I've been very busy lately, as is evidenced by my lack of articles on the blog, and it's not just because of grad school and personal stuff, too. I'm actually in the middle of another project I'm trying to get off the ground, which I'll write about extensively if it goes the way I planned it. Anyway, check out my progress on week 12 of the plan, and the first in my series of "After Pics" for EET.
This article's actually a bit delayed because I've been really busy lately, but at least now I've got some Before and After pics to show off my journey with EET:
The interesting thing about this is that this was actually my original goal weight. When I started EET at 214 lbs 12 weeks ago, Jon asked me what my goal weight was and I figured "20 lbs lost sounds good". Within the last 5 or so years that I've been trying out different diet and fitness plans, I'd never lost a solid 20 lbs before, much less kept that off for the long term. So, I figured that getting down to 194 and staying there for the foreseeable future sounds great! After all, during that 5-year time period,m the only time I'd dropped below 200 lbs (to only 199, as a matter of fact), was when I was under an extreme amount of stress. So, dropping below that figure without stressing out and by eating whatever I wanted every day sounded like too much of a sweet deal. And it was, truth be told, especially since I lost it all in less time than I figured. I figured that loss would realistically take at least 4 months with sort of diet, much less under 3.
WHAT I ATE OVER THE 12 WEEKS
I get asked this sometimes because I don't exactly outline my Treat Meals every time I do an article. The reason I don't do this a lot is because my Treat Meals are usually different most of the time. Here are some sample Treat Meals I've had recently which also seem to recur every once in a while:
SAMPLE TREAT MEAL 1:
1 plate pork barbeque
1 plate fried chicken
1 bowl broccoli
1 large plate Filipino noodles (Pancit)
2 glasses A&W root beer
1 large slice chocolate cake
SAMPLE TREAT MEAL 2:
1 large plate lechon kawali
1 plate mixed vegetables
1 large plate spaghetti and meatballs
2 glasses A&W root beer
1 large cup vanilla ice cream
SAMPLE TREAT MEAL 3:
1 Pizza Hut Super Supreme Personal Pan Pizza
1 bottle Raspberry Sola Iced Tea
2 Krispy Kreme donuts
SAMPLE TREAT MEAL 4:
1 large plate Chinese Crispy Lemon Chicken
1 bowl garlic broccoli
1 large plate Yang Chow Fried Rice
2 glasses Royal Tru-Orange soda
TREAT MEAL NOTES:
These sample treat meals all follow EET's guidelines concerning meals, in that they all have protein, fiber, and vegetables. I ate these meals plenty of times during my 12 weeks on EET, and will still eat them in the future. While EET does have guidelines for meal composition, the exact foods themselves were all chosen by me because, well, I like to eat 'em! These sample meals only represent a fraction of all the Treat Meals I like to eat because I like to consume different things most of the time.
MORE ... MORE!
Anyway, now that I've lost 20 lbs, what do I want? More, of course, as greedy as that sounds. I had attained my goal weight in a relatively short amount of time and without any hassle, am managing to keep from rebounding and regaining any weight, as is typical of such plans that offer this much loss, but I didn't meet my actual, true goal. This was the one I pretty much never told Jon and just kept it to myself. I had achieved the goal weight I had communicated to Mr. EET nearly 3 months ago, but I had not achieved the goal body figure I had in my noggin. And I wasn't about to stop before achieving this.
Is that even possible on EET, though? Would this diet that allows me to consume junk like Keebler's Soft Batch take me even further and help me attain more impressive figures than 20 lbs lost in 12 weeks? Would this plan also allow me to keep this weight off?
"Absolutely!" Mr. EET, aka Jon Pearlstone, enthusiastically replies to me. In fact, he told me this during my first week of EET, when he first saw my "Before" picture. I told him about the 20 lbs weight goal prior to that, and, a few days later, he replies with something like "make that 40 lbs!" In my head I was all, "okay, whatever you say, Jon." But, in fact, it was all true.
HOW TO IMPROVE ON PERFECTION
More than a month ago, I had written an article about how I attained the "Perfect" EET Forecast. It was perfect at the time in such a way that it would allow me to achieve my goal weight, and it did. Now, though, since the new goal is to lose an additional 20 lbs, that forecast has pretty much outlived its usefulness. My body has simply outgrown it and though it is still very possible that keeping it would still allow me to reach my goal, adapting it to something even more effective would aid in the rapidity and efficiency of my success. And that's what I want!
THE BASE DAY
EET defines the Base Day as "a detailed one day script for all Eating, Activity, and Exercise (the member) usually completes successfully and loses weight". Base Days are supposed to leave the member fully satisfied in terms of the foods they eat, yet almost always lose weight by the very next day. This is a very key concept in EET, and something I apparently still wasn't using up to this point. I had lost 20 lbs in only 12 weeks using only the other guidelines, so it was now time to add another key component to take everything to the next level.
Base Day Treat Meals are essentially constructed by taking the healthiest options of the individual member's favorite foods and placing them in a single Treat Meal.
