Fat Burn

dserdena

Okay — so far I have lost 58lbs since starting to eat healthy low calorie meals and exercise everyday. My exercise consists of an hour to hour and a half walk and this past week following up my walks with T25. I am starting to see a lot of great results. However, I am always under my calorie goal because my exercise puts me way under after I burn lets say 1200 cals in a day. I seriously can't imagine having to eat another 1200 cals to stay within goal. So basically I have been losing 5lbs a week which I know is not 'healthy'. Quite frankly — I am a big dude and not some 140lb girl trying to lose 20 lbs.

I used to weigh over 340lbs pushing 350 back in August and now I almost in the 280s. After 6 weeks I am swimming in my old size 20 dress shirts, went from a 60 inch waist to a 50 inch — simply, I am losing inches all around my body but the place where I still see a lot of fat is around my lower mid section, specifically the love handles and lower back fat.

I know it all takes time and I can't rush this. It's a life style change not a diet. I don't mind putting in all the hard work. Has anyone else out there — any guys like me that have turned it all around and are losing all this weight but also did not see any significant changes or loss in the love handles area? I guess in relativity everything is shrinking slowly and the core area may be the last to go as I get closer to my goal weight of 185lbs.

Thanks for the feedback.

tmuellenberg

Wow, sounds like you are doing great! That's really impressive! How many calories are you typically eating a day? When you have a good amount of weight to lose, 5 lbs a week is probably just fine. If you're feeling like you have energy and aren't starving yourself, what you're doing is probably working. But feel free to add me and shoot me a message & I'd be more than happy to discuss.

As far as the love handles, it seems like they're the last thing to go. For me and for many other people I've talked to the abdominal fat is the hardest to blast through. But it will happen! So don't get too discouraged if you aren't seeing the biggest changes there right away.

cootason

Mate you are doing fantastic you seem to have some strong goals set for yourself and are losing it quite fast when you start doing fitness it usually is fast at the beginning then slowly normalizes over time you seem to be on track with your food excellent work mate keep going.

RoyBeck

So far so good well done. I'm currently 216 from a SW of 268 and my love handles are shall we say 'Getting better'.

Keep losing weight, it will slow down but that's fine, and add a few light exercises in there. Maybe google oblique exercises in a few weeks? Bottom line is your doing great and it will all come together so long as you want it.

dserdena

@tmullenberg — I am typically eating on average 1400 - 1500 cals (a little bit low — I know) I need to make adjustments to how I am eating and probably eat a few more cals in protein. Maybe another piece of grilled chicken at lunch. I notice now that I am exercising more the weight has been falling off faster and faster. I will probably need to make more minor adjustments here and there as I continue to progress but right now I don't feel lethargic, I don't feel hungry or starving, in fact I feel great. I have a lot of energy and at the end of the days I am exhausted and ready for sleep.

@cootason — You are correct, I decided the only way to attack this weight loss without giving up or getting upset with slow results was to set goals. This is my fourth time trying to lose weight and this go round I noticed that by setting goals I now have these tangible things to work towards. If everyday I was looking at the end goal to lose 165lbs I would have given up by now because that looks more intimidating. Instead I decided to do 4 smaller goals. I took the total weight I needed to lose and divided it by 4. It came out to 41lbs. So I took 41 and divided that by 2 for the 2lbs I want to lose every week. That gives me 21 weeks to lose 41lbs. 41lbs every 21 weeks is much more mentally digestible then 165lbs in 84 weeks.

Thanks everyone else for your feedback. I appreciate you guys taking your time to send me your insights and experience. I have been assuming that I will sooner or later go from losing 5-8lbs a week to 2. The first two weeks I dropped significant weight but most of that had to be water weight.

MityMax96

Lower stomach, back and love handles are the problem spots for all men mate.

Stick with it brother, you are doing good......it just takes time.....

MityMax96

1500 calories / day for a guy your size is pretty low.....

