I'm on the 11th week of this program and while I'm not in two weeks going to look like the photos inside the book--those are the champions of the Body-for-LIFE challenge--it will probably only take me a month or so more to get there. This is not bad considering prior to this I had more-or-less given up on being much more than thin, since muscle-building programs always seem to take hours. And I have built more muscle working with weights for 45-minutes a day, three times a week, than I have in any previous program I've tried, no matter how lengthy.The thing to keep in mind, if you use Mr. Philips' system, is that you will be gaining weight as well as losing it. I've only netted about a pound a week weight loss--but I've lost much more than that in fat, since I've gained considerable muscle mass. This is a good thing unless you're obsessed with the numbers on the scale.The system for eating isn't a diet in the traditional crash-weight-loss sense. You don't measure stuff out with scales and tape-measures; you do have to maintain your integrity when picking portions for yourself. (There's a simple guideline.) You eat six meals a day from a simple menu. (Philips recommends a powdered drink mix but I don't care for those, and the program still works for me.)This is the real genius of the diet though: One day a week, you can eat whatever you want, however much you want. In the book, Mr. Philips says that you'll be happy to get back to your regular eating pattern after your "free day", even after only six days on the diet. I didn't believe it when I read it; I was astounded to experience it for myself. (I'm a binge eater, normally: I eat one or two huge meals a day, easily go 15 to 24 hours without food, enjoy fasting. This program changed that, quickly and rather easily.) I've enjoyed my free days, and some weeks I've looked forward to them more than others, but I'm glad to go back to (my new) normal diet afterward, every time.This really =is= something you can do for the rest of your life without completely organizing your life around exercise and diet. The exercise routines are quick and remarkably effective. The diet is flexible enough to where you never have to cheat. What more do you want?Well, if Amazon would let me, I would knock a half-a-star out for a few annoying things: The graphic design of the book is not helpful. (Even the typesetting of the title is obnoxious.) The graphics for the workouts communicate the concept, but don't really help you if you're sweataing through one. And why is it that the three groups of foods (proteins, carbohydrates, vegetables) have exactly the same number of entries in the table? Seems like the list could be expanded a bit.And, let's be honest: the number one source of philosophers in America are diet/exercise gurus. This book is no exception, being filled with insights and philosophies of how to live and take control of our lives and so on. I don't have a problem with this (and Mr. Philips' philosophy is fairly workable) but the sheer amount of it can make it difficult to just =find= the meat of the program (the exercise and diet patterns).I also always get a chuckle out of specious analogies like "grazers are horses" where "bingers are bears", so which do you want to look like? Oh yeah? How about cows (they graze) and lions (who binge)?But these are minor points. (Like the editorial review that thinks it's weird that carbohydrates and vegetables are listed separately--well, the vegetables are all of the low-cal variety and it wouldn't do to replace lettuce with a plate of pasta, would it?) The major point is that it works, and is manageable.