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

sympha01

OK its a pretty basic question, how do you lift and still maintain weight loss?

What I mean by that is, how do you eat enough to gain muscle while losing weight? or do you not gain muscle, rather just keep the muscle you have lean?

^^^This question! A lot of the advice I see out there about lifting doesn't sound like it applies very well to those of us who are still obese. I keep hearing / seeing people say that you can't build muscle and strength at a deficit, AND I also see people say that we obese folks shouldn't wait until we lose weight to start lifting. Those of us with a LOT to lose often may feel skeptical of the advice I've seen to lift with no greater a deficit than 200-500 calories (which sounds like advice for people with maybe 20 lbs of fat to lose).

OP, you obviously have this sorted and I'd like to know your perspective. Did you have a small deficit and lose fat slowly? Did your strength progress at a decent pace or did you feel held back by a bigger calorie deficit while you were losing fat?

outofworkpediatrician

awesome transformation Vismal! and great job with all the answers, really appreciate you taking your time to do that. almost all questions i had for someone who had been through such a transformation seems to have been answered by you already. i have one question left, even though you kind of answered it before. here in MFP i read again and again that one can not gain muscle while eating at a deficit, even if you lift weights etc. is that your experience too? you said you started lifting once you were 240ish, but in the picture (2nd) you are skinny with not much muscle. so did you eat at a deficit until you lost weight, and then built muscle when you started eating more? or can muscle building and fat loss occur at the same time, while eating at a deficit?

kilgore67

AWESOME post, OP. Thanks for taking the time to answer everyone's questions. Glad to hear that you now have a SO that supports your health goals. Wish you much happiness!

Michelle in Ohio

cookmtn

Bumpity for me and Congratulations for you!

Renneke

Anyway - I have ~100 more lbs to lose. I'm super scared of loose skin, and I saw you said heavy lifting helps?
The thing is, I unfortunately don't have enough money for gym membership, and I only have 2lb dumbbells at home. :P Are there other exercises that I could do at home, maybe work out using my own body weight?

I'm not the OP, but I love this body weight exercise site: http://www.startbodyweight.com
It has progressions for the body weight exercises, so you have a good starting point if you can't do a push-up or a pull-up, or a . . .

Queen_JessieA

Moisturize and exfoliate. It helps a little. The 2 biggest things that help with lose skin are lifting to preserve/gain lean mass, and time. My skin is almost completely recovered at this point. It is still not tight and probably never will be but the hang is virtually invisible unless I am in a push up position. So as long as I don't do push ups at the beach I'm good...lol

But you are correct, fit with loose skin looks and feels better then fat. It's also worlds healthier. With cloths on you can't notice at all!

I like this mind set. I always wonder if it will be worth it. Will I be happier when i lose the weight but still have the saggy skin.

Renneke

Congratulations. That is an awesome transformation!

x311Tifa

You look absolutely fabulous!!! Congrats!!!

Vini9

Amazing, congrats op on a life changing experience. No questions but I will be coming back to read others thoughts and your replies.

bigbarnold

Congratulations, that's an amazing transformation. What do you think are the top 5 things that led to your success?

1. Myfitnesspal of course. It wasn't until I began tracking my intake that my success really started to take off
2. Understanding that "eating clean" is meaningless and that in order to have true life long success I had to eat foods I enjoyed (ice cream, cookies, etc) on a regular basis but in moderation
3. Lifting heavy weights
4. Not listening when people say "you lost enough already" or "you are getting too skinny"
5. Learning as much about the science behind nutrition and dieting as possible. There is more pseudoscience and myths in this field then any other on earth! So much BS to cut through to find the truth.

I'm 6'5 and was 395lbs and now 310lbs. I am having a hard time with all of the BS that I'm cutting through! The more questions I ask the more completly different opinions I get. Any ideas on articles, websites, etc.. that would help "find the truth"?

AllOutof_Bubblegum

Sexaaaay! Great job! Those abs, mrrrowr!

PikaKnight

Congratulations, that's an amazing transformation. What do you think are the top 5 things that led to your success?

1. Myfitnesspal of course. It wasn't until I began tracking my intake that my success really started to take off
2. Understanding that "eating clean" is meaningless and that in order to have true life long success I had to eat foods I enjoyed (ice cream, cookies, etc) on a regular basis but in moderation
3. Lifting heavy weights
4. Not listening when people say "you lost enough already" or "you are getting too skinny"
5. Learning as much about the science behind nutrition and dieting as possible. There is more pseudoscience and myths in this field then any other on earth! So much BS to cut through to find the truth.