So as you lose more weight, be sure to keep an eye on that.....
Since you have a lot of weight to get rid of, I don't think it so bad for you now, since your body has plenty of energy stored up......
But as the weight drops, and things balance out.....you will need to re-evaluate your caloric intake.

Iron_Feline

OK, I see you wanted blokes comments but.......

I'm a 5'2 woman losing on 1600 cals a day

Please please eat more.

You will be losing muscle mass as long with the fat - you don't want that, slow down the weight loss, don't balls up your metabolism - do it right so you only have to do it once. Plus think of the loose skin.

Eat more - try to get in some strength training to retain muscle mass - either lift weights or body weight exercise.

Read this it's a great read

http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/1080242-a-guide-to-get-you-started-on-your-path-to-sexypants

Remember - this is a marathon not a sprint - you've done great so far, now is the time to find the a balance, to make changes you can keep up forever.

AllonsYtotheTardis

I'm a 5'2" 41 year old woman losing on 1700 - 1800 per day.

Dude - you do NOT want to lose that fast - you're going to lose muscle mass.

Cranquistador

1200 seems like a high calorie burn...you want to look into that and see if it is close to accurate.

Also do you use a food scale and weigh everything??

Cranquistador

I'm a 5'2" 41 year old woman losing on 1700 - 1800 per day.

Dude - you do NOT want to lose that fast - you're going to lose muscle mass.

Agreed

Retaining as much muscle as you can as you lose weight will REALLY help you look the best possible as you get closer to your goals...so it is important not to have too huge a deficit.

ehimass

Great job so far man. 1500 calories per day will work for you. I have been on a 1500 calorie diet for 9 months now and have lost 115 pounds so far. When I started I was 290 lbs and 40%+ body fat, just had my body fat measured at 175 and it was 15%.

The midsection is the last place you will lose fat from unfortunately. Even at 175 I still have a pooch gut that I'm working on annihilating. I want to get down to 155 ish and see if my body fat drops to 10% or less (6'0" tall). I'm sure you will find that your arms, legs and face will show results before your belly does. You will probably need to get below 230 before your waistline really starts to get under 40". You're still young luckily so it should be no problem for you.

Yes I have lost muscle mass, but seeing the results quickly has kept my motivation high. The only downside is I get headrushes and feel light headed sometimes, but it's not a big deal. I say stick with 1500 calories if it's working. Maybe establish a body fat % that you want as a goal, and when you get there, go on a slow bulk to rebuild your muscle mass. That's my plan anyway.

Cranquistador

right now I don't feel lethargic, I don't feel hungry or starving, in fact I feel great. I have a lot of energy and at the end of the days I am exhausted and ready for sleep.

Just wanted to comment on this... sometimes your body will adjust to a lower calorie amount, but it isnt necessarily a good thing... listening to your body is not always the best thing for your body:flowerforyou:

Cranquistador

Great job so far man. 1500 calories per day will work for you. I have been on a 1500 calorie diet for 9 months now and have lost 115 pounds so far. When I started I was 290 lbs and 40%+ body fat, just had my body fat measured at 175 and it was 15%.

The midsection is the last place you will lose fat from unfortunately. Even at 175 I still have a pooch gut that I'm working on annihilating. I want to get down to 155 ish and see if my body fat drops to 10% or less (6'0" tall). I'm sure you will find that your arms, legs and face will show results before your belly does. You will probably need to get below 230 before your waistline really starts to get under 40". You're still young luckily so it should be no problem for you.

Yes I have lost muscle mass, but seeing the results quickly has kept my motivation high. The only downside is I get headrushes and feel light headed sometimes, but it's not a big deal. I say stick with 1500 calories if it's working. Maybe establish a body fat % that you want as a goal, and when you get there, go on a slow bulk to rebuild your muscle mass. That's my plan anyway.

a whole bunch of NO.

Iron_Feline

Great job so far man. 1500 calories per day will work for you. I have been on a 1500 calorie diet for 9 months now and have lost 115 pounds so far. When I started I was 290 lbs and 40%+ body fat, just had my body fat measured at 175 and it was 15%.

The midsection is the last place you will lose fat from unfortunately. Even at 175 I still have a pooch gut that I'm working on annihilating. I want to get down to 155 ish and see if my body fat drops to 10% or less (6'0" tall). I'm sure you will find that your arms, legs and face will show results before your belly does. You will probably need to get below 230 before your waistline really starts to get under 40". You're still young luckily so it should be no problem for you.

Yes I have lost muscle mass, but seeing the results quickly has kept my motivation high. The only downside is I get headrushes and feel light headed sometimes, but it's not a big deal. I say stick with 1500 calories if it's working. Maybe establish a body fat % that you want as a goal, and when you get there, go on a slow bulk to rebuild your muscle mass. That's my plan anyway.

It is a very very big deal

NO to all of this

Muscle is not easy to build - it is much better to keep it now that try to build it back later.

Lose slow - you'll look MUCH better when you hit your goal weigh.

Seriously man - you're 6ft and eating less than a 5'2 woman how is there not something wrong with that? :noway:

ehimass

Because guys like the OP and me have a ton of body fat that our body will use up first. I had ~120 pounds of fat on my body when I started at 290 lbs, now I still have ~26 lbs of fat at 175 lbs. In other words 78% of my 115 lb loss so far was from fat. I find that acceptable, personally. If you lift, and keep your protein intake somewhat high (at least .75 grams per lb of lean body mass), you should be able to keep the ratio of fat lost to muscle lost at 3:1, in my opinion, even on a pretty severe calorie restriction. This has all been published in Lyle McDonald's literature.

I'm certainly no expert, and I'm sure people will disagree with me,which is fine, but I don't feel like 1500 calories is inherently dangerous; in fact it was recommended by a dietitian when i started.

As always the OP and anyone else should consult a doctor and a dietitian to make sure what they're doing is safe.

MityMax96

Interesting read.
This guy starved himself for about 11 months.
The post was done by DuckeyQuacks

So you can also read through the comments and see his replies to people's questions.

http://www.reddit.com/r/IAmA/comments/1o5ndh/iama_guy_who_went_from_430_pounds_to_170_pounds/

Cranquistador

Because guys like the OP and me have a ton of body fat that our body will use up first. I had ~120 pounds of fat on my body when I started at 290 lbs, now I still have ~26 lbs of fat at 175 lbs. In other words 78% of my 115 lb loss so far was from fat. I find that acceptable, personally. If you lift, and keep your protein intake somewhat high (at least .75 grams per lb of lean body mass), you should be able to keep the ratio of fat lost to muscle lost at 3:1, in my opinion, even on a pretty severe calorie restriction. This has all been published in Lyle McDonald's literature.

I'm certainly no expert, and I'm sure people will disagree with me,which is fine, but I don't feel like 1500 calories is inherently dangerous; in fact it was recommended by a dietitian when i started.

As always the OP and anyone else should consult a doctor and a dietitian to make sure what they're doing is safe.

I think you dont need to lose any more weight and should just focus on body composition at this point

aiming for 155 as a male at your height is very extreme...why not increase your intake and SMASH all the weights? then cut again.

Iron_Feline

Because guys like the OP and me have a ton of body fat that our body will use up first. I had ~120 pounds of fat on my body when I started at 290 lbs, now I still have ~26 lbs of fat at 175 lbs. In other words 78% of my 115 lb loss so far was from fat. I find that acceptable, personally. If you lift, and keep your protein intake somewhat high (at least .75 grams per lb of lean body mass), you should be able to keep the ratio of fat lost to muscle lost at 3:1, in my opinion, even on a pretty severe calorie restriction. This has all been published in Lyle McDonald's literature.

I'm certainly no expert, and I'm sure people will disagree with me,which is fine, but I don't feel like 1500 calories is inherently dangerous; in fact it was recommended by a dietician when i started.

JUST NO

you lost 25lbs of muscle 25lbs

you could have saved a lot of that by going slower.

And your dietitian should be ashamed.

But if you're so happy with the results why did you post this?

http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/1102273-been-losing-6-pounds-per-week-is-this-safe

However, I find that I don't feel all that great. My energy level is a sapped, I'm irritable, grumpy, very emotional, and embarrassingly my libido seems reduced.

yep that seems like a GREAT result. /sarcasm.

and then you ignored all the good advice? :noway:

Edit: Oh and you also think you're skinny fat - yeah great result :noway:

ehimass

Sure there are side effects....but it's worth it to not be obese/overweight anymore. There was simply no way I was going to keep every bit of muscle I had at 290. Like I said, is what I did ideal for everyone? No. Do I have my share of problems? Yes. But at least my risk of heart disease is probably a lot lower. I had a hamstring injury at one point which sidelined my heavy lifting for awhile. I definitely should've lifted more, eaten more protein, and eaten fewer carbs. If the OP can do that, I think he will be good. I'm not saying eat 1500 every day either, I usually have at least one or two days per week where I go over that significantly. As long as he averages somewhere between 1500 and 2000 calories per day overall, he should be close enough.

jmp463

That is a great job. Keep up the good work. As for the trouble spots - well they are called trouble spots for a reason. Just stay with what you are doing and you will see a big difference in the next 25-50lbs.

As for the "eat more" crowd. I would say to take it with a grain of salt. Or wheat whatever you prefer. All I know is what has worked for me. I am 6'2" - started at 236 in may - I am at 200 as of today. I did it eating an Avg of 1700 cals a day for the most part. It has been a while since I look at the total Avg. Many days during the week I would be below 1500 Cals and weekends I would be higher. I am sure that is lower than my BMR. Which will bring out the cries of "Starvation mode". I think these people mean well - But I do think a lot of them are just repeating what they read someplace because it makes for an easy answer. I doubt very serious that many people on this site have ever been in "starvation mode" - my god the whole site is for people who need to lose weight. Didnt get that way by starving.

When day comes that the thought of a slice of really good pizza makes you sick - then you might want to consider you have an eating disorder. Until then - dont worry about it.

The point is - I suffered NO side effects. My hair fell out years ago - so that didnt happen. My nails grow just fine - not dizzy - no headaches. Only downside was having to buy new clothes - as I am sure you are seeing yourself.

For my my goals were always 10lbs at a time. It was the only thing I could wrap my head around. After I lost the first 10 pretty easy (little did I know it was a lot of water) - I thought I would keep it going. It does slow down at some point - but still I can count on 1/2 - 1 lb per week as long as I stick to my goals. Seems like I lose about 70 cals for every 10 lbs I lose.

If it is working stay with it. However would not hurt to ask a doctor rather than taking advice from people on the internet. But do not fall into the "your not eating enough" trap. I am sure I lost some muscle mass while I losing - but guess what - I lost A LOT MORE FAT. As a matter of fact I have never looked so cut in my life. I did almost no weight trainer while I losing this summer. Lots of cardio. I will say this - I ate a ton of protein because it just so happens that is what I like. So maybe that helped. In the last few weeks I starting working out again at the gym and I am slowly getting back to weight training. So I am hoping that will help kill what is left of my stomach. That and losing another 15lbs.

Again if you are not sure or if you are worried talk to your a doctor. They can you make the right decision.

I wish you the best - sounds like you are well on your way. I am happy for you.

Iron_Feline

Sure there are side effects....but it's worth it to not be obese/overweight anymore. There was simply no way I was going to keep every bit of muscle I had at 290. Like I said, is what I did ideal for everyone? No. Do I have my share of problems? Yes. But at least my risk of heart disease is probably a lot lower. I had a hamstring injury at one point which sidelined my heavy lifting for awhile. I definitely should've lifted more, eaten more protein, and eaten fewer carbs. If the OP can do that, I think he will be good. I'm not saying eat 1500 every day either, I usually have at least one or two days per week where I go over that significantly. As long as he averages somewhere between 1500 and 2000 calories per day overall, he should be close enough.

