I went from morbidly obese to 6 pack abs! Ask me Anything

marianjr

My husband lost 50lbs his stomach is almost flat. He wants to work in his 6 pack.Since in the one who prepares his meals I want to get an idea of how much I should be feeding him.His job is really physical and he works out 4-6 days a week . What range in calories and grams of carbohydrates did you consume?

wannabehappy79

Also have to loose extreme amount of weight and from the looks of your pic you got it right all the way. Need motivational and help just getting started

vismal

CeeBeeSlim wrote: »

Hi Vismal. Wondering if you saw my question earlier about fast(er) weight loss? I included a link and wanted your thoughts. Apologies if I missed it?!?

Sorry, your question was at the top of the page and I must have missed it. I am usually not a fan of rapid weight loss strategies. The biggest problem is with compliance. Most people simply fail at utilizing a very low level of calories. I personally can't do it for more than 2 weeks. That being said, for someone 5'2 and 137 lbs 1190 calories isn't anything I'd consider as very low or rapid weight loss levels of calories. I usually advise people to eat around 9-10 calories per lb they weigh to cause weight loss and your calorie goal falls right below that target. How many calories are you currently eating and how long has it been since any weight loss has occurred?

marianjr wrote: »

My husband lost 50lbs his stomach is almost flat. He wants to work in his 6 pack.Since in the one who prepares his meals I want to get an idea of how much I should be feeding him.His job is really physical and he works out 4-6 days a week . What range in calories and grams of carbohydrates did you consume?

This depends on his goal. Is he still trying to lose more fat to expose his abdominal muscles or is he trying to gain build his muscles?

Horsepital

Hi Vismal, thanks so much for taking all the time you do to answer people's questions. You've been doing it for so long now and I really appreciate that you've stuck it out for so long. I've got a couple of questions for you:

How do you find the time to work out, what with your new baby and other responsibilities? How long/and how often are your workouts? I'm a single guy with a pretty demanding job and while for the last couple of weeks I've been able to carve out an hour or two a day, it's really taking a lot of attention to make it happen. I'm pretty new to working out, so I'm hoping it just becomes normal soon. I can only imagine it being more difficult as changes in my work and social life happen....

I just want to make sure I'm counting calories right when I make a recipe (like a soup or a casserole for instance). Easy example, the filling for tacos: I took a pound of ground turkey (820 calories), 12 oz yellow onion (60 calories) and 12 oz roasted green chilies (145 calories). Total cooked weight = 32 oz. So if the total number of calories combined is 1025 do you just weigh out the mix and calculate from that? (ie an 8 oz portion is 257 calories)

Thanks again!

saintor1

Thanks for the trendweight.com tip.

At work I use mobile averages extensively and I am now pleased that I found something to automatically process my weight as a mobile average through my wi-fi body scale.

CeeBeeSlim

Thank you for your response. I've lost about two pounds - 135.2 - in about 6 weeks. My goal is 125-128. Ultimate "I'm in heaven weight" is 120, but I realize I'm obsessed with that number only because that's what I was when I felt thin but now I know I was skinny fat. I'm nursing a recently diagnosed hip impingement - the professionals have been contradicting themselves - no lower body vs some lower body being mindful of form, weights, reps - so I've been extra cautious and been doing none of the things that helped before (squats, deadlifts, treadmill, bike, TRX). Sooo, that's y I was thinking of rapid weight loss thru diet. I'm crawling out of my skin being this inactive. What do you think about some lower body?

vismal

Horsepital wrote: »

Hi Vismal, thanks so much for taking all the time you do to answer people's questions. You've been doing it for so long now and I really appreciate that you've stuck it out for so long. I've got a couple of questions for you:

How do you find the time to work out, what with your new baby and other responsibilities? How long/and how often are your workouts? I'm a single guy with a pretty demanding job and while for the last couple of weeks I've been able to carve out an hour or two a day, it's really taking a lot of attention to make it happen. I'm pretty new to working out, so I'm hoping it just becomes normal soon. I can only imagine it being more difficult as changes in my work and social life happen....

I just want to make sure I'm counting calories right when I make a recipe (like a soup or a casserole for instance). Easy example, the filling for tacos: I took a pound of ground turkey (820 calories), 12 oz yellow onion (60 calories) and 12 oz roasted green chilies (145 calories). Total cooked weight = 32 oz. So if the total number of calories combined is 1025 do you just weigh out the mix and calculate from that? (ie an 8 oz portion is 257 calories)

Thanks again!

