The 4-Hour Body vs. EET Fitness
In my previous article, I mentioned that I was on a “Paleo diet” before trying out EET. This was not entirely true. I was actually on Tim Ferriss’ Fat Loss Diet at the time. The reason I mentioned it as a “Paleo diet” was because I didn’t want to drop names at the time. Anyway, I read Mr. Ferriss’ first book, The 4-Hour Workweek less than a year ago and very much liked it. I then became a regular reader of his blog where I became fascinated with his 4-Hour Body category. What intrigued me the most was the previously mentioned fat loss diet, so I wanted to try it out for myself.
The 4-Hour Diet
As a big fan of the 4-Hour Workweek, I was very much excited to get my hands on a copy of Mr. Ferriss’ new book. I opened it and immediately went to the fat loss portion. My laughably humongous grin slowly transitioned to depressing frown as I discovered that the diet he had hyped up so much was literally the one posted on his blog.
Why was I disappointed? Does the diet not, in fact work? Oh, it works, all right. Mr. Ferriss’ diet is sort of-but not really Paleo  because it has lentils and/or beans as a regular component, so I suppose one could easily classify it as “modified Paleo”, with one cheat day per week containing literally only junk food that the participant likes to eat. Mr. Ferriss notes that he regularly makes himself sick during his cheat days so he won’t crave the treats he ate that day the rest of the week. This once-a-week-excessive-cheat-meal seems to work wonders for Mr. Ferriss, though others have expressed doubts about it.
EET Fitness
The current plan that I’m on, EET Fitness, has guidelines not only for food consumption, but for exercise as well. EET has controlled cheat meals literally every day, as long as the timing guidelines with the proper exercise formats are met. The rest of the meals on EET Fitness are actually quite similar to the 4-Hour Body’s meals in that they could be considered “clean”. The meal guidelines on EET, however, never restricts any type of food during any time. There are recommendations, but it is up to the participant how close he or she wants to follow them. Finally, while the 4-Hour Diet is in book or blog form, EET Fitness has a consultant that helps the participant every step of the way and personalizes the plan to make it as comfortable and easy as possible.
Ready…Â Fight!
I forget exactly how long I was on the 4-Hour Body Diet, but it was somewhere around 5 – 6 straight months.  I was on it for quite a while, but immediately replaced it when I discovered EET Fitness. The primary reason I  switched plans was because I saw, from EET’s initial claims, features that were absent from Mr. Ferriss’ diet that I longed for. I have now been on EET Fitness for 3 months now and feel that I can make a proper comparison.
The comparison will be broken up into rounds, each with its own category. At the end of the round, the author will score it to whoever he sees has the better components, diet-wise.
ROUND 1: THE DAILY MEALS
THE 4-HOUR DIET
I tried the meal format of the 4-Hour Body Diet for several months and had mixed results. I would gain results as advertised if I could summon up all my mental powers to follow the diet as written, but unfortunately, I just couldn’t. The problem was with the taste. In order for the diet to work as best as possible, it needs to be as clean as possible. This awarded me with the blandest tasting meals I ever had.
I’m no chef, so that means that I have no idea how to make something taste good unless it already does. That said, Whenever I tried something that wasn’t tuna straight from the can, would bathe it in sauces just so I wouldn’t go nuts. “Sauces.” Hah! I meant ketchup. I love tuna, though, and, I found, that was pretty much the only good protein source I could get my hands on that I could eat as clean as possible. Unfortunately, Mr. Ferriss’ diet has one eating meals 4-5 times a day. I like tuna, but not that much. I wouldn’t be able to take eating that 4-5 times a day, 6 days a week for uh, the rest of my life? Ugh. But you know what? I tried. I really did.
I’d like to clarify before continuing that I loved the rest of the components of the meals, though. I very much love eating beans and vegetables, which we have an abundance of in this country, so I didn’t lack in options with those and I could eat them all day every day. It was just the meat option in each meal that bothered me to no end.
EET FITNESS
EET is similar to the 4-Hour Diet in that it has “clean” meals as well. These meals would contain proper protein sources, vegetables, fiber, and water, and are very similar to the regular meals that the 4-Hour Body diet require. These meals are also eaten 7 days of the week, instead of the 6 that the 4 Hour Body require.
