Fitness Made Simple is a small empire of fitness and health products headed by John Basedow. While there is no specific Fitness Made Simple diet, the company sells a variety of exercise videos, a low-carbohydrate energy bar, a fat-burning supplement for weight loss and an anti-aging serum. Information about the efficacy of the supplements is limited. However, you may enhance your fitness and lose weight by exercising to the videos on a regular basis.
Diet Bars
The Fitness Made Simple diet bars are geared toward those on low-carbohydrate diets. Each bar has only 2.6 g carbohydrates. The protein count is impressive, 19 g protein per bar. The bars are also sugar free and use no artificial sweeteners. They come in a number of flavors.
Anti-Aging Serum
According to the Fitness Made Simple website, "You can turn back the clock." The company lists a number of ingredients in the anti-aging serum, including alpha lipoic acid, alpha hydroxy acid and DMAE. The company claims the serum will stimulate skin regeneration and remove lines, firm and smooth the skin and provide antioxidants to help fight free radicals that can cause disease. Ray Sahelian, M.D., says on his website there is no evidence for the effectiveness of DMAE as an anti-aging supplement.
Pyruvate
Pyruvate is an organic acid that is naturally produced in the human body and also found in foods such as red apples, cheese, dark beer and red wine. While there are studies supporting the effectiveness of pyruvate in helping reduce fatigue among elite athletes and helping overweight people lose weight, there are potential dangers as well. Large amounts of pyruvate could cause diarrhea and stomach upset, but it would have to be taken in large and expensive quantities. The risks and rewards should be discussed with a health care provider.
Critics
The Diet Spotlight website gives the Fitness Made Simple program fairly low marks. If you buy the DVDs and use them regularly, you will derive the benefits of rigorous exercise. You can use the DVDs to exercise at home. But Diet Spotlight is not impressed with other aspects of the Fitness Made Simple program. It questions the credentials of Basedow as a fitness expert and criticizes the high cost of the supplements, as well as the lack of a list of ingredients in some of the supplements sold on the website.
Considerations
John Basedow is a motivational speaker. He is known for what he calls "John-isms," which are catch phrases he uses to encourage people to lose weight, get fit, build the body and stay positive. John-isms include "I am the author of the only dictionary that defines me" and "You can always be better. FMS shows you how." A third John-ism is "If it's to be, it's up to me." If you like exercise videos and motivational encouragement, the Fitness Made Simple system may be for you. If you want supplements to for weight loss and anti-aging, there is little evidence that the Fitness Made Simple supplements are effective.
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