Weight loss technique eases breathing

Alicia Nurick hates infomercials with a passion. But that didn't stop the Las Vegas resident from responding to a late-night, made-for-television offer she said changed her life.

The product was northwest Las Vegas resident Greer Childers' breathe yourself thin video training program called Body Flex. For years, the local woman has insisted that the advanced breathing techniques taught in her tapes can achieve the same results as aerobic exercise without the treadmill.

Nurick was up late one night when a Body Flex ad came on her television and she didn't take the time to turn it off.

"It was a fluke," the 58-year-old woman said. "Now I've been doing it for almost three years. In the first seven months, I lost over six inches in my waist."

Boulder City resident Vikki Porter's experience was similar. She bought her first Body Flex video two years ago.

"It's more like a way of life now," she said.

She started the program in April and by July had gone from a size 28 to an 18.

"At that point, I'd lost lost 65 pounds. And I've never put it back on," Porter said. "I've lost a total of 150 pounds now. I've lost a whole person."

Both Porter and Nurick will appear in a new round of infomercials designed to sell Body Flex. But the weight loss method is not without its critics. Entire Web sites and newsletters are dedicated to debunking Childers' methods. Some charge that the perky 57-year-old woman achieved her flawless figure through a rib removal surgery, while others claim it was starvation diets and traditional sweat-inducing exercise.

Whether Body Flex leads to melting inches off thighs or not, Childers' story is one of success.

Life didn't start out rosy for the entrepreneur. Childers was abandoned by her parents as a baby. The couple left the child at a neighbor's home for what was supposed to be a few hours.

"And they didn't come back for two years," Childers said.

When her parents returned, Childers didn't even know them. Then, at age 16, the young girl's mother died of cancer. Childers was left in her stepfather's care. She moved in with a boyfriend's family and eventually married the boy. The marriage ended and Childers was left with a son. She remarried and had two more children. After 17 years, that marriage ended and Childers was left to support herself and her family.

"I had no education, no college. I couldn't type," she said. "It hit me -- how can I care for my kids?"

The answer the 12-year Las Vegas resident arrived at was Body Flex. Childers learned the technique from a San Francisco woman who offered personal classes for $1,500. Childers said they were worth it since she used the method to go from a 225-pound size 16 to a petite size 6.

Childers was convinced this was an idea the masses deserved to learn. Her instructor insisted the breathing technique was "the Mercedes" of exercise, but Childers knew it could be more. She shortened the workout time to 15 minutes and set out to teach, advertising the method as "a face lift, tummy tuck and a total body lift without surgery in 15 minutes a day."

"The first week I got one phone call," she said. "I taught her the best class ever."

When the first client began slimming rapidly, Childers received calls from the woman's family, friends and co-workers. Within six months, she was teaching classes filled with up to 125 people. Childers was asked to teach a quick workshop for Southwest Bell in Houston, and more than 6,000 employees showed up to learn. At the end of the quick program, Childers asked how many would be interested in more extensive lessons. Almost every hand shot up. She taught in groups of 150 for days.

"I made so much money I couldn't believe it," Childers said. "I dealt only in cash, so I'd bring home bags of money like a bank robber."

After teaching for a few years, Childers decided to take her method to the masses with a video. The first video and infomercial were produced on a budget of about $6,000.

Childers personally called television stations to place her advertisement. She offered to buy time when other advertisers backed out.

Soon she decided to turn to home shopping channels. Because American shopping networks can be tough to break into, Childers started her drive in Canada. When a Toronto network buyer blew her off, she flew in to meet him anyway.

The network purchased 2,000 videos to start off. They gave Childers two days to sell them. If she couldn't sell the products in that time, she would be forced to buy them back and never bother the station buyer again.

"The first day I sold everything," she said. "I was up there three years and six months. It was the hottest thing they'd ever seen. They were ordering 20,000 at a crack. The Canadians just loved it."

From Canadian television, Childers moved on to America's Quality Value Channel and then to the Home Shopping Network. Then the teacher branched out into print with her book "Be a Loser!: Lose Inches Fast -- No Diet." The book, co-written with local writer Bobby Katz, is now in its 13th printing with translations into seven languages.

Though Childers has sold millions of Body Flex videos, she is determined to continue development. She's worked to whittle the program down to nine minutes for a new set of videos. Plus, she's developed the exercise aids the Gymbar by Body Flex and the Gymbag by Body Flex.

The bar with elastic attachment is designed to be used in a seated position while watching television. The instructions are printed right on the hard plastic, so there's no danger of losing or ignoring them. Childers said once the exercises become routine, bar owners can twist the elastic around the bar handles to increase resistance.

For more information about Body Flex products, log onto www.thebodyflex.com.


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