Why didn't I start using a Base Day right off the bat? Maybe if I did I'd have lost 40 lbs by this time! Unfortunately, it's not that easy. EET's all about progressions, and its main goal would be to ease each member into individualized plans in such a way that they will become completely sustainable.
Base Days can only be successfully forecasted until the member has become completely used to a consistent, basic timing pattern. This will assure that the Base Day will be followed correctly and that it will work when forecasted. If EET forced members into an immediate Base Day, then members might not want to follow it if they haven't adjusted their habits to it yet.
This is also important so that each member can have time to sort out which foods they exactly love, and, after a complete and comprehensive list has been formed, they, with the help of the EET consultant, can construct an appropriate Base Day Treat Meal.
In any case, I feel it's safe to say that I have certainly adjusted enough to warrant having a Base Day. I love my Base Day Treat Meal and certainly look forward to it every time it's forecasted. It's also not like I'm confined to it forever from this point on. While Base Day Treat Meals are excellent for accelerating weight loss, I will still have other days where I will forecast other types of treat meals. I can still forecast wolfing down popcorn at the movies, eating at parties, and dinner with friends.
SO EET IMPLEMENTS FOOD RESTRICTIONS WHEN MEMBERS ARE MORE ADVANCED? LAME!
No, not at all. The Base Day is definitely not followed every day. EET recommends each member to have it as much as possible during a week, but also does not recommend it literally every day.
A Base Day is recommended for most of the week because it's an advanced tool to take members' progress to another level. However, since a Base Day follows an exact script, and thus an exact layout for what the Treat Meal for that day should be, recommending it every day would mean that EET would be placing food restrictions, and that's not at all what EET's all about. 4 Base Day Treat Meals and 3 other Treat Meals a week are great for a single, weekly forecast. EET still wants members to eat plenty at dinners with friends, parties, movies, and so on during the week. Of course, I want this for myself as well, which is why I implemented this in my own forecast below:
MY NEW FORECAST
As defined, the Base Day has a detailed script, which includes both eating and exercising. I've detailed my exercises before, but I'd never been too in-depth about the foods I ate. Well, now it's time. After an extensive chat with Jon, we came up with an exact treat meal that would be perfect for me on a Base Day:
1 large bowl Arroz Caldo, with extra chicken
1 bowl steamed broccoli
1 small mango
1 small banana
4 pieces Keebler's Soft Batch cookies
1 large handful Cheetos (I like the Twists ones best)
1 cup skim milk
For my non-treat meal, I have what Jon calls the EET Salad, which has chicken, shrimps, mild salsa, low-fat, low-calorie dressing (I'm currently using Kraft's), and, of course, a ton of mixed vegetables, including things like broccoli, onions, peppers, lettuce, and spinach. I add to this a cup of skim milk, and 1 serving of low-fat flavored yogurt as dessert.
With that in mind, here's my current forecast:
Monday, Wednesday, Friday, Sunday (Base Days)
7:30 AM - Wake up, Green tea
11:30 AM - Swedish Intervals on the Exercise Bike and Heavy Bag
12:30 PM - Base Day Treat Meal (see above)
5:30 PM - EET Salad, 1 cup skim milk, 1 serving low-fat yogurt
Pre-Bed - Decaf Green tea
Tuesdays and Thursdays (Grad School Days)
7:30 AM - Wake up, Green tea
8:00 AM - 4:00 PM - Grad School
4:30 PM - Strength Circuits and Tabata Intervals
5:30 PM - Treat Meal (anything I want, as long as it has a protein source, vegetables, fiber, and water)
Pre-bed - Decaf Green tea
Saturday (Optional Base Day)
7:30 AM - Wake up, Green tea
11:30 AM - Strength Circuits and Tabata Intervals
12:30 PM - Base Day Treat Meal (see above)
5:30 PM - EET Salad, 1 cup skim milk, 1 serving low-fat yogurt
Pre-Bed - Decaf Green tea
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| A rather nice looking bowl of Arroz Caldo |
FORECAST NOTES
I currently have 4 Base Days for this week, though any one of them can be adapted to a non-base day if plans suddenly come up. It is highly recommended to forecast as many Base Days in a week that I know I can realistically handle, but I'm never tied down to them, which is excellent.
ARROZ CALDO
Another thing one might notice is the Arroz Caldo, which you might not be familiar with. I'm from the Philippines, and one thing I've never liked is that all the most recommended diet literature is from abroad. Sure, they're all very well-written, but they also just say exactly what you need to eat. If none of the food in the book is available to you for one reason or another, then you're out of luck, which was always a problem of mine. EET takes the foods that you normally eat and love, gets the healthiest of those, and compiles them into a single Base Day treat meal. It's much more convenient for me since I don't have to struggle to create health food recipes that I can't complete because of a lack of ingredients.
