Phase One Complete (110+ pounds lost in 8 months)
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EDollah
Posts: 464 Member
This one’s for the big fellas, you 300+ pound behemoths, you magnificent bas..., well you know. This is one man’s story of how he went from hopelessly thinking that losing weight was inconceivable to making it happen. In this post I’ll tell you how I lost over 110 pounds in 8 months.
I’ll try to keep the exposition to a minimum, so here we go. Back at the beginning of April of 2013, I stepped on the scales for the first time in about 2.5 years. I was shocked and horrified to see the numbers 3 4 and 0, in sequence, on the scale. That’s right, 340 pounds, more than an offensive lineman in the NFL. After years, decades really, of saying “I’m going to hit the gym Monday and start watching what I eat”, it finally clicked. This has to happen and it has to happen now. Not next month, not Monday, NOW!
Let me set the stage for what current state was at that point. As mentioned, I was 340 pounds, 6’0” tall and was basically half fat. By that I mean my body fat percent approached 50% (48% actually). I was unable to walk just 1/2 mile without needing to take a rest, even a walk of 1/4 mile caused an elevated heart rate and heavier breathing. Things were bad, physically and emotionally.
April 1, the half fat man at 340 pounds:
So in April I set off with a simple goal to lose weight. Nothing more, just lose weight and a lot of it. I did a lot of reading for the most effective ways to meet that goal. This was quite frustrating because there’s a lot of bad, not to mention contradictory, information out there, but eventually I found some credible sources to help guide me. This helped me to refine my goals, to not just lose weight, but to lose fat.
That led me to my Phase 1 guiding principles, that I could lose a lot of weight quickly and maintain muscle with adequate consumption of protein while lifting weights. For the “losing weight” objective I set up a calorie intake based on (RMR adjusted to “sedentary” - 1000) and did NOT consume calories expended from exercise. I made moderate, short term modifications to this over the months, but fundamentally that was my nutritional guideline. I used the guideline of 1 gram protein per pound of lean body weight for “adequate consumption”.
Specifics for my exercise routine morphed over this time. The basics though, were fairly constant: cardio + weight lifting. I modified what I did for both of those, but faithfully did both. Early on, once I established a baseline of endurance, I would shoot for massive calorie burns. 45 minutes on a treadmill for a 300+ pound man can produce some big numbers. For weights, I began using a 3x8 program I used in my younger days. It eventually occurred to me though, that a hypertrophy program didn’t make sense for someone in a major calorie deficit, so I switched to a 5x5 strength building regimen. Truth be told, my only objective for weight lifting was (is) to maintain muscle, which the 3x8 program did, but I was swayed by the simplicity of 5x5.
The below pictures are after one month. 14 pounds lost but not that noticeable visually.
May 1, 326ish pounds
The next month, I thought the weight loss was noticeable. It was during this month that my endurance was getting better. I could spend 45 minutes on an elliptical machine, not to mention walk 1/2 mile with no issue. That was my first and perhaps still favorite NSV, to just be able to walk a moderate distance.
June 1, 311 pounds
It was during June that I devised a goal to run a 5k. It was nice outside and it seemed a waste to spend time inside on the elliptical, so I began c25k, with an eye on a 5k in September.
July 1, 297 pounds
Sub 300! Yeah boyeeee.
July was more of the same. Some c25k, some elliptical and weight lifting 3x8.
August 1, 276 pounds
July was a big month, 21 pounds lost.
In August I switched to the 5x5 program, yes, Strong Lifts. I finished the c25k program and used the 3 weeks remaining before my run to better prepare for it. The c25k program ended with me running for 30 minutes, but that wasn’t 5k, so I still needed to get to that point. I also took a “diet break” from the middle of August up to the 5k, increasing daily calories by 333 for each week until I reached sedentary RMR.
September 1, 265 pounds
In September I completed the 5k and even met my goal to not finish in last place. The official time was 37:30. I also had a follow-up Bod Pod analysis done to validate that my process was working. Of the 80 pounds lost at the time of the reading, only 1.5 pounds was muscle. The process was indeed working.
October 1, 253 pounds
In October, I suffered my first real setback. In the middle of the month, I started having heart palpitations. I stopped working out then eventually checked myself into the hospital. I had been cursing the cruel sense of humor some deity seemed to have to give me heart issues after I had made strides to improve my heart health. It turns out not to have been a heart problem, but rather a viral infection that caused palpitations. My heart was perfectly fine after all. Regardless, I had a 3 week stretch where I did no weight lifting and did little cardio. This will come back up as relevant later.