However, days on EET Fitness are not confined to just these meals, unlike in the 4-Hour Body Diet, where you eat literally only these types of meals all day for 6 straight days. There are daily treat meals on EET, if you meet all of the requirements to open the Metabolic Window. These treat meals are composed of literally anything the participant wants, as long as it at least contains the four major components of the clean meals: protein, vegetables, fiber, and water. Desserts can be added on top of this, as well as anything else the participant loves to eat. There are also other guidelines in placed to prevent participants from overeating during treat meals, such that they remain controlled and sustainable whenever they are scheduled.
AND THE FIRST ROUND GOES TO …
EET wins this round, since the daily meals require no arduous mental toughness as opposed to the 4-Hour Body Diet. I must point out, though, that there are people out there who like the type of meals consumed 6 days a week on the 4-Hour Diet, to the point that they really wouldn’t mind consuming them all day every day. Obviously, Mr. Ferriss is one of them, but I, however, am not, so I have to score the round to EET Fitness. EET Fitness is now ahead 1-0.
ROUND 2: POST-WORKOUT MEALS
THE 4-HOUR DIET
The diet also states that you can eat larger meals with white carbohydrates after “sports training”. I mentioned in my previous article that I was already habitually working out every day, primarily because I had gained an honest taste for it over a decade ago. This meant that I could have these larger meals every day, which was a definite breather for me, given the choice of meals I had the rest of the day.
Since I did all of my workouts in the afternoons, all my large meals were dinners. I realized that I’d read before that if you consume a lot of calories in the evening, your body would store it as fat, since you’re not as active during that time anymore. However, Mr. Ferriss placed his large meal as dinner in the article as well (a pizza), so I figured it was all right.
Unfortunately, since my meals the rest of the day were so bland (or too repetitive, at the very least), I went nuts every time I ate a big meal. I would just take more and more portions of stuff I liked, just to satisfy the cravings I held back the rest of the day. This didn’t happen every day, but it happened often enough that it did way more bad than good.
EET FITNESS
EET Fitness has very specific guidelines for working out. Like the 4-Hour Body Diet, larger meals are permitted after each workout, but, unlike the 4-Hour Body Diet, these are true cheat meals where the participant can eat literally whatever he or she wants as long as the basic components previously mentioned are present. This allows for events where the participant would want to fully indulge in the foods he or she loves, but without needlessly bingeing.
And the Second Round Goes To…
EET Fitness once again, primarily because, if the participant wants to overindulge in foods he or she wants after a workout, he or she is fully permitted to because of EET’s timing guidelines. In the 4-Hour Body, if one overindulges in post-workout meals that aren’t within the specifically designated cheat day, more harm than good can be easily done, so plenty of mental toughness is still required. EET Fitness goes up another notch to 2-0.
ROUND THREE: THE CHEAT DAY
THE 4-HOUR DIET
Now, on to the cheat day! You’d think I’d have been relieved to have this all-you-can-eat junk food haven that lasts exactly 24 hous on the 4-Hour Body Diet, and to be honest, I was at first. Unfortunately, I realized that I just didn’t have it in me to make the most of the cheat day as Mr. Ferriss does. Mr. Ferriss says that he regularly “makes himself sick” on Saturdays by indulging in all the treats he held back on for the rest of the week. I could do it. One large meal, sure. But meals for the entire day composed of just junk food? I couldn’t do it for some reason. I kept wanting healthier options in at least some of the meals. That was very interesting for me to discover during this trial.
The cheat day also failed its primary purpose: to prevent my cravings for the next 6 days. Sure, it would do that for the next 1-2 days, maybe even 3. But after that, the cravings would return as normal, especially considering the bland meals I was constantly having.
EET FITNESS
There are no cheat days on EET Fitness, only cheat meals, and those are permitted literally every day if the guidelines for the Metabolic Window are met. This fit me like a glove because, as I mentioned, I found myself incapable of eating myself sick for an entire day like Mr. Ferriss does. I just didn’t have it in me. Eating some treats every day felt much more comfortable and natural for me than over-stuffing myself for an entire day once a week.
