Like all before-and-after photographs, the ones that line the inside covers of a book called "Body for Life" show a transformation. In the "before" pictures, you've got pasty people weighed down by flab; in the "after" pictures, you've got people with physiques.
Sure, in the before photos, the men and women are facing the camera head on, letting their bellies spill out over bikini bottoms and swim trunks. And sure, in the after photos, they're sucking in, their tanned bodies often turned to a flattering 45-degree angle. Still, it's hard not to be impressed by these photos — because here are people who have totally re-invented themselves in 12 weeks.
Small wonder, then, that "Body for Life" — the book and the program it's based on — has become something of a phenomenon. At Vitality, a health-food store in Bountiful, one out of every two customers comes in asking about the program, according to co-owner Lonnie Hunter. "Body for Life," the book, has been on the New York Times best-seller list for the past six months.
Interest is fueled in part by a national contest sponsored by Bill Phillips of Golden, Co., developer of the Body for Life program and editor of Muscle Media magazine. The fourth annual Body for Life Challenge is offering $1 million in cash and prizes to winners in different age categories.
So far, according to a Body for Life spokesperson, 77,000 people have "successfully completed" one of the 12-week challenges during the past four years. This does not include those people who are doing the Body for Life program but have not competed in the contest, she adds.
Last year's 12 Body for Life Challenge "grand champions" included a Bountiful woman, Lezlee Jones, who won in the women's 35-49 age group. "My bum was so big you wouldn't believe it," says Jones about the body she used to have.
Her "before" picture shows a woman who is thick around the middle. During the 12 weeks of the contest, Jones only lost five pounds (muscle, of course, weighs more than fat), but dropped two dress sizes — from an 8 to a 4. A year later, she's still following the program and reports that she's down to a size 2.
"I'll turn 40 in two months," she says. "I never dreamed that after three kids I could look like this." The weight loss is easy to maintain, says Jones, if you keep following the prescribed exercises and diet. "I think it's doable for a lifetime."
The Body for Life program is fairly simple and appears to be sound. The regimen includes 45 minutes of weight training three days a week (preferably in the morning, before breakfast), 20 minutes of aerobics three days a week, and six balanced meals or snacks a day. Once a week there is a "free day" — eat what you want, be a couch potato if you choose.
The Body for Life basic premise is this: To lose weight and have a sculpted physique, you have to lift weights as well as exercise aerobically; the best way to both lift weights and do aerobic exercise is to do repetitions of increasing intensity; it's during the rest period, when you're not exercising, that your body mobilizes to repair the muscle damage, a process that pulls energy from stored fat; if you exercise a sufficient amount, you also have to feed your body six balanced meals a day; these meals should include a significant amount of protein. (Phillips, whose company, EAS, sells supplements, recommends using protein supplements, but it's also possible to simply eat high-protein snacks, he says.)
"Women, especially, don't understand that they have to eat enough protein," says grand champion Jones. "They say, 'Why can't I just eat a salad?' "
Although she was a person who didn't even own a bathing suit before she started the program (she had to borrow one for the "before" picture), Jones has become something of a fitness guru in Davis County since winning the contest last year. Every three weeks she holds a meeting at her house for people on the program, especially beginners, and every morning a handful of women show up at her house to work out. "I have the best-looking neighborhood," says Jones.
The contest has sparked Utah interest in the program. But for some Body-for-Lifers, it was seeing a friend or co-worker suddenly look slimmer and healthier that made them sit up and take notice. After Denise Hansen noticed that a co-worker at Jardine Petroleum was quickly losing his paunch, she researched the program herself. Standing in line at a local health-food store, she asked if anyone knew about Body for Life. That's when another woman in line, a woman who looked "incredible," says Hansen, opened her purse and proudly pulled out the photo she now carries everywhere — a "before" picture of herself, 41 pounds heavier.
E-mail: jarvik@desnews.com