November 1, 236 pounds
Fortunately November was boring. I did my workouts as planned and stuck to nutrition goals. The most notable thing is that I had a regular checkup and all of my results were well within the “good” range. Blood pressure, cholesterol, blood sugar, everything. This in contrast with my last checkup in 2010, when my blood pressure was “borderline” and my doctor strongly recommended bariatric surgery.
December 1, 226 pounds
That’s my Movember mustache, which is long gone now.
It was at the beginning of this month (Dec) that I had another Bod Pod analysis completed. I was unhappy to see that of the 28 pounds lost since my last reading, that almost 7 pounds were muscle. I have a feeling that a good chunk of that was when I lost about 12 pounds over my hospital stay and did not lift any weights. Regardless, I decided it was time to pump the brakes on the rate of weight loss and end Phase 1.
Now I’m in the next phase, which I imaginatively named “Phase 2”. There is still much work to do, but at a slower pace. Now I dare say I just look like an average American male, and not a non-blue Violet Beauregard:
Specifically, I now target a 500 calorie daily deficit and I do eat most of my exercise calories. I still lift, though I’ve modified what I do, trying to incorporate higher intensity training. I run on the treadmill now that the weather is uninviting to run outside, not for calorie deficit but rather to improve my 5k time to under 30:00 and hopefully run a 10k later in 2014. In these 2 weeks of a 500 calorie deficit, I’ve lost 2.5 pounds, so pretty much spot on. Eventually I’m aspiring to a body fat percent of 15, which would happen with a loss of another 30 pounds of fat. I’m fine with that taking 30 weeks, or whatever.
Here are some numbers. Ending numbers represent the end of Phase 1, not current state.
+
+
+
+
| | Beginning | Ending |
+
+
+
+
| Weight | 340 | 226 |
+
+
+
+
| Lean Mass | 175 | 167 |
+
+
+
+
| Fat Mass | 165 | 58 |
+
+
+
+
| Body Fat% | 48.5 | 25.7 |
+
+
+
+
| Waist | 58.5 | 43 |
+
+
+
+
| Chest | 50.5 | 44.3 |
+
+
+
+
| Neck | 20 | 17 |
+
+
+
+
If you’ve made it this far, let me thank you for your time. I’ll conclude with some various thoughts.
1) If you’re obese enough, you can safely lose an aggressive amount of weight, certainly in excess of the 2 pounds/week many suggest as a max. This isn’t a rule I made up, rather it’s one I found reputable sources say and that I was able to confirm.
2) Make sure you slow down your rate of weight loss in time. I’m going to suggest 30% body fat as a good time. Here’s a very good article corroborating this: http://impruvism.com/realistic-fat-loss/
3) Week to week weight fluctuations are almost irrelevant. I always use at least 2 weeks of data before making any sort of effectiveness determination, and even then I wait for a 3rd week before considering enacting change.
4) Do some resistance training as early as you can during weight loss. I can not overstate the importance of maintaining existing muscle mass. If my muscle loss accounted for 25% instead of 8% of weight lost, then my current body fat percent would be 38% instead of 26%. That’s a lot of numbers to throw out there but I hope it makes the point.
5) If you’re doing nothing, do something. This is my biggest regret over the years. Just a simple 20 minute walk every day could have done wonders to reduce the continuous weight gain I experienced over time.
I could go on, but I’m almost as tired of typing as you are of reading this by now. For more info, I have an open diary and progress blog listed on my profile page.
I’ll try to keep the exposition to a minimum, so here we go. Back at the beginning of April of 2013, I stepped on the scales for the first time in about 2.5 years. I was shocked and horrified to see the numbers 3 4 and 0, in sequence, on the scale. That’s right, 340 pounds, more than an offensive lineman in the NFL. After years, decades really, of saying “I’m going to hit the gym Monday and start watching what I eat”, it finally clicked. This has to happen and it has to happen now. Not next month, not Monday, NOW!
Let me set the stage for what current state was at that point. As mentioned, I was 340 pounds, 6’0” tall and was basically half fat. By that I mean my body fat percent approached 50% (48% actually). I was unable to walk just 1/2 mile without needing to take a rest, even a walk of 1/4 mile caused an elevated heart rate and heavier breathing. Things were bad, physically and emotionally.
