The Peculiar Approach to Weight Loss From Michael Thurmond’s “6 Week Makeover”

As a user and reviewer of home fitness products, my tendency is to do dozens of exercises machines for every nutrition-based plan. 

So I admit that when I am looking closer at something like Michael Thurmond’s 6 Week Body Makeover program, I come at the analysis from certain weakness brought by bias. I am an exercise first fitness enthusiast who looks at nutrition as an important, but relatively simple part of the total fitness equation.  My way of viewing eating is that it exists to fuel the workout and help encourage best results.   In that regard, my core audience will tend to relate with what I am saying if they think like me.

The “6 Week Makeover” program takes the scientific and carefully considered form approach to eating and leaves exercise relegated to the smaller part of the total health and wellness whole. The program starts from the premise that most diets and fitness regimens ignore the individual’s body type, metabolism, health history, and desired outcome.  The idea is to create a very real sense of proprietary interest in the workout plan, by having the user go through detailed preliminary steps prior to entering the program.

The steps involve finding out your body type and how your body gains and loses weight, then coming up with a plan, and then finally executing the plan.  The stated goal is to create an eating and exercise system that propels your body down the path of rapid but lasting weight loss. By rapid, the intent is 6 weeks to a made-over appearance. More significant beyond that is a repeatable way of approaching food that will encourage the user to reaching his/her ideal weight and staying there without worry.

The program is based on Mr. Thurmond’s book which was commercially very popular. Thus far reviews are relatively scant. In my opinion, having studied the reviews, the core audience for the “6 Week Makeover” program are people who have very little exercise history, a fuzzy knowledge of what constitutes proper eating, and the patience and discipline to dig in and follow a whole new way of approaching eating.

I am usually not a huge fan of weight loss programs that are too radical in their expectations for people changing their eating habits right away. Here though, it is doubtless that people are seeing some great results in a very short amount of time and I think the hidden benefit being that a person acquires some very valuable and useful general knowledge about what good healthful food actually is.