Average Rating: 
Rating: - Pricey, but a good way to stay focused and organized.
The body for life plan involves planning your eating and exercise sessions in advance, and then keeping detailed records of them on a daily basis. The program is a "12-week challenge" - i.e. 84 days.This journal provides all of the necessary forms in a hardback, mini-binder sort of format to plan and track your eating and exercise sessions for those 84 days. Additionally, for each day there is a motivational type blurb and a new "success story", complete with the before and after photos. It's a bit pricey but it's a great tool for getting organized and tracking your progress. It will also provide a record of your progress. A couple of minor gripes: 1) Sundays are free days so he doesn't provide pages for those days. It would be nice to have at least a couple of blank pages in there for your notes and observations for those days. And 2) Since the program is all very regimented, so are the forms which means that if you want to deviate from the program or "tweak" it a bit to fit your schedule/lifestyle the journal is going to either not fit at all or be a bit out of whack. Overall, it's a good tool for your first "12-week challenge". I'm guessing that if you go on to do more challenges you'll end up devising something of your own creation.
Rating:  - Essential BFL Tool!
I started my first Body-for-Life challenge on 1/6 and finished 3/29. This book was very important because I was able to keep track of my meals and workouts while reading the encouraging words of Bill Phillips as well as a successful transformation daily.The daily progress reports are VERY important for your success. The meals help you keep track of what you have ate so far (as well as planning), and you can review your previous workouts to better plan your next workout. Not to mention you can look back at how far you've come! BFL provides these sheets in the original book and their website, but having this all organized in this journal right in front of you with inspirational words from Bill makes it easier than printing out the pages everyday. I read half of the Transformations before I even started! They go into alot more detail than just looking around on the web...you can see how different beginning stats work for different people...and how many 12-week Challenges it may have taken *some* of them to get there. Plus, if you actually read his words, he offers you a little deal if you're unhappy ;) There will ALWAYS be anti-BFL people out there. All you have to do is look for the personal pages on the internet. Everyone knows the secret to losing weight: Exercise & Eating Right. Bill Phillips did not invent anything new, nor does he try to fool you into thinking so. He offers a structured program and mental encouragement towards realistic goals. If you actually read his book, follow his program, and track your hard work (like in this journal), you will look great in 12 weeks. I did, and I'm now in Challenge 2.
Rating:  - Make sure you like and are committed to the format.
While I am a Body for Life devotee, I do not find that the journal is compatable with my needs. The journal is set up so that Day 1 (upper body workout) appears on the first two pages. The next two pages are for Day 2 (aerobics). Day 3 is two pages for lower body. I prefer to keep my progress on a single page for upper body and another page for lower body. This way I can easily see at a glance where I have improved and where I have been slacking. Also, as a new page is created for each workout, you must rewrite your lifting program each time. If you generally keep the same program for 4 to 6 weeks, the book requires a lot of additional writing time. Too, if for some reason you need to change up the order of your days you are stuck jumping around in the journal. For instance, I started the journal on a lower body workout day, so I had to start the journal on Day 3. If, however, these are not concerns of yours, the journal is a nice thing to have.
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