April 1, the half fat man at 340 pounds:
So in April I set off with a simple goal to lose weight. Nothing more, just lose weight and a lot of it. I did a lot of reading for the most effective ways to meet that goal. This was quite frustrating because there’s a lot of bad, not to mention contradictory, information out there, but eventually I found some credible sources to help guide me. This helped me to refine my goals, to not just lose weight, but to lose fat.
That led me to my Phase 1 guiding principles, that I could lose a lot of weight quickly and maintain muscle with adequate consumption of protein while lifting weights. For the “losing weight” objective I set up a calorie intake based on (RMR adjusted to “sedentary” - 1000) and did NOT consume calories expended from exercise. I made moderate, short term modifications to this over the months, but fundamentally that was my nutritional guideline. I used the guideline of 1 gram protein per pound of lean body weight for “adequate consumption”.
Specifics for my exercise routine morphed over this time. The basics though, were fairly constant: cardio + weight lifting. I modified what I did for both of those, but faithfully did both. Early on, once I established a baseline of endurance, I would shoot for massive calorie burns. 45 minutes on a treadmill for a 300+ pound man can produce some big numbers. For weights, I began using a 3x8 program I used in my younger days. It eventually occurred to me though, that a hypertrophy program didn’t make sense for someone in a major calorie deficit, so I switched to a 5x5 strength building regimen. Truth be told, my only objective for weight lifting was (is) to maintain muscle, which the 3x8 program did, but I was swayed by the simplicity of 5x5.
The below pictures are after one month. 14 pounds lost but not that noticeable visually.
May 1, 326ish pounds
The next month, I thought the weight loss was noticeable. It was during this month that my endurance was getting better. I could spend 45 minutes on an elliptical machine, not to mention walk 1/2 mile with no issue. That was my first and perhaps still favorite NSV, to just be able to walk a moderate distance.
June 1, 311 pounds
It was during June that I devised a goal to run a 5k. It was nice outside and it seemed a waste to spend time inside on the elliptical, so I began c25k, with an eye on a 5k in September.
July 1, 297 pounds
Sub 300! Yeah boyeeee.
July was more of the same. Some c25k, some elliptical and weight lifting 3x8.
August 1, 276 pounds
July was a big month, 21 pounds lost.
In August I switched to the 5x5 program, yes, Strong Lifts. I finished the c25k program and used the 3 weeks remaining before my run to better prepare for it. The c25k program ended with me running for 30 minutes, but that wasn’t 5k, so I still needed to get to that point. I also took a “diet break” from the middle of August up to the 5k, increasing daily calories by 333 for each week until I reached sedentary RMR.
September 1, 265 pounds
In September I completed the 5k and even met my goal to not finish in last place. The official time was 37:30. I also had a follow-up Bod Pod analysis done to validate that my process was working. Of the 80 pounds lost at the time of the reading, only 1.5 pounds was muscle. The process was indeed working.
October 1, 253 pounds
In October, I suffered my first real setback. In the middle of the month, I started having heart palpitations. I stopped working out then eventually checked myself into the hospital. I had been cursing the cruel sense of humor some deity seemed to have to give me heart issues after I had made strides to improve my heart health. It turns out not to have been a heart problem, but rather a viral infection that caused palpitations. My heart was perfectly fine after all. Regardless, I had a 3 week stretch where I did no weight lifting and did little cardio. This will come back up as relevant later.
November 1, 236 pounds
Fortunately November was boring. I did my workouts as planned and stuck to nutrition goals. The most notable thing is that I had a regular checkup and all of my results were well within the “good” range. Blood pressure, cholesterol, blood sugar, everything. This in contrast with my last checkup in 2010, when my blood pressure was “borderline” and my doctor strongly recommended bariatric surgery.
December 1, 226 pounds
That’s my Movember mustache, which is long gone now.
It was at the beginning of this month (Dec) that I had another Bod Pod analysis completed. I was unhappy to see that of the 28 pounds lost since my last reading, that almost 7 pounds were muscle. I have a feeling that a good chunk of that was when I lost about 12 pounds over my hospital stay and did not lift any weights. Regardless, I decided it was time to pump the brakes on the rate of weight loss and end Phase 1.
