I've been in the fitness industry for over a decade and have seen many many "starter programs." Most become short-lived fads and overemphasize one thing or another (no carbs, or no fats, or all strength training, etc.)The first one in my view to be time-efficient, well-balanced and effective was Body for Life by Bill Phillips. That's a great program, based on well-accepted science, for a 12 week jumpstart to fitness, nutrition, weight loss, looking and feeling good.The minor problems with Phillip's approach, in my view, were that it was a bit rigid and becoming slightly dated on a couple points.Lean Body Promise, I feel, is as good as Body for Life, and improves on it in several ways:- First, it is ALMOST identical to Body for Life. In fact, the author cites Phillips in his acknowledgements.- While both are highly motivational and nicely written, I felt Phillips is a little over the top in some of the emotional fluff -- Labrada strikes a bit better balance- The strength programs are both split routines. Phillips uses an upper body / lower body split. Labrada uses a push, pull, legs split. Phillips does an ascending half pyramid with a super set at the end. Labrada uses 3 sets of 10 reps on 2 exercises per muscle group. These are both perfectly valid and widely used approaches to strength training. I prefer Labrada's mainly because I don't have to change the weights every set! But overall, you're doing about 6 sets per muscle group with a minute of rest in each program.- The CV programs are both interval training. Phillips is 20 minutes with 5 different settings, changing every minute. Labrada does a 26 minute routine with 3 levels changing less frequently. Again, both are extremely effective and time efficient, but I slightly prefer Labrada's because you're not constantly changing the machine level every minute.- Diet is extremely similar too. 5-6 meals, spread every few hours. A palm of lean protien, a fist of whole grain carbs, some veggies... A shake or a bar when you're rushed. Phillips prescribes 1 cheat day per week. Labrada prescribes 2 cheat meals per week. Very similar. This REALLY works though -- takes a couple weeks to get used to, but you don't feel hungry and you get fast results. And it's not a half-baked fad -- this is good science of a balanced healthy diet you can live with long term.- Rotation of workouts: Phillips alternates cv and strength each day, with 1 off-day per week. Labrada does 2 strength then 1 cv, with a suggestion that you fill in an extra cv or 2 per week on light strength days. He doesn't build in a day off, but assumes you might miss a day here and there, in which case you pick up where you left off. I like that approach a lot -- there's some built in flexibility to add the cv when you can fit it in. There isn't a fixed expectation that you can schedule your off day perfectly.Again, I like the notion that Labrada builds in that you're going to miss a day here and there. That you might be faced with only unhealthy meal choices at a party some time. Etc. And he gives specific suggestions on dealing with those. He also gives suggestions on dealing with the desire to overdo it at times. Phillips, while also excellent, prescribes more rigidly and as a result doesn't build in a lot of information on how to recover from speedbumps.Overall, this is a great program that you're absolutely going to see results on if you follow, and hopefully can make an ongoing lifestyle change using.You can't go wrong with Phillips either, but I think this one's a little easier to stick with and will give the same results.