Judging when to stop after a 90lbs+ loss
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neillc57
Posts: 86 Member
So I have dropped my weight from 257lbs (been probably as high as 270) to my current 165lbs. I am 53 and 5'10.25" (the nurses at the doctors office added that quarter so who am I do complain?).
I lost a considerably amount of strength over the course of about 3 weeks as I could not train. I had a very stressful 6 weeks while caring for my terminal ill father. 2 of those weeks I couldn't really leave him and the stress gave me a week of downtime after he passed as I developed a couple of infections my doctor tells me where cause by having my immune system wiped out by stress. I kept the food in check the whole time though. I wouldn't change anything in hindsight. I am just explaining how I got here.
Skin on my stomach wrinkles up in deep wrinkles. Skin has deep wrinkles under my armpit at peck level were I had quite a lot of fat.
Many pictures I see of loose skin are clearly still carrying a lot of fat.
I can still grab maybe an inch and a half of fat on my stomach. So I feel like I still have a ways to go. How do you judge this though? I was very fat as a kid so I must have a lot of fat cells. They will still be hanging out under my skin even when fully deflated. I am unsure what kind of thickness they will have.
I feel like I can continue on my near 1800kcals diet without too many problems. The only downside really is the fact that I hate being able to make zero progress in the gym.
I lost a considerably amount of strength over the course of about 3 weeks as I could not train. I had a very stressful 6 weeks while caring for my terminal ill father. 2 of those weeks I couldn't really leave him and the stress gave me a week of downtime after he passed as I developed a couple of infections my doctor tells me where cause by having my immune system wiped out by stress. I kept the food in check the whole time though. I wouldn't change anything in hindsight. I am just explaining how I got here.
Skin on my stomach wrinkles up in deep wrinkles. Skin has deep wrinkles under my armpit at peck level were I had quite a lot of fat.
Many pictures I see of loose skin are clearly still carrying a lot of fat.
I can still grab maybe an inch and a half of fat on my stomach. So I feel like I still have a ways to go. How do you judge this though? I was very fat as a kid so I must have a lot of fat cells. They will still be hanging out under my skin even when fully deflated. I am unsure what kind of thickness they will have.
I feel like I can continue on my near 1800kcals diet without too many problems. The only downside really is the fact that I hate being able to make zero progress in the gym.
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Replies
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Stress from parenting parents as their caregivers is rough. Kudos to you. I just started a wellness group research study and I've been sicker than a dog. Go figure! I lost 10lbs on the jelly and ginger ale diet but they didn't like that. I think it's awesome to feel good whatever weight the scale says.
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Here’s what I did, I went to the bottom of my BMI to see if the skin would look better without the underlying fat dragging it down. It does.1
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So I have dropped my weight from 257lbs (been probably as high as 270) to my current 165lbs. I am 53 and 5'10.25" (the nurses at the doctors office added that quarter so who am I do complain?).
I lost a considerably amount of strength over the course of about 3 weeks as I could not train. I had a very stressful 6 weeks while caring for my terminal ill father. 2 of those weeks I couldn't really leave him and the stress gave me a week of downtime after he passed as I developed a couple of infections my doctor tells me where cause by having my immune system wiped out by stress. I kept the food in check the whole time though. I wouldn't change anything in hindsight. I am just explaining how I got here.
Skin on my stomach wrinkles up in deep wrinkles. Skin has deep wrinkles under my armpit at peck level were I had quite a lot of fat.
Many pictures I see of loose skin are clearly still carrying a lot of fat.
I can still grab maybe an inch and a half of fat on my stomach. So I feel like I still have a ways to go. How do you judge this though? I was very fat as a kid so I must have a lot of fat cells. They will still be hanging out under my skin even when fully deflated. I am unsure what kind of thickness they will have.
I feel like I can continue on my near 1800kcals diet without too many problems. The only downside really is the fact that I hate being able to make zero progress in the gym.
Well done on the weight loss so far...but!
It sounds like you've been undereating for a while.
This brings all sorts of factors into play, first the thyroid down regulates putting your metabolism at a snail's pace, also your leptin levels will have bottomed out.
It sound to me like a diet break is in order, a month or two at maintenance calories will do you the world of good.
This will bring all your hormone levels back into line (especially testosterone) which in turn will help build muscle.
However whilst ever you are on a calorie deficit, you're not building muscle anyway, you would have to be in a surplus.
After the diet break, mentally you will feel better, with your body not rationing out the calories.
Don't look at this as a step backwards, even if you gain a little weight back, look at it as if you have just 'paused' progress.
Your TDEE is 2479 calories (training 3-5 times a week) and 2200 calories 1-2 times a week.
So eating at 1800 cal's you are well under.
I would start and up your calories to 2300 - right in the middle.
In order to progress at the gym again (from a muscle building point of view) you would need to be over the 2479 (400 calories more would be enough to build muscle).
Good luck with your goals.
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Sparkeysworld wrote: »It sounds like you've been undereating for a while.
This brings all sorts of factors into play, first the thyroid down regulates putting your metabolism at a snail's pace, also your leptin levels will have bottomed out.
Well maybe so but it would have taken an age to get where I am. Took 10 months as it was. I already know my thyroid hormones have down regulated. I feel the cold now in my hands and I never had this problem. This will reverse.
Apart from waiting 10 months is has actually been very easy for me to do. Quite pleasurable in fact.Sparkeysworld wrote: »It sound to me like a diet break is in order, a month or two at maintenance calories will do you the world of good.