I'm 6'5 and was 395lbs and now 310lbs. I am having a hard time with all of the BS that I'm cutting through! The more questions I ask the more completly different opinions I get. Any ideas on articles, websites, etc.. that would help "find the truth"?

What do you mean by truth??? :huh:

bigbarnold

Congratulations, that's an amazing transformation. What do you think are the top 5 things that led to your success?

1. Myfitnesspal of course. It wasn't until I began tracking my intake that my success really started to take off
2. Understanding that "eating clean" is meaningless and that in order to have true life long success I had to eat foods I enjoyed (ice cream, cookies, etc) on a regular basis but in moderation
3. Lifting heavy weights
4. Not listening when people say "you lost enough already" or "you are getting too skinny"
5. Learning as much about the science behind nutrition and dieting as possible. There is more pseudoscience and myths in this field then any other on earth! So much BS to cut through to find the truth.

I'm 6'5 and was 395lbs and now 310lbs. I am having a hard time with all of the BS that I'm cutting through! The more questions I ask the more completly different opinions I get. Any ideas on articles, websites, etc.. that would help "find the truth"?

What do you mean by truth??? :huh:

I quoted "find the truth" from number 5 in the OP's post. Read his post (#5) and you will understand my comment.

Otterluv

OK its a pretty basic question, how do you lift and still maintain weight loss?

What I mean by that is, how do you eat enough to gain muscle while losing weight? or do you not gain muscle, rather just keep the muscle you have lean?

^^^This question! A lot of the advice I see out there about lifting doesn't sound like it applies very well to those of us who are still obese. I keep hearing / seeing people say that you can't build muscle and strength at a deficit, AND I also see people say that we obese folks shouldn't wait until we lose weight to start lifting. Those of us with a LOT to lose often may feel skeptical of the advice I've seen to lift with no greater a deficit than 200-500 calories (which sounds like advice for people with maybe 20 lbs of fat to lose).

OP, you obviously have this sorted and I'd like to know your perspective. Did you have a small deficit and lose fat slowly? Did your strength progress at a decent pace or did you feel held back by a bigger calorie deficit while you were losing fat?

http://www.bodyrecomposition.com/fat-loss/adding-muscle-while-losing-fat-qa.html

Search for the term "overfat" ^^^

Being obese and a new lifter means that you are one of the special snowflakes that CAN build muscle while on a deficit. Start now, don't squander that. Even if lifting now would just keep your LBM as you lose, it's still a win.

Trust me, when I started lifting and was significantly heavier than I am now, I made gains while on a deficit. Now, not so much :grumble: BUT, I can still lift while on a deficit with the goal of keeping the gains I made while I lose. As I lose more, I'll have to shrink my deficit further, but that's a good idea to do anyway.

I have NEVER heard anyone say "I wish I waited to start lifting until after I lost all the weight". But I have heard plenty of people wish that they started sooner.

---

OP: you've done incredibly well, and thank you so much for taking the time to answer questions.

bellesouth18

Congratulations on your amazing transformation! You look great.

trojan_bb

Awesome! Congrats.

FoxyLifter

Congratulations, that's an amazing transformation. What do you think are the top 5 things that led to your success?

1. Myfitnesspal of course. It wasn't until I began tracking my intake that my success really started to take off
2. Understanding that "eating clean" is meaningless and that in order to have true life long success I had to eat foods I enjoyed (ice cream, cookies, etc) on a regular basis but in moderation
3. Lifting heavy weights
4. Not listening when people say "you lost enough already" or "you are getting too skinny"
5. Learning as much about the science behind nutrition and dieting as possible. There is more pseudoscience and myths in this field then any other on earth! So much BS to cut through to find the truth.

Love this response!

OP, congrats!! Your hard work has paid off very well.

im2cute4u5150

congrats...ive been at this for two weeks eating correctly excersizing 5 - 6 days a wk at the gym for 2.5 hours a day and my weight will not budge i take muti vitamin omega 3 and vit d drink at least 8 glasses of water a day but nothing...... any ideas how to get it moving?

MizMimi111

What a transformation! Awesome work & determination!

Reading all the questions & answers has been very informative.

