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

vismal

AceCorona wrote: »

On average, how many pounds a week did you lose?

In the beginning two to three, towards the end, one to two.

iwillsucceed0444

Where can I meet good looking, fit guys like you?! That's my question haha.

omargho88

That's amazing and motivational work you did bro.

I am new to calories counting. I started about 12 days ago with 4 to 5 times cardio a week 20 mins treadmill, 20 mins elliptical, and 20 mins stationary bike. I was 113.8 kg when i started and I am 181 cm. I so far lost 3.6 kg and i am not sure if it all are fat or that i have lost some muscles too. My food target is 20% fat, 40% protein and 40% carbs. Is that a good plan?

My important question is do you advice me to start weight lifting now or after i lose some fats?

vismal

iwillsucceed0444 wrote: »

Where can I meet good looking, fit guys like you?! That's my question haha.

Ohio of course! lol

omargho88 wrote: »

That's amazing and motivational work you did bro.

I am new to calories counting. I started about 12 days ago with 4 to 5 times cardio a week 20 mins treadmill, 20 mins elliptical, and 20 mins stationary bike. I was 113.8 kg when i started and I am 181 cm. I so far lost 3.6 kg and i am not sure if it all are fat or that i have lost some muscles too. My food target is 20% fat, 40% protein and 40% carbs. Is that a good plan?

My important question is do you advice me to start weight lifting now or after i lose some fats?

Start weight lifting immediately. It will help ensure that lean mass is retained while you are losing fat. As far as macro ratios, I don't use them. They aren't as good as basing macros off your weight. This is the method I use: http://youtu.be/7cc18wLJW3k

NS3210

Hi I'm around 285 and 6'0", my BMI is 38.6. My current goal is to get down to 220 lbs so my BMI will then become just "overweight" but my ultimate goal is to atleast get around the 180-199 range. Currently I'm I'm limited to 2400 calories a day, and I try to do moderate walking 5 days a week just starting off about 35 minutes a day, but increase 5 minutes every week. Weekends I rest and cheat alittle but I don't overdo it and I stay away from McDonalds' at all costs! I'm planning to start weight lifting in a about 2 weeks. Trying to lose atleast 1-2 pounds a week, I avoid processed foods and sodas. I try not to overdo it by following strict diets because I get burned out fast with it and I lose all motivation which has happened several times in the past.

I'm here to ask if you have any suggestions for me so I can make any changes without going through yet another burn out phase. Also I take a multivitamin every morning before exercising.

nmcrosier

Congrats on your amazing transformation. Thank you also for taking the time to post a reply to as many questions as you have. I have learned a great deal from this thread. One of which is - it's time to increase my weights/step up my routine with adding more lifting. In the past week since I saw this thread and changed up to your 5x5 suggestion, I've already lost 2 pounds. With any luck the next 15 will come pouring off.

christina9661

Amazing!!! V--how did you learn to believe in yourself?

mmut22

30-something year old male who has been motivated to do things like buy a kitchen scale, make protein fluff and stay motivated by tracking your progress and the original "So you want a flat stomach" post from @usmcmp‌. Thank you both.

I was hoping you'd post your current lifting program or link back to it in this (went back 10 pages, might have missed it) thread.

I think you mentioned 4x day, upper/lower body split?

Thanks and continued successes you to.

vismal

NS3210 wrote: »

Hi I'm around 285 and 6'0", my BMI is 38.6. My current goal is to get down to 220 lbs so my BMI will then become just "overweight" but my ultimate goal is to atleast get around the 180-199 range. Currently I'm I'm limited to 2400 calories a day, and I try to do moderate walking 5 days a week just starting off about 35 minutes a day, but increase 5 minutes every week. Weekends I rest and cheat alittle but I don't overdo it and I stay away from McDonalds' at all costs! I'm planning to start weight lifting in a about 2 weeks. Trying to lose atleast 1-2 pounds a week, I avoid processed foods and sodas. I try not to overdo it by following strict diets because I get burned out fast with it and I lose all motivation which has happened several times in the past.

I'm here to ask if you have any suggestions for me so I can make any changes without going through yet another burn out phase. Also I take a multivitamin every morning before exercising.

I'd stop trying to avoid things. While processed foods rack up your calories quickly, its okay to have them in moderation. I find that many people try very hard to avoid them at all costs and end up binging on them. I much prefer to work them into my daily calories. I also would do away with the cheat day. If you don't ban foods through the week, they are not needed. 1 or 2 cheat days a week can ruin the entire weeks worth of weight loss if they are bad enough. I save true cheat days for special occasions only.

nladopoulos wrote: »

Congrats on your amazing transformation. Thank you also for taking the time to post a reply to as many questions as you have. I have learned a great deal from this thread. One of which is - it's time to increase my weights/step up my routine with adding more lifting. In the past week since I saw this thread and changed up to your 5x5 suggestion, I've already lost 2 pounds. With any luck the next 15 will come pouring off.

