2002 Competition Winners: My Thoughts

[Guest guest]

There was recently a news show, can't remember if it was 20/20,

Dateline, or what, that put the Atkins and Zone program to the test

because many viewers wrote in demanding to know if they really

worked, or if the creators of the programs were exaggerating the

possible results. So the news show chose one person of their choice

to follow all three programs for 10 weeks I believe, and then posted

results. I'd be willing to start a petition or contact one of these

shows with others. I'd give anything to see the BFL principles put to

the test using an everyday person who documents their progress each

week, rather than a model or someone who gained weight just for the

contest to help market the challenge to the masses. I have to admit,

I am seeing great changes on the bfl program, but I also don't

believe some of the winners made those changes in 12 weeks. There is

a personal trainer at the gym I attend who did the challenge for 12

weeks to find out if the results were possible. He started out at

20% body fat(which is much lower than some of the winners started

with), and at the end of 12 weeks he didn't look good enough to be

chosen as a winner, yes there was progress, but nothing extreme. His

conclusion was that there is no way the winners could follow the book

to a " T " and get those results in 12 weeks. He concluded that the

majority followed much more intense nutrition/training regimes than

the book, or the photos weren't completely honest, meaning they took

longer than 12 weeks. Out of curiosity, how can EAS prove the

legitimacy of the date on photos? Not all photos have the date on

them, and someone mentioned in another group, that walgreens now has

a photo machine that makes new copies of old photos, where the paper

their printed on has " kodak " on the back, the new date the photos

were copied(not original date), and looks just like regular photos.

Newspapers are also no longer required. My guess is that it's not

that difficult to fake the starting/ending dates if you're ambitious

enough, and anyone who believes the EAS screening process is fool

proof isn't being realistic. I also chatted with a woman who met a

bfl winner in person, and supposedly, all the background checks

(concerning verifying picture dates), drug tests, and polygraphs that

I assumed were given to each winner, are not given. Basically what

you send in is what EAS uses to determine if you're a winner unless

you went from looking like Carnie (pre-op) to Mclish in

12 weeks. Concerning the essays, they were inspirational, but many

didn't seem so life changing as to account for 50% of their score.

Also, the majority of winners have personal trainers. I guess that's

why the rules say you can use any training/nutrition program. I love

this program, and it works, but I just don't believe " by the book "

creates BFL contest winners.