Losing 7 lbs in 7 Days and Get Stronger! by Emily Drew Mash

Whether you want to lose weight, gain weight, or get jacked, check out the “Mash Eat What You Want Program” for all of you Nutrition needs. Check it out today at the link below:

==> The Mash Eat What You Want Program

I lost 6.8 pounds in just 7 days AND got stronger.

Sounds like an infomercial, I know. But it’s true. It happened. Here’s how…

I came across this article in Muscle & Performance magazine 5 Ways to lose 10 Pounds Fast by Anthony J. Yeung. “Use these last-minute strategies to ((safely)) drop double digits in just a week.” Sounds too good to be true, but just maybe it actually works. After reading the article about 3 times I decided it did seem safe, not overly time consuming, and challenging. I’ll give it a try…And really, what do I have to lose but weight…and well, and gains. But, for just one week it was worth a try.

{I tried to find this article online to post a link, but after about 20 minutes of searching, GOOGLE and I gave up. If you find it, feel free to share the link in comments.}

Here is the gist: All of the summaries below are direct quotations from the article.

1. Carbs only after training. Stick to clean carbs and limit them to the window immediately after you blast your body with heavy strength exercises and/or cardio. (Note: do not carry this approach beyond this one-week window).

2. HIIT and Heavy. Use fat-torching circuits that target all your muscles simultaneously…and choose high intensity interval styles of cardio rather than spending long hours on the treadmill. Shoot for a total of 10-15 intervals per session.

3. Intermittent Fasting. Skip breakfast for the next few days and eat your first healthy meal of the day in the afternoon…fasting leads to a significant amount of weight loss, without adversely affecting metabolism.

4. Take Fish Oil. For the next week only, significantly boost your fish oil intake to 1 gram per 1 percent of body fat, up to about 20 grams in three to four separate doses.

5. Drink Coffee or Green Tea. For breakfast, during your intermittent fast, drink coffee or green tea without any cream, sugar or extra flavoring.

And here is how it actually played out…and how I lost 6.8 pounds in 7 days.

1. Carbs only after training: this implies that you do already follow some sort of training program, which I do. I follow a power building program (more info below) which is 6 days on, 1 day off. I ate lean meat and non-starchy vegetables for every meal and added a complex carb to my post workout meal. In general, I ate as much meat and vegetables as needed to be satisfied. My complete food journal for the week is below.

2. HIIT and Heavy: I was on Week 6 of a 12 week power building program written by Eze Onwurah (IG: @ezetheboss). This program looks something like this: 6 days on, 1 day off- lower, upper, back, lower, upper back. This week I was doing 3RMs for my main lifts and then accessory work. So, I was already going heavy during my workouts. In addition to my regular workouts, I added in HIIT most days:

• Monday: heavy sled pushes
• Tuesday: Sprint intervals 30 sec on/30 sec walk x 15 + 30 minute walk/cool down
• Wednesday: 2 mile walk
• Thursday: Farmer’s carry HIIT
• Friday: no extra cardio
• Saturday: OFF
• Sunday: sled pull intervals

3. Intermittent Fasting. This was the hardest part for me. By 10a every day I was starving. I drank a LOT of water; usually before I ate for the first time each day I’d already had half a gallon of water. My first meal was around 12:30-1 each day.

4. Fish Oil. Right now, my body fat is around 18%, so I decided on 15 fish oil tablets. For two days I took 5 grams 3 times a day. Yes, that is SO MUCH FISH OIL. By day 3, I was having very unpleasant side-effects. Day 3 I took 10 grams which did not cure the side-effects so I stopped taking them altogether.

5. Drink Coffee or Green Tea. Too easy. I {quite literally} drink a pot of coffee a day already.

? Did it work? Yes, this “program” works. I didn’t lose 10 pounds in a week, but 6.8 pounds is close enough for me to say it was successful.

? Would I do it again? Yes, but with less fish oil. In general, this was a very comfortable “cut.”

? How did it affect my training? The most important question. Surprisingly, I was stronger every day. If anything, my training was better! I did 3RM on back squats, bench, military, deadlift, and front squat AND set PRs on ALL OF THEM! I even kept this eating plan up two days extra and PRed my back squat again.

Definitely, next time I need to lose a few pounds for a competition {I mean, or just going to the beach} I’ll follow this plan again.

→Eating Plan OVERVIEW:
• Breakfast: water, as much coffee as needed
• Lunch: lean meat + non-starchy vegetable
• Dinner: lean meat + non-starchy vegetable
• Post-workout: lean meat + non-starchy vegetable + one serving of complex carbohydrates
• One gallon or more of water every day.
• Pre-workout from Competitive Edge (1/2 scoop) + BCAA before every workout

Monday:
Lunch: pork tenderloin, zucchini roasted, 5 fish oil
Dinner: Pork tenderloin, cucumber, 5 fish oil
Post workout: shredded chicken, lettuce, tomatillo, small serving refried ff beans, enchilada sauce , 5 fish oil
AND two scoops of protein, ¼ cup oatmeal (dry)

Tuesday:
Lunch: pork tenderloin, cucumbers, 5 fish oil
Dinner: shredded chicken breast, celery (cooked in the crockpot with the chicken), cucumbers in vinegar, 5 fish oil
Post workout: steamed shrimp, steamed mixed vegetables, brown rice, 5 fish oil
Midnight snack: I was so HUNGRY I couldn’t sleep so I got up and ate pork tenderloin and broccoli.

Wednesday:
Lunch: smoked chicken quarter, slices of tomato and cucumber, green beans, 5 fish oil
Dinner: Spaghetti squash stir fry **
Post workout: pork tenderloin, green beans, small sweet potato, 5 fish oil

Thursday:
Lunch: Italian Skillet **
Dinner: pork tenderloin, green beans
Post workout: BLT: 3 slices center cut bacon, lettuce, tomato slices, whole wheat sandwich thin, 3 egg whites, cucumbers

Friday:
Lunch: pork tenderloin, cucumbers, tomatillos
Post workout: chicken breast, green beans, sweet potato
Dinner: grilled chicken breast, salad with salsa and guacamole

Saturday:
Lunch: chicken breast, cucumbers
Dinner: Spaghetti **
Snack: protein crepe

Sunday:
Lunch: spaghetti
Post workout: chicken breast, cucumbers, sweet potato
Snack: protein mug cake

** The recipes for these will be in my next blog. Find some of them now on my IG @emilydrewmash

If you guys live near Lewisville, NC or the surrounding area, we are open for business at LEAN Fitness (home of Mash Elite and TFW Winston-Salem). If you want to try us out for a FREE Week or have any questions, email us at leanfitnesssystems@gmail.com.