You simply have to make the time. I have trained anywhere from high volume 6x a week for an hour + per session to as little as 3x per week at 35-45 minutes per session. Currently I am doing a low volume program that can be done in about 45 minutes 3x a week due to having quite a bit on my plate. Once I finish grad school I will probably transition to 4 days a week but 3 is perfectly appropriate. Those new to working out do fine on 3 day a week total body programs. If you need one that doesn't take a very long time, the Greyskull LP is a good choice. 2.5-3 hours per week isn't really all that much time. I would sooner shave off 3 hours of sleep per week then miss my workouts. As far as your calorie counting of a dish, yes, that will work fine.

saintor1 wrote: »

Thanks for the trendweight.com tip.

At work I use mobile averages extensively and I am now pleased that I found something to automatically process my weight as a mobile average through my wi-fi body scale.

Yes, I love the site!

CeeBeeSlim wrote: »

Thank you for your response. I've lost about two pounds - 135.2 - in about 6 weeks. My goal is 125-128. Ultimate "I'm in heaven weight" is 120, but I realize I'm obsessed with that number only because that's what I was when I felt thin but now I know I was skinny fat. I'm nursing a recently diagnosed hip impingement - the professionals have been contradicting themselves - no lower body vs some lower body being mindful of form, weights, reps - so I've been extra cautious and been doing none of the things that helped before (squats, deadlifts, treadmill, bike, TRX). Sooo, that's y I was thinking of rapid weight loss thru diet. I'm crawling out of my skin being this inactive. What do you think about some lower body?

I would wait until your injury is completely healed before doing anything that might exacerbate it. Additionally, the number one reason to avoid a rapid weight loss plan is if you are injured. Your body is healing and impairing its ability to recover via rapid weight loss will only cause problems. I advise most people to attempt maintenance while injured and worry about weight loss once the injury is healed. The exception to this is people with a chronic injury (chronic back/knee pain) that is probably worse because they are overweight. This doesn't seem to be your case though so I'd eat maintenance, heal up, then do a regular weight loss plan once you can do exercises unrestricted.

CeeBeeSlim

Thanks Vismal! Smart advice. I didn't even think about how a diet could affect my body to heal. I'll focus on my full recovery for now. Thanks again.

BuccaneersFan

As I'm sure it's a problem for most, when I'm on a cut my energy level when I lift diminishes quite a lot. What I would like to know is what is the minimum amount of sets and reps I can do during a cut to not lose strength and muscle mass. So lets say for example during a bulk I'm doing 5 sets of 200lbs. in squats, what is the minimum sets and reps I can get away with during a cut?

SparklyBubblyBabe

Damn! My question is: how do you feel!

vismal

BuccaneersFan wrote: »

As I'm sure it's a problem for most, when I'm on a cut my energy level when I lift diminishes quite a lot. What I would like to know is what is the minimum amount of sets and reps I can do during a cut to not lose strength and muscle mass. So lets say for example during a bulk I'm doing 5 sets of 200lbs. in squats, what is the minimum sets and reps I can get away with during a cut?

It's going to vary from person to person but you can probably cut both volume (total sets and reps) and frequency (how often you hit a muscle group) by up to 60%. For instance if I was doing a 5x5 4 times a week I could easily switch to a 3x5 3 times a week. The key is not reducing intensity (weight on the bar). Keep the weight on the bar the same, just cut back on as many sets/reps/days a week you need to make that possible.

SparklyBubblyBabe wrote: »

Damn! My question is: how do you feel!

I feel pretty great. It's hard to describe all the major and minor differences in how one feels physically and emotionally after losing so much weight!

Jezreel12

You're so wise Vismal

vmtama27

HELP. I'm stuck at 47lbs loss!! I can't get over this hump and I don't know what else to do! Did you plateau? How did you go over it!?

vismal

vmtama27 wrote: »

HELP. I'm stuck at 47lbs loss!! I can't get over this hump and I don't know what else to do! Did you plateau? How did you go over it!?

Real stalls occur for really only 1 reason. Before we get into that we need to determine if you are really stalled. How long has it been since you've seen weight loss? Sometimes weight loss is occurring and masked from the everyday fluctuations in weight. I recommend weighing daily and logging weights at trendweight.com which will give you a nice graph showing the trend of your weight. If, after 3 weeks or so of daily weight logging your trend is not moving downward you have indeed stalled. The reason this happens is that you are no longer in a calorie deficit. One way or another you're not eating less per day then you are burning. This can happen because you're calorie goal is too high (did you adjust it down after losing nearly 50 lbs?) or you might be eating more than you think (very common). Are you weighing all your food on a food scale? Do you have cheat days and if so how often? How often are you guesstimating calories? How many calories are you currently eating and for how long?