And the Third Round Goes To…
EET Fitness once again because of the way it distributes its cheat meals. EET Fitness leaves the 4-Hour Body in the dust 3-0.
EET WINS BY WAY OF KNOCKOUT
Here’s a quick recap of how EET Fitness dominated the 4-Hour Diet for me:
1. Eat treats literally every day, thus silencing any and all cravings and mental anguish
2. A consultant that helps you every step of the way and more, takes away all the guesswork, and clearly evaluates your progress
3. Lose 10 pounds in 6 weeks and keep it off (I’m actually down 16 after week 11)
THE LOSER’S CORNER
To recap, this is the stuff that didn’t work for me on the 4-Hour Diet:
1. Bland meals literally all day 6 days a week
2. A post-workout meal that invited overeating but wasn’t supposed to
3. A Cheat day that never did what it was supposed to do
4. Lose a ton of weight after 30 mentally agonizing days then gain it all back plus a couple more a few weeks later
TO BE FAIR …
Just to be fair, EET has its own set of weaknesses and difficulties that I need to point out. I went through these, though others may not and some may encounter different sorts of weaknesses on the plan:
1. There are quite a bit of guidelines, and though all of them are very flexible in their own way, it will take a bit of time to learn and properly apply them all.
2. There is a huge risk of overeating during the first few weeks or so on the plan, when one hasn’t yet gotten used to the daily treat meals.
3. EET recommends one work out in the morning before the first meal of the day at least a few times a week for best results. I had a lot of difficulty with this guideline since I was so used to eating breakfast at the start of the day.
But…Â Doesn’t The 4-Hour Diet Work?
Oh, yes, as I’ve mentioned before, it definitely does, no questions asked. It worked very well for Tim Ferriss, on many commenters on the blog post, and, if you pick up the book, there are about a dozen stories there of different people who have tried, and succeeded, at it.
Unfortunately, though, it didn’t work for me. I tried my best for several months, but it just didn’t stick. Should you try it out? I honestly don’t know. I can’t say whether you’ll wind up with results like mine or like Mr. Ferriss’. Hopefully, though this article will have at least pointed you in the right direction of whether the 4-Hour Body diet is right for you or not.
I would understand that EET worked for you than the 4hour body program. Sometimes things just won’t work for you. But I’m glad you found EET and things is working out fine with them.
Thanks very much, Ralph!
5 months ago I am using EET Fitness but when I heard about the benefits you will gain on the 4 hour diet so I immediately transferred to it. Now I’m very happy that I made the right decision in transferring.
Hi, Matt,
Really sorry that EET Fitness didn’t work out for you. But, wow, 5 months? From my experience Jon really takes care of his clients, so if you stayed with him for that long then you must have gotten something really great out of it.
I know that the 4-Hour Body Diet promises a lot of things, but 5 months on EET is nothing to sneeze at. Besides that, there’s a huge shift from one diet to the other. Could you possibly tell us what led to all this and how you did it? Thanks!
This article was pretty sad to read. If you are serious about health and fitness (which I have to assume you are if you dedicate a decade of your life to fitness and write on a health blog), you should do your research to figure out why each diet is promoting those specific food groups/ meal plans and just not blindly follow. Although I am a fan of Tim Ferris, I think any diet that allows uncensored ‘cheat’ times is BS. If you want results, you have to be strict. And if you want something to work, you have to set yourself up fr sucres which often means more than just buying food, you need to go online and read some recipes and try something new out in the kitchen.
I can’t even imagine how much your body would benefit from eating a strict paleo diet (no grains, no legumes, no dairy, no sugar). if you truly understoodthe effects each of these food groups have on your body, you might have more willingness.
16lbs in 11 weeks is adrop in the hat compared to the physiological changes you would experience from eating the RIGHT food instead of just eating MOSTLY clean. Your body composition would literally be changed forever. But…. You might need to get of foodee and some other blogs and figure out how to use spices. Ketchup is pure sugar. Not to mention that 2 months into paleo your taste buds will be sensitized again and everyhibg will taste amazing regardless of what ‘sauces’ you put in it.
Try it.
