I'VE LOST 20 LBS IN 12 WEEKS ON EET! NOW WITH BEFORE AND AFTER PICS

This is another article I wrote for Hive Health Media concerning my progress on the EET Fitness Plan. I mention below that the original publication of this article was a bit delayed, but now this version is even more more so. In fact, at the time of this publishing, I'm actually near the end of my 16th week on EET, and have made even more significant gains. I'm really loving this plan and the fact that it's still fun and exciting for me while still helping me lose weight and maintain a good amount of muscle mass even on the 16th week is pretty amazing.

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.

THE 4-HOUR BODY DIET VS. EET FITNESS

This my latest article published on Hive Health Media, and talks about my experiences on the latest diet plans I've been on, EET Fitness, and the 4-Hour Body. I'm currently still on EET (and experiencing amazing results!) but was also on the diet prescribed by the 4-Hour Body for several months prior to first adopting it. I compare both plans and show why I prefer one over the other. You can check out the original article here, but the full text is also below:

SERIOUSLY IMPRESSIVE! I'VE LOST 20 POUNDS IN ONLY 12 WEEKS THANKS TO EET!

I went down to 194 lbs from 214 at the very tail end of my 12th week on EET, which is incredibly impressive, considering that I was 198 lbs only a week before. As I mentioned in that previous article of mine, I would slightly alter my weekly forecasts to take into account my graduate school restarting after the holidays. Therefore, My current weekly EET forecast looks like this:

EET CONTINUES ITS MAGIC! HOW I LOST 16 POUNDS IN 11 WEEKS WITH NO FOOD RESTRICTIONS!

This is my latest article for Hive Health Media, detailing my progress on EET. I wrote this article a week ago, so it's not very current as I post it on my blog, but it will make a nice lead-in to some other amazing leaps that I've got going on EET, which I'll have up tomorrow. Anyway, enjoy the article and please leave any questions and comments if you have any. You can also check out the original Hive version, but in any case, here's exactly how I lost 16 pounds in only 11 weeks without any sort of food restrictions:

HOW TO ADAPT TO EET

This is the latest article in my series on Hive Health Media about my experiences on the EET Fitness Plan. It concerns the problems I had adapting to the plan in the beginning. These days, the lifestyle recommended within EET's guidelines fits me like a glove, but it wasn't always smooth sailing. The full text is below, but you can go here for the original piece.

In my last article, I talked about how I managed to transition to an ideal forecast in order to eventually lose 10 pounds in only 6 weeks while on the EET Fitness Plan. In fact, I've continued to lose weight since then, and am currently at 202 lbs! The transition wasn't smooth sailing, though, as I mentioned that I did have some trouble adapting to some of the things I needed to do.

THE WORST WAY TO LOSE WEIGHT

Okay, so there are much worse ways to lose weight than the one I'm about to discuss, such as dehydrating in the middle of the desert or some other similarly gruesome fate. What I'm about to relate happened to me just over a year ago, and yes, it did make me lose a lot of weight in a relatively short amount of time, but it's the weight loss method I'd recommend the least.

WEIGHT LOSS AT NEW ALL-TIME LOW

I'm currently at week 8 in my journey with the EET Fitness plan, and my weight's just hit a new all-time low. I made a huge deal of the 10-pound weight loss I achieved in only 6 weeks on the plan, but body weight fluctuates literally every day, and mine fluctuated regularly from 204 - 206 pounds. My then all-time low weight of 204 pounds stayed as constant as it could be in the next 2 weeks.

INSPIRATION FROM THE BIG MAN HIMSELF

By that I mean the man himself, Mr. EET! When I first encountered his EET Fitness Plan, I figured that this guy was either some evil snake oil dealer on the internet or an honestly awesome person. I say the former because he says that he's formulated a health and fitness plan that will allow you to unlock the fittest body you've ever had while consuming junk food every day. That's a pretty fantastical claim, and one that's readily dismissed by a good majority of the fitness community (believe me, I've looked!) But, if he's on the level, then he's surely the latter.

HOW I LOST 10 POUNDS IN 6 WEEKS EATING JUNK FOOD EVERY DAY

This is an article I made that was published on Hive Health Media a few days ago. In it, I discuss where I currently am on the EET Fitness Plan and how I got there. This is all real. No tricks, no special pills, and no skipping junk food. Below is the complete text, but you can go here for the original article on Hive.

HIVE HEALTH MEDIA BADGE AND OTHER UPDATES

No, I haven't given up on this blog. I still love to regularly write about health and fitness, but I've been so caught up in a bunch of things that I kind of neglected this blog. So, basically, I'm admitting that I suck at scheduling, hehe.