No. I can do this when I get to a point that it't time to bulk.Sparkeysworld wrote: »This will bring all your hormone levels back into line (especially testosterone) which in turn will help build muscle.
However whilst ever you are on a calorie deficit, you're not building muscle anyway, you would have to be in a surplus.
After the diet break, mentally you will feel better, with your body not rationing out the calories.
I already know I can't build muscle unless I am in a surplus. That's why I am trying to judge when to go into a surplus. Why should I worry about testosterone when a diet break won't put me in a surplus and I will be in a deficit again to get to where I need to get.Sparkeysworld wrote: »Don't look at this as a step backwards, even if you gain a little weight back, look at it as if you have just 'paused' progress.
My feeling is this would be an approach if I couldn't keep going or my progress was too slow or stalled.
I am not bing eating, cheating or not hitting my macros every single day. I am not unhappy. My only problem is I can't make progress in the gym and I accept that tradeoff until I flip the surplus switch.Sparkeysworld wrote: »Your TDEE is 2479 calories (training 3-5 times a week) and 2200 calories 1-2 times a week.
So eating at 1800 cal's you are well under.
I would start and up your calories to 2300 - right in the middle.
In order to progress at the gym again (from a muscle building point of view) you would need to be over the 2479 (400 calories more would be enough to build muscle).
I am asking about when to flip the switch not how to. I think I can handle going into a surplus.
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I feel like I can continue on my near 1800kcals diet without too many problems. The only downside really is the fact that I hate being able to make zero progress in the gym.
What do you want more - to drop a few more pounds or gym progress?
I also second the diet break. Especially if you have not taken a break during the 90 pounds. If you have not read this before, you may find it interesting:
https://bodyrecomposition.com/fat-loss/the-full-diet-break.html/
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I think I was missing your more important point that the sagging skin improves when the fat stops pulling it. Sorry.0 -
Sparkeysworld wrote: »It sounds like you've been undereating for a while.
This brings all sorts of factors into play, first the thyroid down regulates putting your metabolism at a snail's pace, also your leptin levels will have bottomed out.
Well maybe so but it would have taken an age to get where I am. Took 10 months as it was. I already know my thyroid hormones have down regulated. I feel the cold now in my hands and I never had this problem. This will reverse.
Apart from waiting 10 months is has actually been very easy for me to do. Quite pleasurable in fact.Sparkeysworld wrote: »It sound to me like a diet break is in order, a month or two at maintenance calories will do you the world of good.
No. I can do this when I get to a point that it't time to bulk.Sparkeysworld wrote: »This will bring all your hormone levels back into line (especially testosterone) which in turn will help build muscle.
However whilst ever you are on a calorie deficit, you're not building muscle anyway, you would have to be in a surplus.
After the diet break, mentally you will feel better, with your body not rationing out the calories.
I already know I can't build muscle unless I am in a surplus. That's why I am trying to judge when to go into a surplus. Why should I worry about testosterone when a diet break won't put me in a surplus and I will be in a deficit again to get to where I need to get.Sparkeysworld wrote: »Don't look at this as a step backwards, even if you gain a little weight back, look at it as if you have just 'paused' progress.
My feeling is this would be an approach if I couldn't keep going or my progress was too slow or stalled.
I am not bing eating, cheating or not hitting my macros every single day. I am not unhappy. My only problem is I can't make progress in the gym and I accept that tradeoff until I flip the surplus switch.Sparkeysworld wrote: »Your TDEE is 2479 calories (training 3-5 times a week) and 2200 calories 1-2 times a week.
So eating at 1800 cal's you are well under.
I would start and up your calories to 2300 - right in the middle.
In order to progress at the gym again (from a muscle building point of view) you would need to be over the 2479 (400 calories more would be enough to build muscle).
I am asking about when to flip the switch not how to. I think I can handle going into a surplus.
Sounds like you already have all the answers.
Good luck.4 -
Sparkeysworld wrote: »Sounds like you already have all the answers.
Good luck.
I am sure your suggestions would have been great and very useful if I had asked questions like:
I feel burned out and lethargic what should I do? I feel just fine.
I can't handle the hunger anymore what should I do? I am not in general hungry.
I just can't get the scale to budge what should I do? Except I am still making progress.
You are also assuming that I haven't already essentially taken a break. In fact while I was in the hospice with my father and sick afterward I did eat more than 1800kcals. I eat at essentially maintenance or a little above for 2-3 weeks as my family were determined to make me eat curry, fish and chips and a bunch of other stuff. So that was 3 or so months ago.
Now let me restate what I am asking in more direct ways:
Does your skin become quite thin if you reduce your fat levels to low levels even if you have been fat all your life? There must be some residual size to the fat cells for example. I think I have the answer to this in that I can see youtube videos from people who lost much more weight than me (and to lower fat levels than I am now) talking about it.
How do I judge when I am lean enough to stop such that moving to a surplus would be optimal. I am thinking I keep and eye on how the veins look in my arms (starting to show especially after exercise). Probably wait till the fat on my stomach is quite a bit thinner than it is now.
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I don't know if these pictures will be helpful or not.
This is low body fat with some loose skin. This guy would be ready to bulk if that is what he desired.
This is some extra body fat with some loose skin. This guy should shed a few more pounds before bulking.
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I don't know if these pictures will be helpful or not.
Very helpfully thanks. I am a million miles from the first guy. I have more fat than the second guy I think as well.
I was pretty much expecting to have to continue but wanted to make sure I am not missing something (like the skin thickness can't get small because of existing fat cells.
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