Both the diets here have serious, obvious flaws. If it’s too good to be true, it always is. Diet and exercise should always feel like hard work. If they don’t, you’re doing something wrong and likely will never see the results you are looking for. there’s nothing commendable about going 85%. just saying…
Hi, Kat, and thanks very much for your concern. I’ve been on EET for over 6 months now and have lost over 40 lbs, am stronger than I was before (eg: am now able to do 9 chin ups in a single circuit during an entire workout), have more energy throughout the day than when I was on any other sort of “diet” and feel just great overall.
I truly am serious about health and fitness and is why I am open-minded to all the ideas out there. I tried out EET Fitness in order to find out what it really was all about and finding out about its true nature has benefited me in many ways. Check out the various articles I’ve written on EET before you quickly pass judgment on it:
http://www.hivehealthmedia.com/author/fitnessphp/
my wife & I began 4HB diet about 6 weeks ago & its working well. we both needed to lose about 20 lbs & we are already there. the cheat days are fun planning & doing. we are eating so much cleaner all week- the beans are good & so many meats we can barbeque or broil & so many veggies with garlic & oil that taste great- having a blast with new recipes & the whole keeping track of the progress. Still have those mid week cravings for pancakes, cheeseburgers, bread, spagetti & balls, pork fried rice, desserts, BEER, oh man its tough but knowing on Sundays we can go nuts makes it possible to hold out.
Hi, Jeff,
Thanks very much for commenting and I’m glad to hear that the 4-Hour Body Diet is working for you and your wife!
Noel
Great article and great comments by all too — this is how you learn to find the plan that works best for you.
That said, I am a bit biased towards EET — since I DEVELOPED it! :-) — so I will limit my comments here to HARD FACTS that each reader can consider
4hb page 95 (yeah I’ve read it!) Slow Carb diet Mistake #1 Not eating within 1 hour of waking, preferably within 30 miinutes.
EET
http://www.hivehealthmedia.com/eating-most-important-meal-breakfast-fat/
Study results from today
Big breakfast may make you fat after all
ttp://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/41177896/ns/health-diet_and_nutrition/
This study supporting EET doesn’t make EET a better plan, it just helps prove that 4HB is not working as effectively with your metabolism as it can be–making weight loss HARDER.
There’s more–but I’ll leave that for future discussions — hope ALL are doing well on their diet and fitness plans!
Jon
EET Fitness
The article about breakfast in no way contradicts p. 95 of the 4HB, which says to eat breakfast. Even the article you posted about breakfast causing weight gain does not advocate skipping breakfast; the quoted professionals in that article encourage eating breakfast, just not a large one. The 4HB doesn’t urge otherwise.
I don’t have any reason to be in favor of one plan over the other. It’s just that little things like this–implying that the author of 4HB advises something contrary to a new study when that just isn’t the case–makes me not trust you.
Jessie
Thanks for your comment, I appreciate the feedback.
You are confusing SUGGESTIONS from the “professionals” to eat breakfast with the FACTS from the study which proved (a word you and I clearly don’t define the same way) that those eating breakfast gained more weight = got fatter.
Professionals suggest all kinds of stuff all the time – including Ferris and his 4HB — the FACTS are that most diets FAIL and most professionals suggestions are not effective because they are not sustainable — including Ferris’s slow carb diet — and his cheat day adds an element of risk to that likelihood of failure that makes it even worse. No matter how well the theory works the fact is most people don’t have the necessary willpower and discipline to follow those sorts of diets —
here is PROOF of that — at least in my eyes — very interested if you somehow don’t see this as proof – not trying to be argumentative, just showing you that studies are backing EET’s views, and curious if you have some reason this study below does not constitute proof or exactly what you need to feel something is proven?
Massive Research Review Concludes—Prescribing Weight Loss is Ineffective and Unethical
http://www.prweb.com/releases/2011/01/prweb4979324.htm
Odd. Your article does not address the comment that I critiqued even slightly. This is like claiming that a Blue Bird is yellow and showing me a canary for proof.
True that the article and EET may coincide, but this has positively nothing to do with the fact that your claim (that Tim Ferris’s book, on p. 95 tells you to overeat at breakfast, which is bad for you) simply isn’t true.
