The 100 Pound Transformation

I find it a bit odd that Rob was always hungry on the South Beach Diet because one of the principles of that diet is to "eat until you're satisfied." I certainly don't believe that one diet fits everyone and I'm glad Rob found something that suited him. But I also wonder if he was doing South Beach correctly if he was hungry all the time. I'm obviously biased since I've lost 160 pounds on SB, but usually if someone doesn't like it it's because of the food selections or cost of food, not because of hunger.

That's the power of Burn the Fat, Feed the Muscle. He came out with more muscle, and therefore a higher metabolism, than when he went in. I'm interested as to why women don't like it as much. Is it the weight training? Eating a lean protein every 3 hours? The exclusion of sweets?

Congratulations to Rob! It is incredible the kind of transformation a human body is capable of achieving.

Congratulations to rob so much on his weight loss.

Way to go. I have heard recently that losing weight is 99% mental, 1% math. I believe it, as that is where the motivation comes from. If you can sustain the motivation, "bottle it", so to speak, and break open the bottles when you need it, you are doin' great!

Ryan - I personally got a lot out of BFFM, dropping from around 20% bodyfat to 16.7%. (I've since gotten down to 14.4% BF through Lyle McDonald's Ultimate Diet 2, but that's another story.)

As for why women don't seem to like BFFM, I've noticed the same thing. I journalled my BFFM experiences on a weight loss support board, with a predominantly female memberhip. A group of women were intrigued enough to buy the e-book and start BFFM themselves, but they didn't last a week. The reasons seemed to be that they lacked the discipline to count every calorie and gram of protein, carbohydrate and fat; they were reluctant to give up sweets/alcohol/processed food; they weren't organised enough to plan and prepare their food in advance; and they "didn't have the time" to read the book. None of them have lost weight since.

BFFM is a great program, but it does require discipline.

I'm so sorry to hear of Rob's traumatic event. Nobody should have to endure something like that. However, a sincere congratulations is in order because that is a phenomenal transformation. It is truly admirable to see someone take such a negative experience and turn it into a positive. Congratulations, Rob!

Wow!

I am a woman on BFFM (for 2.5 months) and I really like the program and the results I've gotten.

That said, I do think it would be easier to use if I were a guy. This is for two reasons. First of all, the program focuses on building muscle and reducing body fat percentage. Now, you can do this as a woman, but it easier to do physiologically as a guy.

Secondly, because of the lower lbm, women have to reduce calories a lot further than the guys, making the 5 meals a day smaller. 300 vs 400
calories makes a big difference. Also, I think women who have watched their weight have been trained to think of skipping meals as a good thing, much more so than guys have. So changing this mentality is more difficult too.

I still think it's the best program around, but, the reasons it may be easier for guys are not just because women are less dedicated or like sweets too much.

I forgot to add I am also sorry for rob's traumatic event.
Traumatic events can couse overeating in people.

I'm a woman who is following a program very similar to BFFM and I love it. It takes a lot of discipline and the meals you eat are more "scientific" than they are pleasing or comforting. Maybe that's one reason it appeals more to men than women? I also agree with Rachel - it focuses on building muscle which is easier for men to do than women. Men who start the program probably see more dramatic results than women, who may need to work harder to maintain muscle while losing fat.

I agree that it is the best type of program for losing fat and keeping muscle.

Yoga is a good place to start getting active, but I don't think it can match a combination of cardio and weight training. Particularly, I disagree with Yoga's approach to flexibility. All you're doing is waiting for your body's stretch reflex to wear off. Instead, why not coax it out and work with it, as is done with PNF stretching. PNF stretching will increase flexibility up to 3 times faster than yoga. Smart weight training will also give you great flexibility, contrary to popular belief. Both PNF or weight training will teach your muscles to be strong in their stretched positions, rather than just having loose muscle.

Re the comments about BFFM being harder for women - I'm a woman (not sure if this was clear from my earlier post?). Sure, it takes longer for us to gain muscle, but the benefits are the same. More muscle = a faster metabolism and a leaner body. Plus, it feels good to be strong!

I agree, RedPanda. I LOVE lifting heavy weights and being strong. Most women probably don't feel that way, but I think that is beginning to change ...

Congratulations to Rob, looking good. Sorry about his trama, that always has an affect on people in some form. I get scared everytime I see those gross pictures of peoples' lost weight that ends up with extra skin that is in the way. One lady had 87 operations so far to eradicate the problem. Why solve one problem (obesity) to end up with 87 additional problems? And who could afford or want to go through so much more adversity? Ahh yes, the pros and cons of life.

I agree with both of you, RedPanda and Gazelle...I'm a woman and I love lifting heavy weights. I know I'm not going to get "huge" and I like feeling strong and knowing that I'm keeping my metabolism up. I'm also a runner, but woman cannot live by cardio alone :) I'm not familiar with BFFM, but I think the reason more women don't follow it is because a lot of them are afraid of looking "butch" and losing their boobs. I'm very muscular, yet I don't think I look "butch", so whatever. I do also think most women are programmed to think eating=getting fat so the psychology of it appeals a lot more to men. It'd be interesting to see a book like this written by a woman and geared more toward women psychologically. I think that'd help its popularity among the female crowd.

I believe strongly that Tom Venuto's ebook is one of the absolute best weight loss and body transformation books ever created. I have used it for so many areas in my own life and believe it is the best product ever created.

Body for LIFE did a similar thing with Dr Pamela Peeke authoring Body for LIFE for Women.

Dr Peeke made this quote:
"Men embrace intensity. They go into a gym and go, "Go hard or go home.' A woman goes in and says, "Oh my God, do I have to sweat? What about my hair?'" Peeke says, with animation.

