just too long before!
I head to Disney World on Saturday and am bringing my pedometer. While I realize that's not aerobic walking, I'm interested to see how many steps I get in.
I read the Body For Life book by Bill. I have been interested in starting the program. One question as I don't have the book anymore, it seems I remember him saying not to do cardio for more than 20 min on cardio days. Am I remembering right?! and if so, will it slow your progress if you do more cardio?
good luck and keep us posted on your progress ...
