Saturday, March 1, 2008

The Six Week Body Makeover: Does it Live up to its Promises?

The Six Week Body Makeover: Does it Live up to its Promises?

I have to tell you right off - I tried this one and gained 3 pounds during the first week. Maybe I was just doing it wrong - but I was quite diligent! One of my friends had some success with the The Six Week Body Make Over; however, she didn't really need to lose more than 3-5 pounds....

I saw it first on HSN.com. I started out thinking - can a diet really help you lose up to thirty pounds in six weeks? I could use this! Michael Thurmond seems to think you can, and in fact he offers a money back guarantee if you do not. With the six week body makeover plan, many people have been reprogramming their metabolism and losing weight with his aggressive weight loss program for over twenty years.

The first step is to fill out your body blueprint, then you are on your way to making over your body. The body blueprint questionnaire helps you determine if you are a body type A, B, C, D or E. According to most reviews though most people wind up being body type A or B. In fact, I had several friends try the blueprint, and they were all type B. I was too....

Thurmond explains each these body types and what foods will work best and what combination of foods will work best for each body tpye. Then you blueprint your body to tailor your strength training program to get the results that you need for your body type. According to the program, within six weeks you will have reprogrammed your body’s metabolism and can move on to the living lean program.

The Six Week Body Make Over follows the same theories as the Eat right for Your Type diet. However, Eat Right for Your Body diet is based on your blood type only, it does not ask any questions regarding your metabolism. Some dieters complain that SWBM is too restrictive as far as food goes. I would tend to agree. I found it much too limited for my taste. It does give you three options to follow for each meal and snack, but I just found the choices to be too limited. After all there are only so many eggs one can eat. The program also forbids salt, sugar and for most body types milk and other dairy products are not allowed.

Although SWBM is not a low carb diet, it seems to follow a lot of the low carb theories. Your body type determines what type of carbs you can eat. SWBM suggests that there are good carbs and bad carbs. By following the plan for your body type, you keep away from the bad carbs. Bread is allowed for certain body types, but it can only be whole grain. Oatmeal and potatoes are allowed, but only at certain meals.

SWBM also encourages you to eat six small meals throughout the day, and not to allow more than a few hours (3 or less) between them. The logic, like with several other diet plans, is you will never go hungry. Research has shown that smaller meals through out the day is better than just a big breakfast, lunch and dinner.

Jorge Cruise’s book The Three Hour Diet believes in frequent small meals, too. Cruise recommends eating six small meals every three hours. When compared to other diets, most people say this diet can be a lot of work. (I have not tried it yet myself.) The food preparation and cooking that is involved can be timed consuming for working people with busy lifestyles. For best results on this plan, or the others, try to devote at least one day to cooking and preparing food for the week. However, some people tell me that when they think of the limited food choices and the work that has to go into preparing the food is just not worth it to them and it might already be setting them up to fail. Do you really want to try a diet that you feel will set you up for failure?

While the Six Week Body Makeover did work well for two of my friends, it was just too limited and time consuming for my taste and lifestyle - as well as the fact that I gained instead of lost. Perhaps it is a bit too complicated for me to follow.

I continue my search for a diet that is easy, tasty, and helps me lose the weight I need to lose! If anyone has any suggestions, please let me know.

tag: