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

vismal

Thanks for all the love everyone! Yall are great!

Vismal,
I have a question about belly fat/skin. I am 205 now and can see my skin a bit sagging especially around the belly region. Ideally i need to get to ~170ish given my heigh/age so theres still a way to go. I guess my question is will the remaining 30 odd pounds be from the belly part or "nobody knows"? i still have the flab of skin below the belly too to support it and i am hoping that goes away once the belly gets reduced even further... just kind of curious if you had similar experience too...

As far as loose skin is concerned, you are either going to have it or your not. Best thing you can do is just get lean and see. There is really very little you can do to treat/correct loose skin besides giving it time to recover (and sometimes it never does) or having surgery. Getting as lean as possible helps because often times people confuse loose skin for subcutaneous fat.

As far as where you will lose fat from, that is largely genetic. For most people, the lower abdominal region is one of the last places to get lean. Some people need to get to an extremely low body fat percentage to get lean in that area. For me to be totally lean in my lower abs and lower back I'd have to reach near competition bodybuilding levels of body fat. This task would be so physically and mentally demanding that it would not be worth it to me. I'd rather feel good and have decent abs then bust my *kitten*, feel like crap, lose strength, become moody, and have a decreased sex drive just to be completely shredded. After all, what good is looking good naked when you've dieted away your sex drive!

Shaselai

Thanks for all the love everyone! Yall are great!

Vismal,
I have a question about belly fat/skin. I am 205 now and can see my skin a bit sagging especially around the belly region. Ideally i need to get to ~170ish given my heigh/age so theres still a way to go. I guess my question is will the remaining 30 odd pounds be from the belly part or "nobody knows"? i still have the flab of skin below the belly too to support it and i am hoping that goes away once the belly gets reduced even further... just kind of curious if you had similar experience too...

As far as loose skin is concerned, you are either going to have it or your not. Best thing you can do is just get lean and see. There is really very little you can do to treat/correct loose skin besides giving it time to recover (and sometimes it never does) or having surgery. Getting as lean as possible helps because often times people confuse loose skin for subcutaneous fat.

As far as where you will lose fat from, that is largely genetic. For most people, the lower abdominal region is one of the last places to get lean. Some people need to get to an extremely low body fat percentage to get lean in that area. For me to be totally lean in my lower abs and lower back I'd have to reach near competition bodybuilding levels of body fat. This task would be so physically and mentally demanding that it would not be worth it to me. I'd rather feel good and have decent abs then bust my *kitten*, feel like crap, lose strength, become moody, and have a decreased sex drive just to be completely shredded. After all, what good is looking good naked when you've dieted away your sex drive!

But from your pic you look great already! What is the body fat% of that photo?

vismal

But from your pic you look great already! What is the body fat% of that photo?

I've never had a proper, accurate, body fat test done. Calipers and BIA scales have too great of a margin of error. I'd need to get a dexascan and those cost over 100 bucks. Not worth it to know a number that won't really change anything besides fulfilling my own curiosity. Based on what I've seen of others who have had dexascans done, I am probably 12% in the picture give or take a few. I feel like most people underestimate their body fat. As soon as they start seeing abs they assume they are 10% (if male, 15% if female) but in reality they are probably much higher.

yankeedownsouth

Tagging because this thread is awesome!

Shaselai

vismal, how old were you when you lost it all the weight? i am 32 and i am curious how much age will impact the skin etc...

Snip8241

bump so I can re read this....on my way to the Y to join....

vismal

vismal, how old were you when you lost it all the weight? i am 32 and i am curious how much age will impact the skin etc...

I started at 26. Age plays a factor but so do genetics. The way your weight is distributed makes a huge difference. I carried fat all over from my neck to my feet (I dropped a shoe size). Someone who carries most of their weight in their abdomen will likely have a worse case of loose skin then someone who has more evenly distributed fat storage.

SKEEdun

Hey! First I just wanted to congratulate you on your transformation!

I just started counting calories/eating right and exercising regularly the past few weeks and its going ok. I'm male, 5'6 280lbs, so I have a lot to lose. I've been doing cardio and lifting so far but I was I wondering if I should just focus on cardio first? If not, I was looking into the ICF 5x5 regimen and was wondering how to incorporate cardio into this regimen. Thanks!

vismal

Hey! First I just wanted to congratulate you on your transformation!

I just started counting calories/eating right and exercising regularly the past few weeks and its going ok. I'm male, 5'6 280lbs, so I have a lot to lose. I've been doing cardio and lifting so far but I was I wondering if I should just focus on cardio first? If not, I was looking into the ICF 5x5 regimen and was wondering how to incorporate cardio into this regimen. Thanks!

My hierarchy of fat loss looks like this

Nutrition is more important than lifting which is more important than cardio which is more important then supplements. Lifting is key in preservation of lean mass. Someone who loses 100 lbs while lifting is going to look sooooo much better than someone who loses the same weight and does only cardio. Cardio adds to your calories burned for the day but if diet isn't in check, no amount of cardio will make up for that. The ICF 5x5 is my favorite beginners lifting routine. I highly recommend it!