THE EET FITNESS PLAN

Anyway, the primary reason I haven't been writing more recent articles is because I'm currently trying out EET Fitness, which is a health and fitness plan whose main selling point is that you can eat whatever you love every day and be fitter and healthier than ever. Most people today would find that sort of idea absolutely ludicrous, what with the current conservative health and fitness wisdom stating that junk food, treats, or whatever you want to call them, should be eaten only once a week or month. Some diet plans even forbid such foods flat out entirely. So, I wanted to find out first hand what makes this plan work, if it even works at all, and communicate it  to as many folks as possible.

HOW TO EET ANYTHING YOU WANT AND BE FIT FOR LIFE

UPDATED WITH PART 6!

I exercise literally every day of the week, and I don't find that excessive at all. I also find it odd that whenever I see articles that talk about working out every day, people comment that it's unhealthy, easily leads to injury, and so on, but there's a simple response to that: not if you know what you're doing.

And there's another reason why I exercise every day: because I naturally love doing it. And people used to do it, too, in the days before video games and computers. When sports were the favorite pastime no matter what your age was, and you'd spend all your free time on it. That's exercising every day and loving it. It's what I'm all about.

THREE NEW HEALTH AND FITNESS ARTICLES

I use Yahoo for e-mails related to my blogs, so whenever I sign out, I sometimes like to browse the news items on the front page. Today, I noticed three brand spanking new articles on there devoted to health. Unfortunately, none of these articles offer anything really new, but they're all still worth reviewing, in my opinion, just to remind us all that it's really the little things in our lifestyles that sometimes need changing in order for us to truly live healthy.

THE SYLVESTER STALLONE WORKOUT

Sylvester Stallone is a 64-year old man and, as you might have heard, he has a brand new movie that just came out called The Expendables. Wait a minute ... he's a 64-year old man still making old school, 80's style action movies?! And with powerhouses like Randy Couture, Steve Austin, Jet Li, and Jason Statham?! How does he do it?

Okay, okay, fine. Sly's admitted to using human growth hormone to bulk up for his recent movies, but all that muscle he's currently carrying around is more a result of hard work at the gym and a decent diet than the supplements he's taking, however ethically questionable some of them might be.



Sly already revealed his secret formula for diet and exercise a few years back with his book called Sly Moves.I have the book and have read it several times. I like it very much because it not only reveals Sly's current philosophy on working out and eating right, but also his background and how he came to be a big star today.


In the book, Sly talks of all the crazy exercise and diet regimens he went through starting from Rocky I, and how he basically took all his experiences and molded them into something simple and effective. 

THE SECRETS TO LONGEVITY

Below is a picture of Sylvester Stallone from his upcoming movie, The Expendables. For those who don’t seem to realize, the man is 64 years old. Not bad for an old man. There’s also this extraordinary video I created an article for recently about a man in his 60’s performing gymnastics techniques most people less than half his age (including myself) can’t do.

Living an exceptionally long and healthy life isn’t restricted to a select genetically gifted few people in this world. Sylvester Stallone clearly can’t be classified as one, despite appearances. During his youth, when one would expect him to look his best ever, his physique didn’t nearly resemble what it does today. Just check out the first Rocky movie and compare it to some of his more recent features (barring Cop Land) to see the difference. This is all the result of hard work and consistency, which literally anyone can achieve.

It’s actually as simple as following the most common pieces of advice found in such articles as the requirements to be physically fit and the cost of physical inactivity, but here are the most important rules that you need to know:

THE COST OF PHYSICAL INACTIVITY

The human body is an incredible piece of precision machinery; and, like an automobile, for example, it needs to be regularly maintained. Your muscles need to be regularly utilized in order for them not to weaken and to stay at their peak capacities. If you don't maintain them and if you choose to simply slack off the majority of your life in front of the TV set, well, then you're unfortunately going to suffer a couple of consequences.

1. Cardiovascular Diseases - When the human body is relatively inactive for a very long time, the heart becomes weaker and less efficient than it should normally be, and is more susceptible to life-threatening diseases that can cause heart attack.

2. Obesity - Like gasoline is to an average car, food is fuel to human beings. It is our energy source. Unfortunately, if people maintain (or even increase) their eating habits from their youth, yet become more and more sedentary as they grow older, they use less and less energy as they simultaneously take in more and more. The body then stores this excess enhergy as fat,and obesity occurs in no time. Obese people are even more susceptible to cardiovascualr diseases, so it's really no laughing matter. Read more about managing the body's energy consumption on my article about Energy Balance.

DIET AND NUTRITION TIP 4: HOW TO BEAT CRAVINGS

1. Keep busy! This is my personal favorite. I always have things that can keep me busy from morning till evening. The moment I wake up, I make my Health Shake for the day and drink it while checking up on current events over the internet. I do my daily workouts after that, check up on some of my projects, create an article or two for my blog, and play video games if I want to get off the net for a while. The point is to always keep yourself occupied so that your mind never wanders to junk food. And if it does …


2. Keep them away from the house! That’s right. Just don’t buy junk food at all and most of all, don’t bring them home! Simple, huh? So why isn’t this at the top of my list? Well, I live with my family and I can’t always control what they buy for themselves, so we always have a stash of junk somewhere in the house. So, unfortunately, this great tip doesn’t really apply to me.

