Michael Thurmond is a fitness and weight-loss expert who created the 6-Week Body Makeover Diet and advised participants on the TV show "Extreme Makeover." His diet plan is designed to be customized to your body type. When you sign up for the program, you send in a questionnaire. Based on that information, you receive a diet with specific foods to eat each day. Diets based on body types have little or no scientific support, but Thurmond's emphasis on a strict eating regimen and regular exercise might help you lose weight. In addition to a personalized 18-minute body sculpting program you do twice per week, Thurmond asks you to exercise almost every day.
18 Minute Sculpting
This personalized program gives you specific exercises based on your body type, the questionnaire you send in when you sign up for the Makeover Diet and the specific areas of your body you want to change or sculpt. You receive a video that explains all of the exercises in the program and you pick out the ones that are recommended for you. These exercises are done with a resistance band that comes with the video.
Regular Exercise
In addition to the sculpting exercises, Thurmond's Body Makeover recommends that you do some form of cardio exercise six or seven days per week. You can walk, run, cycle, swim, or use elliptical machines or treadmills at the gym.
Pros
The Body Makeover diet is a low-calorie regime, but it is not a starvation diet. Depending on your body type, you are usually required to eat five to seven small meals per day. The meals generally consist of small amounts of lean protein, carbs such as rice, and vegetables and fruits. Coupled with daily or near-daily exercise, you should lose weight on this diet. Thurmond says it is imperative that you check with your doctor before you undertake the Body Makeover, and work with your doctor throughout the six-week process.
Cons
In addition to the reliance on the unscientific use of body types to customize diet and exercise programs for people on the Body Makeover diet, Thurmond's diet is difficult for a busy person to follow. Preparing five to seven meals per day, with specific ingredients, is time-consuming. So is exercising almost every day. In addition, the Makeover Diet claims that you can lose up to 30 lb. in six weeks, an audacious and unrealistic goal. Although Thurmond offers a money-back guarantee, it is couched in language that only applies if you fail to lose "up to 30 pounds." So if you lose 2 lbs., the diet is considered to be a success.
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