Thanks!

sympha01

^^^This question! A lot of the advice I see out there about lifting doesn't sound like it applies very well to those of us who are still obese. I keep hearing / seeing people say that you can't build muscle and strength at a deficit, AND I also see people say that we obese folks shouldn't wait until we lose weight to start lifting. Those of us with a LOT to lose often may feel skeptical of the advice I've seen to lift with no greater a deficit than 200-500 calories (which sounds like advice for people with maybe 20 lbs of fat to lose).

OP, you obviously have this sorted and I'd like to know your perspective. Did you have a small deficit and lose fat slowly? Did your strength progress at a decent pace or did you feel held back by a bigger calorie deficit while you were losing fat?

Being obese and a new lifter means that you are one of the special snowflakes that CAN build muscle while on a deficit. Start now, don't squander that. Even if lifting now would just keep your LBM as you lose, it's still a win.

Trust me, when I started lifting and was significantly heavier than I am now, I made gains while on a deficit. Now, not so much :grumble: BUT, I can still lift while on a deficit with the goal of keeping the gains I made while I lose. As I lose more, I'll have to shrink my deficit further, but that's a good idea to do anyway.

I have NEVER heard anyone say "I wish I waited to start lifting until after I lost all the weight". But I have heard plenty of people wish that they started sooner.

Thanks, I get that. My question is LESS "should I lift?" (of course we should lift!) but "for obese folks, is a relatively larger deficit a significant obstacle to gaining strength? (based on OP's experience)"

Thanks,
--A Very Special Snowflake

MomiTia

Congrats....amazing job...bump for later

roverrowe

Hi Vismal

Congratulations on an amazing transformation and thanks for this post and responses ... the best MFP thread I've seen!

My question:

I started putting on weight and fat when I was about 10 years old and stayed overweight (BMI 30ish) and unfit for the next 30+ years until I started using MFP 16 months ago. I've now shed about 45lbs and am 1lb from my (three times revised) goal weight of 168lbs. My problem is that I've hardly done any lifting as I've really been bitten by the running bug, so I'm now in the skinny/fat mode and I don't have any natural musculature like you didn't your middle photo (I'm not into bulk, so I'd have been very happy if I'd achieved your picture 2 after I'd lost my excess weight). My manboobs still stare back at me and taunt me in the mirror! Body fat is now somewhere around 22% down from 30%. So my question is do you really think I can get ever get firm pecs and abs without gym and weights taking over completely from the running that I love. Feeling disheartened now I've discovered I have no significant muscle or decent physique underneath the fat?

FR sent, btw. Thanks again.

fknlardarse

I think it would be to lose the last 5-10lbs then work towards gaining muscle. I would still like to continue on the same routine as I like weight training combined with cardio, I just know that I do have a few more pounds to shed. I am also recently learning more about macros and right now mine are set to 50% carbs, 30% protein and 20% fat, Im not sure if that is reasonable for a weight lost goal, I believe that with my daily calorie intake is a .8 lb per week loss, which is fine for me, I'm not in a rush, im just unsure if I am going in the right direction. It seems that it is much harder now that I am closer to my goal. I am 34yrs, 5ft5 and currently flucuate between 132-134lbs. I had a goal in mind of 125-127lbs.

Thank you so much for taking the time to respond, really appreciate the help!

^^^^this! This is my situation in a nutshell thank you! I'm 42 female, weigh 148lbs, want to be 130lbs, I'm 5ft 6 and doing my second day of stronglifts today. I've set my calories at 1600 according to scooby with 15% deficit which would give me .8lb per week loss. Is this going to give me weight loss but build a bit of strength while I am losing?

fknlardarse

Brilliant thread by the way! Thank you, and you are inspiring!!!

Love2lift72

Wow! Great job. And it's super that you are offering to answer questions. Thanks so much.

darrensurrey

Holy cow!

veredit

[/quote]I accepted the fact that the journey is never ending. I can always be better. When there is no end point, there's no rush to get there!
[/quote]

The greatest answer, this is what I've learned since on MFP. I am not that young (49), was big all my life since a toddler, but now my bmi is 19.5 and bf is 19.7, I have beautiful (for me) muscles and am happy and energetic. I am struggling though to maintain what I achieved, and I wonder how important the macros are, especially the protein intake, which I found to be more difficult.

MamaFunky

Great job OP!!! You look awesome!!

Unknown

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handyandy9x

awesome job, will bump for more great answers.