This is a generalization I can't relate to. My wife can deadlift more than me and trains with far more dedication and intensity.

Rachel has hit upon something. With eating 5-6 times a day and with a low daily intake - those mini-meals are gonna be very mini.

This is a fascinating subject. The "diet" mentality is something heavily ingrained in many women. It is a mentality that needs to be challenged - but having it challenged by a muscle-bound man may not always be the best solution.

That's Awesome good for him!

But do we have to have the ol 'tried Atkins' BS. When someone says that, basically they couldn't get through the detox period.

He looks fantastic! Very inspiring!

Congratulations, Rob! That is so inspiring! :)

Pasta Queen and lowcarb_dave, why do you assume that since it didn't work for him, he didn't "do it right"? Not every diet works for everyone. We all have to find what works for us.

I too tried SBD and Atkins, and they did not work for me. And, I followed the "rules" in the books religiously for a good 3 months each time--I believe I did "do it right". Yes, I lost weight, but they are not the kinds of plans I can live with forever, so they did not work for me.

I've found what works for me and what I can do for the rest of my life, and I respect you both for finding what works for you. But, I think it's a little presumptuous to assume people don't "do it right" simply because they don't have the same results as you.

Well done. I'm inspired. keep up the good work

Hi id just like to point out a couple of things about BFFM relating to diet.

Question 1: Why do people in third world countries eat and what difference does that have compared to the way western civilisation eats. How does that relate to the purpose of putting food into your body?

Answer: As is outlined in BFFM the human body has evolved to invoke a starvation response as soon as food is not present for several hours, this is because primeordeal man wouldnt know when his next meal was coming from. In third world countries this is often still the case - they work to eat, they eat to survive. As a western civilisation we eat primarily for pleasure. Anyone who thinks eating for function (in this case the function of losing weight) is too difficult has forgotten why we are all here! Anyone should be able to try functional eating for a year, BFFM gives you a huge range of foods from which to choose, pick your favourites and go from there, its not half as restrictive as some diets!

Point 2: What do you notice about most of these female slimmers that lose weight in the correct way?

Answer: You often see 3 pictures, Before, After and 5 Years later, inevitably the muscle they have built up for the after picture they have either slowly or completely lost for the 5 years later picture giving way to a normal semi-soft but slim figure. Again if you dont want to keep the muscle once you have reached your target its no work to let them shrink back down to normal levels. No one got anywhere by NOT trying stuff!

Ultimately BFFM is HEALTHY, it encourages healthy living and activity, it roughly follows the GI diet in terms of food principles, so if you cant afford the time or the effort to do BFFM do GI and at least be healthy!

The human body was never built to eat processed goods and if you have sins as everyone does, only sin in moderation. Just so you think im not totally inhuman my sins are Coca-cola and Dolly Mixtures, the coke is easy, Coke ZERO or Pepsi Max. But I have found a good way for dealing with sweet cravings....

Start eating whatever it is very slowly and savour each mouthful, you will find there comes a point where you stop tasting and begin to shovel the stuff into your mouth. At this point you should stop because a)your body is now telling you its had enough b)you will have some left for another day and c)you wont feel half as guilty as if you had eaten it all.

I hope this has been of help to some of you.

Check out my 126lb and continuing weight loss at my myspace site!

Stu

I need to know one thing; I'm a woman, and I'm worried that if I try the BFFM-I want to try it, but I'm afraid I'll look like a bodybuilder-I HATE muscle. I honestly hate the site of ripped abs. I want a dancer's body, but to acheive it I don't want to try yoga or dance-I want to use Tom Vebnuto's BFFM e-book. Will I gain huge muscles? A woman said she uses it-I want to know whether she looks lean but not muscly-because that's what I want-u know-the celeb body-gorgeous, but not muscly. Anyone-HELP. Also, in BFFM, I heard there are some foods u shud never eat-anyone know what they are? Any BFFM'ers out there?

Hey, S -- Women don't typically have enough testosterone in their bodies to create those huge muscles. The women bodybuilders you see who DO have big bulging muscles are almost always on some kind of steroids or other supplements. If you look instead at the women who are "natural" (i.e., drug-free) bodybuilders, they have that toned-but-not-overly-muscular look you're going for.

I'm a woman. I haven't read BFFM and am currently reading what information I can find about it to try to come to a decision on whether it's worth it for me. This post and the responses to it are helping me to decide against it, and not because I have any problem with weight training. Maybe my reasons will explain why BFFM doesn't appeal to as many women as men.

I am a mother who is at home (homeschooling) with her children and is in charge of food for the whole family. My husband is at work most of the day. My family values mealtimes together. I have enough weight to lose that it's going to take me a while, but it is important to me to lose it in a way that works with my whole family's lifestyle. Eating several small meals a day will not work. Inflexible rules in general will not work. Even if I were to make it work for my weight loss, I would have an extremely difficult time keeping that model once I lose the weight.

Many women are in the position of feeding and caring for several people. Those of us in this position know that it's not so easy to do something just for ourselves unless we can make it work for the rest of our family as well.

Plans like Weight Watchers and Sparkpeople tend to work well for women who feed families because they are about portion control. I can serve meals my family loves and eat keep to a healthy portion.

i am a 15 year oldoverweight child i weigh 240 pounds and i really need to lose weight but i have no clue how.
i was wondering how do i lose at least 60 pounds within 3-5 months?
please i ask you i really need to lose weight.
my e-mail adress is jhydralsayer@aol.com if you have any recomendations please send them to me.

thank you for your time.