GRAD SCHOOL DAYS
On Tuesdays and Thursdays, you might notice that I only scheduled one meal for that day. That's not a typo, it's really just one meal! This isn't a typical forecast by any means, but my Grad School days are a bit special. I typically stay up most of the night before I go to school to finish up all my studies. Because of this, I usually wind up exhausted during my days. I'd have erratic behavior sometimes, which can cause problems for regular forecasting, I only recently discovered that if I took a power nap in the middle of the day, I'd be full of energy again! Because of this, I scheduled my usual lunch time to be a power nap instead.
Don't I get really hungry, though? Not really. I feel hungry, sure, but nothing so bad that it upsets me. EET has an Intermittent Fasting component for me that I've more than gotten used to, so while I do feel hungry during these times, it's nothing that really bothers me, as long as I keep my water consumption up. And, yes, I normally drink a lot of water in a single day; about 3 - 3.5 gallons, I believe. In fact, with this schedule, I can even work out at the end of my long fast, using Strength Circuits, if you can believe it.
THE OPTIONAL BASE DAY
Finally, Saturday is only an optional Base Day. Chances are that I'll go out during the weekend and hang out with friends, party, or just watch a movie. During these times, I'm definitely going to indulge in junk food and whatnot, and Saturday's just the day for that! If nothing comes up, then it's just another Base Day.
Of course, my social day can be any of the other Base Days, but it's just great to have at least one day where you've allocated the possibility of breaking the routine. This way, I can still have 4 Base Days, while still enjoying myself the other times of the week!
And you better believe that I'm eating stuff like the ones I mention at the top of this article all the time; Sometimes even more! It feels really great to have lost a lot of weight that way, and keep it off. I've even tremendously increased my exercise progress, as you can see below:
And you better believe that I'm eating stuff like the ones I mention at the top of this article all the time; Sometimes even more! It feels really great to have lost a lot of weight that way, and keep it off. I've even tremendously increased my exercise progress, as you can see below:
UPGRADING MY EXERCISES
This is how my workouts are currently progressing:
Swedish Intervals on the Exercise Bike
(Performed Mondays, Wednesdays, Fridays, and Sundays, as per current Forecast)
55 - 60 kph during the fast intervals --> Increased 7 - 12 kph from day one
35 - 40 kph during the slow intervals --> Increased 4 - 9 kph from day one
Swedish Intervals on the Heavy Bag
Swedish Intervals on the Heavy Bag
(Performed Mondays, Wednesdays, Fridays, and Sundays, right after Swedish Intervals on the Exercise Bike, as per current Forecast)
85 - 100 strikes (punches, kicks, elbows, knees) during the fast intervals --> Increased 35 - 50 strikes from day 1
120 - 130 steps jogging during the slow intervals --> Increased 20 - 30 steps from day 1
Strength Circuits
(Performed Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Saturdays, as per current Forecast)
Feet Up Push Ups - 5 reps --> Began with 5 reps normal push ups
Medicine Ball Russian Twist (5kg ball) - 12 reps --> Began with only 5 reps
Alternating Lunges with Dumbbells (25 lbs in each hand) - 5 reps each leg --> Began with 5 reps bodyweight squats
Alternating Lunges with Dumbbells (25 lbs in each hand) - 5 reps each leg --> Began with 5 reps bodyweight squats
Medicine Ball Sit ups (5kg ball) - 12 reps --> Began with only 5 reps
Chin Ups - 5 reps --> Began with 5 reps Lat Pull Downs (50 lbs)
Medicine Ball Figure Eight (5kg ball) - 12 reps --> Began with 5 reps
Tabata Intervals
(Performed Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Saturdays, right after Strength Circuits, as per current Forecast)
65 - 70 kph on the Exercise Bike --> Increased 6 - 11 kph from day one
EXERCISE NOTES
Check out this past article of mine if you wish to find out other details about how exactly my individual workouts were structured.
One thing that you may notice is that I've now made my numbers ranges instead of just exact figures for some of the exercises. The reason for this is that my body's progressing far more than what the standard EET progression recommends, which is just add 1 to pretty much all the numbers every 2 weeks. I found that, at this point, this sort of progression only slowed me down. To remedy this, I decided to find the maximum number I could reach for the relevant exercises, then shoot for that every time. If I couldn't, I would at least note down the average number I could complete at that time. This would give me both a maximum and minimum range that I could work within.
I would always try to shoot for the maximum, and if I saw that the maximum was becoming more and more like a minimum number, then that means I'd progressed yet again. When this happens, I simply assign new numbers and shoot for higher targets. This makes the exercises even more fun and challenging than before, which is something that I very much appreciate.
FINAL THOUGHTS
Well, there you have it. That is how I plan to lose another 20 lbs now that I've reached my original goal weight loss of 20 lbs on EET Fitness. Do I genuinely think that I'll get there? Most definitely. EET's served me well up until this point, so I have absolutely no doubt that it will help me reach this new goal. Don't believe me? Well, I'll still be blogging my updates regularly and honestly, so you can just sit back and judge for yourself. Either way, I'm sure it'll be a hell of a lot of fun!
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