I also find it funny how you use the word “professional.” When I say “professional,” I’m not talking about any ol’ Joe who claims to be an expert. To me, an professional is an actual expert. By that, I mean that people with doctorates are experts.
The “professionals” that I mentioned above, who commented on the finding that a large breakfast may cause weight gain, are experts. I don’t claim that Mr. Ferris is an expert. Even he doesn’t claim he’s an expert.
Additionally, in the same vein, you are not an expert. You are telling us in your comment above, that we can’t trust professionals, and yet you still (1) cite another article, written by experts, who seem to supports claims that EET supports and (2) expect us to believe your claims even though you are not an expert.
I’m not trying to be mean, so I apologize if it’s coming off that way. I bet that EET works and is great and everything.
What I’m trying to get across, however, is that when you make an attack against someone (implying that the author of 4HB supports something that is contrary to a new study), you should make sure that it’s really true… in a concrete way.
Two other points:
(1) I was surprised that you were BOTHERED that his book had the same diet as his blog. I’d be disappointed if he did otherwise. That really IS his diet.
(2) You say you lost 20 pounds in 12 weeks. That’s less than 2 pounds per week. Pretty much any diet will do that. :)
That said, to each his own! :)
Hi, Allison! Thanks for commenting!
1) Yes, I realize that there is a difference between Paleo and the 4-Hour Body Diet. I called the Diet “Modified Paleo” in my article for this reason.
2)The reason I was bothered by the fact that he had the exact same diet in his original article was because of the massive hype set up for the book. Because of this, I expected plenty of revisions, additions, and so on, but it was still the same in the end.
3)”You say you lost 20 pounds in 12 weeks. That’s less than 2 pounds per week. Pretty much any diet will do that.”
Yes, but not just any diet will allow literally any food, including, of course, junk food, every day, and as much as you want, without calorie counting or anything of that sort, and still produce results like that.
4) I could tell you what I ate yesterday:
1 plate of pork barbeque
1 plate fried chicken
1 bowl broccoli
1 large plate Filipino noodles (Pansit)
2 glasses root beer
1 large slice chocolate cake
During my allowed treat time, and I was down a pound the day after. I also had a similar meal this morning, the day before yesterday, and every day before that for 3 months.
Anyway, I’m glad that you genuinely love the 4-Hour Body and that it’s apparently working very well for you. It probably would have been great if I could have been in your shoes nearly a year ago when I first tried it out, so that it worked for me then as well. That said, The 4-Hour Body not working for me is one of the reasons I discovered EET Fitness, and I don’t regret that one bit.
I’ve been on 4-hour body since January 1. There is another difference between Paelo and 4hb, on the former you can eat fruit, not on the latter (except on cheat day).
Frankly, so far I love this as far as diets go. The cheat day saves me. There’s nothing I can’t eat, I juts can’t eat it all the time.
I won’t even tell you what I ate last Saturday. It’s disgusting. Suffice it to say my husband and I went out to dinner, shared an entire large tub of popcorn, and ate M&Ms and donuts as well. Between Saturday morning and Monday morning I lost a half a pound. (I didn’t weigh in on Sunday.)
I can eat healthy MOST of the time. But getting a binge day makes it easy.
Hi Allison, I have been on the 4 hour diet for one week. I love it! My husband and I started last Thurs. As we want our cheat day to be Sat, we are holding out until this Sat for our first cheat day. I’m very nervous about it to be honest. I’m afraid I’ll gain back the weight I have worked to loose! Anyway I would love to hear your thoughts and maybe even share some recipes/meal ideas.
Dude, as much as you want this to sound like an objective review, it’s blatantly intended to promote EET.
There’s precious little that’s objective about your analysis.
“‘Bland’ meals… six days a week.” Only if you have no idea how to properly season and flavor food, which you admit is the deal in your case. I’ve been doing four-hour body for six weeks and the results have been very solid so far. I’m never hungry, and my typical meals are satisfying.
“A post-workout meal that invited overeating…” Only if you’re terribly undisciplined.
“A Cheat day that never did what it was supposed to do.” What’s it supposed to do, give you a million dollars and take you on vacation? This one is totally ridiculous. I love my cheat/refeed day. I can turn my brain off and eat whatever I want, and I’m still losing weight.