Lose slower and avoid this - you didn't put the fat on quickly you won't lose it quickly.

You're body can only metabolise a certain amount of fat in a day (science), seriously op - GO SLOWER, you will be happier with the end results and a few extra months with a few extra lbs will not make much difference in the grand scheme of things.

Again I'm losing on 1600 a day as a 5'2 woman.

ndj1979

OP - if you are doing OK on 1500 then continue as you are currently doing.

However, I would say that once you get your weight below 220 you should really consider starting lifting heavy and upping calories into the 1700 hundred range. You want to shed as much excess as possible now, but you don't want to get to a certain point and have burned off all of your muscle mass and be "skinny fat"...

I would recommend some kind of compound lifts and cardio..three days a week total body training, and two days a week cardio, that is when you get below 220....

sorry if I missed it, but what does your exercise routine consist of now?

oh and as far as mid section, love handles etc,...sadly, you cannot spot reduce and will just have to reduce it over time by losing body fat. I am about 13% body fat and I STILL have some lower stomach fat that I am trying to burn off ..it is just a process...

Iron_Feline

As for the "eat more" crowd. I would say to take it with a grain of salt. Or wheat whatever you prefer. All I know is what has worked for me. I am 6'2" - started at 236 in may - I am at 200 as of today. I did it eating an Avg of 1700 cals a day for the most part. It has been a while since I look at the total Avg. Many days during the week I would be below 1500 Cals and weekends I would be higher. I am sure that is lower than my BMR. Which will bring out the cries of "Starvation mode". I think these people mean well - But I do think a lot of them are just repeating what they read someplace because it makes for an easy answer. I doubt very serious that many people on this site have ever been in "starvation mode" - my god the whole site is for people who need to lose weight. Didnt get that way by starving.

No-one has mentioned starvation mode - what we have mentioned is the losing of muscle mass which can be minimised by losing fat slowly and sensibly.

But I'm not repeating myself again.

Op - do what you want, research what you need to. Both sides of the "argument" for 1500 cals a day have been played out here. It is up to you to decided how you want to lose the fat and how much muscle you are happy to lose in the process.

I wish you luck with your goals. :flowerforyou:

MityMax96

@Iron,

Calm down a bit....
I think the OP has gotten the idea now......
Going to fast can be bad.

Take it easy on lonestar, he is just sharing his journey, as you share yours also......no need to crucify the guy.

Iron_Feline

@Iron,

Calm down a bit....
I think the OP has gotten the idea now......
Going to fast can be bad.

Take it easy on lonestar, he is just sharing his journey, as you share yours also......no need to crucify the guy.

Crucify?

Really?

:noway:

MityMax96

Just think your tone is a bit harsh....maybe I am misreading.

TigerBite

OK, I see you wanted blokes comments but.......

I'm a 5'2 woman losing on 1600 cals a day

Please please eat more.

You will be losing muscle mass as long with the fat - you don't want that, slow down the weight loss, don't balls up your metabolism - do it right so you only have to do it once. Plus think of the loose skin.

Eat more - try to get in some strength training to retain muscle mass - either lift weights or body weight exercise.

Read this it's a great read

http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/1080242-a-guide-to-get-you-started-on-your-path-to-sexypants

Remember - this is a marathon not a sprint - you've done great so far, now is the time to find the a balance, to make changes you can keep up forever.

^^^^
THIS ... I'd also suggest you add some weightlifting to you regimen, this will go a long way in filling out any extra skin issues you may have ...

Iron_Feline

Just think your tone is a bit harsh....maybe I am misreading.

I don't sugar coat. I type as I speak in real life.

Should I add some flowers? :flowerforyou: I have time to edit :laugh:

MityMax96

You can give me flowers.

I will take it.

Achrya

Just think your tone is a bit harsh....maybe I am misreading.

I think your use of the word crucify is harsh.

I also think losing 25 pounds of muscle is a harsh way to treat your body. Hopefully I said that in a nice enough manner to not be accused of crucifying anyone.