Now I’m in the next phase, which I imaginatively named “Phase 2”. There is still much work to do, but at a slower pace. Now I dare say I just look like an average American male, and not a non-blue Violet Beauregard:
Specifically, I now target a 500 calorie daily deficit and I do eat most of my exercise calories. I still lift, though I’ve modified what I do, trying to incorporate higher intensity training. I run on the treadmill now that the weather is uninviting to run outside, not for calorie deficit but rather to improve my 5k time to under 30:00 and hopefully run a 10k later in 2014. In these 2 weeks of a 500 calorie deficit, I’ve lost 2.5 pounds, so pretty much spot on. Eventually I’m aspiring to a body fat percent of 15, which would happen with a loss of another 30 pounds of fat. I’m fine with that taking 30 weeks, or whatever.
Here are some numbers. Ending numbers represent the end of Phase 1, not current state.
+
+
+
+
| | Beginning | Ending |
+
+
+
+
| Weight | 340 | 226 |
+
+
+
+
| Lean Mass | 175 | 167 |
+
+
+
+
| Fat Mass | 165 | 58 |
+
+
+
+
| Body Fat% | 48.5 | 25.7 |
+
+
+
+
| Waist | 58.5 | 43 |
+
+
+
+
| Chest | 50.5 | 44.3 |
+
+
+
+
| Neck | 20 | 17 |
+
+
+
+
If you’ve made it this far, let me thank you for your time. I’ll conclude with some various thoughts.
1) If you’re obese enough, you can safely lose an aggressive amount of weight, certainly in excess of the 2 pounds/week many suggest as a max. This isn’t a rule I made up, rather it’s one I found reputable sources say and that I was able to confirm.
2) Make sure you slow down your rate of weight loss in time. I’m going to suggest 30% body fat as a good time. Here’s a very good article corroborating this: http://impruvism.com/realistic-fat-loss/
3) Week to week weight fluctuations are almost irrelevant. I always use at least 2 weeks of data before making any sort of effectiveness determination, and even then I wait for a 3rd week before considering enacting change.
4) Do some resistance training as early as you can during weight loss. I can not overstate the importance of maintaining existing muscle mass. If my muscle loss accounted for 25% instead of 8% of weight lost, then my current body fat percent would be 38% instead of 26%. That’s a lot of numbers to throw out there but I hope it makes the point.
5) If you’re doing nothing, do something. This is my biggest regret over the years. Just a simple 20 minute walk every day could have done wonders to reduce the continuous weight gain I experienced over time.
I could go on, but I’m almost as tired of typing as you are of reading this by now. For more info, I have an open diary and progress blog listed on my profile page.
0
Replies
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Amazing job! Thanks for sharing your story and you are doing an awesome job!0
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All I can say is WOW!! Congratulations on your weight loss and for sharing your amazing journey. Keep up the good work!!!!!0
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Love the pictures as you progress. Great job! You look fantastic. Keep it up!0
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WoW! Awesome motivation and endurance for the long haul..Reading this just enforces that I WILL NOT give up! I want to see things happen quickly in my weight loss such as you-but more importantdly I want it to stay off. You have awesome long term goals-is that what keeps you motivated and on track?0
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You have done so great! You should be very proud of yourself, congrats! You look fantastic :bigsmile: :flowerforyou:0
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Great Job!0
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Great job! Awesome progress!0
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Great story! Thanks for sharing! I concur with being able to safely lose a large amount of weight in a short amount of time. I think for those of us who are morbidly obese it is the best way to go. It's just not good for us to carry so much excess weight and we need the confidence that comes with taking off larger amounts. I wasn't one of the big fellas but definitely one of the big gals! My highest weight was 320 and, ironic the same time frame, within 8 months lost 133 pounds. I also did not eat back my exercise deficit during this time.
For me the best feeling was going from having to push myself up off the couch because I didn't trust my knees to handle the stress without support, to cycling 52 miles in one shot this past summer. It's great being able to live life again, isn't it?0 -
This is incredible. Thank you so much for taking the time to write this up! FR sent!0
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Keep up the good work and congratulations!0
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WOW! That was very detailed and informative! Not to mention you have the results to prove it
you look fantastic! Wishing you the best of luck on phase two 
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Thank's for the inspiration! Great read.0
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what an excellent job you've done!!! congratulations.0
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Thanks for sharing. I enjoyed every word and all the pictures. I hope you give us another update when you feel it's time.0
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You are an inspiration, my man. Congrats!!0
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congrats on your amazing progress0
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Thanks for sharing and good luck on your next journey!0
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I came for the shirt ( ^_^) b
Truly though, amazing work. Waiting to see phase 2 come to fruition!0 -
Awsome!!!!!!!!0
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why are you so awesome !!
i wish the same motivation and results for all people
best of luck
and
for the muscle loss 0
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