“Lose a ton of weight… and then gain it all agonizingly back…” Again, completely ridiculous. You provide no evidence or information to back this up.
Perhaps EET works best for you. Different diets/eating plans work better for different people. But this post is a sham. If your only intent is to advertise for EET, do that. Don’t pretend there’s anything objective about your analysis.
Hi, Rick, and thanks for commenting!
I actually did set out to make this article objective, and even explained why certain aspects of the 4-Hour Body didn’t work for me, just to show where I was coming from, and so it didn’t look like I was bashing the plan without reason.
As you mention, I admit that I do not have any knowledge of spices or anything of that sort, and is why the recommended 4-Hour Body meals didn’t work for me.
And, yes, now that you mention it, I am terribly undisciplined. Horribly, in fact. I pretty much have an uncontrollable sweet tooth and daily cravings for certain foods and I admit that.
Interesting thing with EET is, those things didn’t matter. The plan still worked very well for me.
As for the cheat day, well, I also explained why it didn’t work for me. The cheat day was supposed to satisfy my cravings for the rest of the week to help me stay disciplined, and it didn’t, primarily because I couldn’t go an entire day eating just junk food. I’m one of those people who likes to portion out my treats every few days or so, so dumping everything in front of me for just one day a week simply didn’t work, as much as I tried.
Lastly, I also mention your same thoughts in your last paragraph. In my second to the last paragraph, I write about how the 4-Hour Body Diet has worked for many people, as evidenced by the comments on Tim’s article and the stories in his book. I acknowledge this and am very, truly happy for those people because they found a plan that works for them.
Anyway, thanks very much for taking the time to chime in. I’m sorry that this article of mine came off as too much of a love-in for EET Fitness and seemed too unfair to the 4-Hour Body, but, what can I say? I’m extremely pleased with my progress with EET right now, and I guess it just showed too well.
Well, Noel, while I still disagree strongly with your conclusions, I respect that you posted my comments and took the time to reply to them. Perhaps I was overly harsh. I thank you for your professionalism.
That’s fine, Rick, and thank you as well. Everybody has their own opinions / unique points of view about which diet / fitness plan is best for them, and I just wanted to show mine in regards to another I had tried very recently. I also very much respect that you have yours as well.
I’d have to agree with Rick. I knew what the score was before I stared reading. A very biased appraisal to be sure. This is my second time on Ferriss diet and it works especially if your protein intake is high. I only lost about 7-8 pounds in 4 weeks but for someone that started at 243, 8 pounds of fat would never be noticeable. However I had everyone i know ask me how i was losing so much weight and packing on muscle which i was. I didn’t notice that much myself till i looked at my before and after pics. Remember its not just about weight, its what comprises that weight. I did this before his 4HB book came out so I altered to my liking.
And if you read the diet closely, you’ll see bread(which for me was anything on the banned list including 2-3 krispy kreme doughnuts, snickers or ice cream within Tim’s 30 minute window after a high intensity workout) 90 minutes on his blog i believe. So yeah i cheated everyday I worked out. If your a couch potato maybe it wouldn’t work.
Hi, Chris, and thanks for commenting!
The review is biased only in the sense that I am in favor of one plan in favor of the other because one worked very well for me (still does, actually; EET’s still doing good things for me nearly 7 months in and counting), while the other did not, but not in any other way.
I also did not declare judgment on either plan after only a brief trial of each. I was on the 4 Hour Body plan for around 6 months and, at the time of this writing, was on EET for 3 months. I tried Mr. Ferriss’ plan, then switched over to EET when the opportunity presented itself, and this article is comprised of my experiences on each. If you somehow disagree with my personal history with these two plans over the course of nearly a year, then I’m sorry, but I was simply trying to be honest.
I am also not a “couch potato”, as I think you are suggesting. Prior to trying out the 4 Hour Body Plan, I had been exercising religiously for a decade, but always had that nasty layer of belly fat because of poor eating habits. The 4 Hour Body did not help that very much, but EET did, which is why I am so in favor of it.
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GREAT writeup, Noel!!! I think you did a fantastic job summing up EET.
Thanks very much, Caren!
I just gotta say that the first pic in this article is absolutely awesome! Great stuff, guys!