3. Plan your meals! This is especially important if you go out a lot. Sure you can keep the junk out of the house, but it’s harder to stop munching on it when you’re bombarded by marketing, smells, and taste tests outdoors. To counteract this, just know what you’re going to eat in advance and stick to your plans no matter what. No additions, no extra weight.

HOW TO STAY PROPERLY HYDRATED

 This is the third in a series of articles concerning the Philippine Sports Science Conference 2010. Read the first, which is the introduction to the series and gives an overview of the conference, here, and the second, which talks about longevity, here.

The second talk in the Philippine Sports Science Conference 2010 was titled “the role of hydration in optimum performance” by Prof. Luz Felicidad Callanta, RND, who currently teaches at the University of the Philippines Diliman.


Continuing off of Dr. Varona’s train of thought, Prof. Callanta affirms that the body indeed only absorbs 30% of supplements consumed, and the rest is removed, usually by urination. One can check this by noticing the color of one’s urine after taking a supplement and after not taking a supplement. Urine is typically a light yellow color, but after consuming a multivitamin supplement, the yellow tint will be noticeably brighter and more pronounced, indicating that most of the nutrients were indeed, ejected instead of absorbed, by the body. In this respect, Prof. Callanta does indeed recommend the “food first” mantra and advises everyone else to do the same.

HOW TO LIVE LONGER

This is the second in a series of articles concerning the Philippine Sports Science Conference 2010. Read the first, which is the introduction to the series and gives an overview of the conference, here, and the third, which talks about proper hydration, here.

The first talk during the Philippine Sports Science Conference 2010 was about “energy and strength boosting nutrition by Dr. Blecenda Varona, RND, Dr. PH. She opens up, first of all, by saying that her expertise deals primarily with aiding sick, and average, yet sedentary individuals. Applications of her methods to expertly – trained individuals should first be reviewed and personalized by a professional nutritionist working closely with the athletes’ coaches.

Alright, first things first, is to simply do what our parents told us when we were little: “eat your fruits and vegetables!” This is basically the core concept surrounding Dr. Varona’s talk. There is such a large variety of these foods, especially in the Philippines, and all of them are incredibly healthy and nutritious, with the right combination giving us more than any overpriced multivitamin in the market today.

DIET AND NUTRITION TIP 3: THE SPECIFICS OF THE HEALTH SHAKE

Okay, there’s what I promised before, a picture of what my Health Shake basically looks like.

Yeah, that greenish tint does look a tad nasty, I suppose, but it tastes great, I promise!

After reading my Diet and Nutrition Tip 2 article, a lot of you are probably wondering how I get through the day with mostly just a shake. As I previously mentioned, I usually start the day off with a solid meal composed usually of eggs and vegetables, but sometimes tuna and veggies or chicken breast and veggies. The rest of the day, I consume pretty much just the Health Shake.

First of all, I designed the Health Shake to be as balanced a meal as possible, so you’ve got your good proteins, carbs, and fat in there. The protein is the soy milk, the carbs are the veggies and fruit, and the fat is the nuts. Simple as that.

I’ve been living off of this type of diet for a few weeks now and it’s felt pretty good. I have a lot of energy throughout the day, starting immediately from when I get up, and I sleep very soundly. I originally thought that there would be a dip in my energy levels at first that I’d have to get used to when I started this regimen, but the opposite actually happened: my energy levels felt like they at least doubled; very pleasantly surprising to me.

DIET AND NUTRITION TIP 2: THE HEALTH SHAKE

All right. This article directly continues from my first diet and nutrition tip. I mention that I like to start out slow in the mornings, then get serious when I begin my work. The Health Shake serves me very well for this sort of lifestyle.

I usually begin either by doing choreography or heavy lifting to keep my muscles in shape. If it’s just weight lifting for the day, then I’m totally done in usually an hour or less (unless I decide to choreograph stuff afterward), but choreography time easily takes up two to three hours. I’m always wiped after my sessions, so I take a bath then sit at my computer doing work for my blog until late in the evening.

When I start doing work, I’m in what many people call a “zone”, where I just do whatever tasks it is I’m concentrating on for however long it takes until I’m done. I therefore usually don’t want like to take breaks and give time to eat solid foods. This is especially important during my choreography work because those can be very draining, and drinking even only a bit of my shakes during that time can help a lot. It also helps that since it’s mostly in liquid form, my body can digest it easily and quickly so it won’t interfere with my physical activities.