Sport What Do You Think About "Eating for Life?"

[kaizen]

Hey everyone,

I have a few friends that have been doing the Body for Life program for about 6 weeks or so. They, for the most part, have only been doing the diet portion and not the exercise portion and have had some really good results.

Basically, the rules are:

• No sugar
• Eat 6 small meals/day
• Eat 1 "fist" of carbs/meal
• Eat 1 "palm" of protein/meal
• Take 1 day off each week and eat whatever/whenever you want

It seems like a pretty reasonable plan to me. What do you all think?

 

[darren187]

No processed sugar in a diet will always result in better weight loss, for the majority of people, because the blood sugar levels will be kept 'more' stable.

6 small meals per day boosts the metabolisms fat burning potential!

The amounts of food eaten sound sensible too. I personally believe people should introduce a wide selection of carbs into their diets. I'm sure if someone just ate pasta and rice in the proportions mentioned they would have different results than if they also ate rood vegetables.

Taking one day off a week is also good, especially so on a calorie restrictive diet, so as to halt the negative effects of starvation mode. As for eating all you want and at any time, that's a definite no-no lol as five days dieting could easily be destroyed by ones days binging with an all you can eat attitude! Even on your cheat day/s you should still watch what you eat, instead you should have a cheat meal twice a week that is basically still healthy but more calorie dense, and never over 500 calories from your limit.

If these people also exercised 5+ times per week it would no doubt increase the fat loss by maybe twice as much!

 

[malkore]

The problem is it doesn't make any distinguishing factors between starchy carbs and fiberous/veggie carbs.

Really, you should pound down the veggies (real veggies, not potatoes and corn, which are starch) as much as you want, moderate fruit intake, and some whole grains (oatmeal, etc, not pasta and bread).

And a few cheat meals in moderation is fine too. a cheat day doesn't mean you eat a whole pizza...it means you get to have 'regular' pizza in normal serving size portions. its about the flavor, textures, etc...not gorging on calories you've been cutting.

too many treat their cheat day like an excuse to hit buffets all day.

 

[Mr. Estonia]

I sort of scanned through the book. I wasn't as enthralled as most people have been about it.

I don't like the concept of counting portions. I believe that if you have real goals, you should make it as clear and precise to accomplish them. Counting portions gives you an estimate, no way can you know exactly how many calories you put into your body. I like to be certain and even with calorie counting you sometimes underestimate/overestimate...

Kaizen, what do you mean by "Eating for life?" Is that the lifestyle Body for Life advocates?

By the way, I read in a book Abs for Life that fructose (fruit sugar) really isn't better than table sugar and it's pretty much the same. However, from fruits you also get minerals and vitamins, which you don't get from table sugar. So that's why it's wiser to get your sugars from vegetables and fruits. What do you think about this?