Shaselai

vismal, how old were you when you lost it all the weight? i am 32 and i am curious how much age will impact the skin etc...

I started at 26. Age plays a factor but so do genetics. The way your weight is distributed makes a huge difference. I carried fat all over from my neck to my feet (I dropped a shoe size). Someone who carries most of their weight in their abdomen will likely have a worse case of loose skin then someone who has more evenly distributed fat storage.

i see... my abdomen probbaly has most fat but i think i did have fat "all over" too as my wrist has shrunk a bit. I have a fitbit and i was about 3 "notches" before the end before dieting now i am using the last notch...

Acidique

Is there a place I can do the IIFYM thing? I typed it in google, but I need my BMI for the one I found and I have no idea what it is.

vismal

Is there a place I can do the IIFYM thing? I typed it in google, but I need my BMI for the one I found and I have no idea what it is.

I have a series of videos that I made to walk beginners through the entire process of starting IIFYM: http://goo.gl/zqIv6H

Acidique

Thank you!!!

ereck44

Bump to read later.

msmi1970

vismal wrote: »

Hey! First I just wanted to congratulate you on your transformation!

I just started counting calories/eating right and exercising regularly the past few weeks and its going ok. I'm male, 5'6 280lbs, so I have a lot to lose. I've been doing cardio and lifting so far but I was I wondering if I should just focus on cardio first? If not, I was looking into the ICF 5x5 regimen and was wondering how to incorporate cardio into this regimen. Thanks!

My hierarchy of fat loss looks like this

Nutrition is more important than lifting which is more important than cardio which is more important then supplements. Lifting is key in preservation of lean mass. Someone who loses 100 lbs while lifting is going to look sooooo much better than someone who loses the same weight and does only cardio. Cardio adds to your calories burned for the day but if diet isn't in check, no amount of cardio will make up for that. The ICF 5x5 is my favorite beginners lifting routine. I highly recommend it!

this sentence is one of the best pieces of advice in a nutshell i have ever read. Thanks!!

JJ88000

vismal wrote: »

I've always wanted to do an AMA so I thought I'd set one up here. The basics about my story are that I went from 315lbs to 195 and have been making small gains in muscles/losses to fat ever since. Ask me anything, anything at all!


Add me as a friend on here too!

Were you heavy most of your life? I weighed 369 when I started, and I'm terrified of lose skin, they say slow and steady, and it's taken me 3 years to lose 50some pounds, but I already see the lose skin, especially in my shoulders and arms. What did you do to prevent that? I have a pair of 5lb hand weights for resistance, but I've been using them more lately, will that help, or should I get something with more weight?

libbydoodle11

Great transformation!

Cleocatra19

Holy WOW! So inspiring!

vismal

Wow, just saw that this post got pinned! Thanks everyone for all you support! Feel free to keep the questions coming! I suppose I should update the original picture to reflect 2014!

Phoenix150

WTG! I want to add strength training to my routine and have been researching heavy lifting, however I am nursing a knee injury and was wondering if there was lifting I could do without aggregating my knee I know squats are out for sure but I don't want to end up 'lopsided"? Thanks.

vismal

Krystyn150 wrote: »

WTG! I want to add strength training to my routine and have been researching heavy lifting, however I am nursing a knee injury and was wondering if there was lifting I could do without aggregating my knee I know squats are out for sure but I don't want to end up 'lopsided"? Thanks.

Many exercises that work the qauds also put pressure on the knee. I would try Leg extensions, leg press, lunges, rear foot elevated split squats, sumo dead lift, and goblet squats and see if any of those don't aggravate your knee. Most hamstring, glute, and calve exercises should be fine on the knee.

april32many

Like a Boss!!! Amazing transformation!!!

ZamarTim

Very inspiring, friend. I just quoted you on my Facebook page. The quote about the journey being neverending. Words I needed to hear today and much appreciated.

MallieRose91

Wow! You look amazing! Very inspirational!

nlmillervt

I'm hugely impressed with your transformation - thanks for sharing it!

likewhoa712

Did you follow IIFYM at all? How do you feel about that?

Chief_Rocka

How many inches of penis did you gain?

vismal

likewhoa712 wrote: »

Did you follow IIFYM at all? How do you feel about that?

I did/continue to practice IIFYM. I have been doing that for around 3 years now. It works because it's based sound principles. Now by IIFYM I mean I track macros and hit goals daily without restricting types of foods, I do not mean I go to the IIFYM website and use their calculator. I don't. That website did not create IIFYM and is relatively new compared to IIFYM itself. The owner simply bought the domain name. IIFYM has been around for decades, it was simply called flexible dieting prior to the adoption of the anagram.

Chief_Rocka wrote: »

How many inches of penis did you gain?

I don't measure my penis.

LeonCX

Dear Vismal
Is this correct? Please help. (you said ask anything)

JazzFischer1989

How tall are you? I'm sure you've been asked this question already, but this thread has a lot of pages.