Heavy weights is truely the way to go! Congrats on your success so far and keep up that hard work.

christina9661 wrote: »

Amazing!!! V--how did you learn to believe in yourself?

I never doubted myself. It wasn't a question of believing. It was more a matter of actually putting in the work. Diet and weight loss isn't all that hard on paper. Believing it will work isn't hard either because so many have done it before. The hard part is staying consistent with the methods needed to lose weight. It's very easy to believe eating less and moving more will cause weight loss. It's much harder to actually do it day in and day out for months and years.

mmut22 wrote: »

30-something year old male who has been motivated to do things like buy a kitchen scale, make protein fluff and stay motivated by tracking your progress and the original "So you want a flat stomach" post from @usmcmp‌. Thank you both.

I was hoping you'd post your current lifting program or link back to it in this (went back 10 pages, might have missed it) thread.

I think you mentioned 4x day, upper/lower body split?

Thanks and continued successes you to.

Lately I've been doing a powerlifting routine. It's Jonnie Candito's 6 week strength program. It's free on his website. Prior to that I was doing Lyle McDonald's generic bulking routine, also free. Both routines are upper/lower splits.

AceCorona

I recently discovered that if I heat up a sweet potato in a microwave oven at night and eat it, somehow it kills the cravings for something sweet that can kill my diet. Do you have any advice like this for a healthy food that can be substituted for an unhealthy food?

vismal

AceCorona wrote: »

I recently discovered that if I heat up a sweet potato in a microwave oven at night and eat it, somehow it kills the cravings for something sweet that can kill my diet. Do you have any advice like this for a healthy food that can be substituted for an unhealthy food?

I don't really view foods as healthy or unhealthy. I prefer to look at foods for their macro and micronutrient content. I do understand what you are getting at though. There are a lot of substitutions I make to save on calories. 1 thing I do is in recipes I replace some if not all of the butter called for with no added sugar apple sauce. Rather then using sour cream I use Greek Yogurt. Salsa or sriracha instead of ketchup. Rice cakes over chips. There are a million of these substitutions!

craigmc1960

Hey Nick, How important do you think the old "8 glasses of water a day" is? Did you have a regime for water?

vismal

craigmc1960 wrote: »

Hey Nick, How important do you think the old "8 glasses of water a day" is? Did you have a regime for water?

Hydration can be very important. Being dehydrated can lead you to think you are hungry when you are actually thirsty. I don't specifically track my water intake but it's probably around a gallon a day, maybe a little less. It's extremely hard to drink unsafe amounts of water so I'd error on the side of too much vs. too little. Remember, things like tea, carbonated water, etc all count towards your fluid intake. That being said, 75% or more of my daily intake is just plain h20.

HopeClavon123

Wow! !!! You look AMAZING! Thanks for sharing your inspirational story. How has your journey been for you mentally?

FallToRise

Absolutely amazing. You look awesome. No questions because I've been reading through what everyone else has been asking.

abhisheksengupta

Hey Vismal,

I noticed your skinny and fit images are both at 195 lbs. So did you cycle between bulking and cutting to get there?
If yes, how long do your cycles last?

I am curios to know what would happen if you lift at your maintenance. (For a beginner).

A video by Scooby's says you can gain muscle and shape simultaneously with losing fat at marginal cuts (say 5%) with heavy lifting and good diet. Your thoughts?

P.S. My aim is to lose belly fat, I'm 165 pounds and have a skinny fat look because of the abdomen. 3 weeks into SL and my chest, arms and thighs are doing great.

AquabearGO

Bump for future use

aladdinaalvarado391

You are awesome!!

vismal

HopeClavon123 wrote: »

Wow! !!! You look AMAZING! Thanks for sharing your inspirational story. How has your journey been for you mentally?

It's quite taxing at times but always worth it. At this point all the counting calories/weighing foods is second nature but there were times when it wasn't. Fortunately my results kept coming which kept me motivated. Making short term, obtainable, goals made that easier. When your goals are long term you sometimes feel like the end is never in sight. It's okay to have a few long term goals (I still do) but you should always have some 3-6 month goals so that you have something more tangible to focus on.

MrM27 wrote: »

I have a question..........sup bro?

Same stuff different day. Fighting the good fight just like you. One day fitness will be dominated by scientific facts. Until then, people like us will be around to try and keep things honest!