Schila64

vismal wrote: »

5x5 training is a method of training that has you doing 5 sets of 5 reps for your heavy compounds like bench, squat, rows, etc. There are several programs out there. The "Ice Cream Fitness 5x5" is my favorite. Google it if you want to check it out. Stronglifts 5x5 is another.

Can you guide me on how to use the Stronglift Spreadsheet. I entered the day I start and my current weight in Kg. Then it says Body Fat , which I don't know. The other thing that I noted is the number below the exercise. For example it says Squat 5x5 and below 20. Is that the weight I should squat with? Those numbers look too heavy for a woman.

Blubberbuster1

So many posts, I know someone must have asked this, but TL;DR.

Did you hit a plateau? At what weight(s) and how long roughly did it take to break through them? How did you adjust to overcome them? I also saw you say you wish you started lifting day one, do you mean you wish you didn't do cardio and strictly did a weight loss journey based off of lifting alone? Or do you mean both? What do you think about 1 hour fasted cardio in the mornings and lifting at night on 2000 calories per day?

Fit_in_Folsom

I just wanted to give a personal shout out to Vismal for all he does for this group. There are a handful of people that really devote their time to paying back to this community. He is one of them and he really knows his stuff. Thanks man!

vismal

Schila64 wrote: »

vismal wrote: »

5x5 training is a method of training that has you doing 5 sets of 5 reps for your heavy compounds like bench, squat, rows, etc. There are several programs out there. The "Ice Cream Fitness 5x5" is my favorite. Google it if you want to check it out. Stronglifts 5x5 is another.

Can you guide me on how to use the Stronglift Spreadsheet. I entered the day I start and my current weight in Kg. Then it says Body Fat , which I don't know. The other thing that I noted is the number below the exercise. For example it says Squat 5x5 and below 20. Is that the weight I should squat with? Those numbers look too heavy for a woman.

I've never used the spreadsheet. The basic idea of the 5x5 is you pick a starting weight, something you are able to complete all 5 sets with 5 reps reasonably easy with good form. If you complete all the reps and all the sets add 5 lbs for the next week. I'm guessing the spreadsheet puts arbitrary starting weights in that are probably not specific to you or your level of training. The starting weight should be based on what you find easy/difficult, not a cookie cutter number.

mawill08 wrote: »

So many posts, I know someone must have asked this, but TL;DR.

Did you hit a plateau? At what weight(s) and how long roughly did it take to break through them? How did you adjust to overcome them? I also saw you say you wish you started lifting day one, do you mean you wish you didn't do cardio and strictly did a weight loss journey based off of lifting alone? Or do you mean both? What do you think about 1 hour fasted cardio in the mornings and lifting at night on 2000 calories per day?

Everyone hits "plateaus" including me. The first thing to do is make sure this is a real stall and not just water retention or daily weight fluctuation masking actual loss. To do this you really must weigh daily. I then take my daily weight and track it on trendweight.com. This is key because daily weights in a vacuum are almost meaningless. Trendweight does a rolling average of your weight and makes sense of the minor gains and losses that occur each day. If after 3-4 weeks your trend is a flat line then you can officially say you have stalled. Real stalls only really occur when you are not eating in a deficit. This happens because you either have your calorie goal set too high or you are eating more than you think (very common). I address eating more than you think in this thread http://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/1296011/calorie-counting-101. If you are very certain of your calorie count (doing most of the things in the guide especially weighing all your food) and still not losing, then it's time to reduce calories by about 10%.

Lifting along with cardio is probably best if you have a decent amount of weight to lose. Diet is more important than lifting which is more important than cardio (and should be prioritized as such) IMO if you goal is weight loss/body recomposition. Fasted cardio is no better or worse then fed cardio so it doesn't really matter when you do it other than that I would recommend doing it right before weight training though early in the day or right after is fine. As to how long your cardio sessions should be, this depends on the intensity. An hour of medium or high intensity cardio might be too much if you are also weight training. If you are doing low intensity like walking then an hour even every day is fine. As far as 2000 calories a day I can't really say if that is a good calorie goal or not without knowing your height, weight, age, and activity level.

bfanny

Hi To flatten my mid section do you think I should aim to recomp or keep losing? 5'4 130-132 42 y/o

vismal

bfanny wrote: »

Hi To flatten my mid section do you think I should aim to recomp or keep losing? 5'4 130-132 42 y/o

It's hard to say. In this picture your midsection doesn't look like it's in need of flattening. Simply looking at you height and weight either a little bit more fat loss would be okay but recomp would certainly be appropriate too. It basically depends on what you want more. What's your ultimate goal and what is your training like?