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

azaleeadinca

Thanks for your amazing story. Congrats. Indeed, it's inspiring!!!

I am a 5ft8 female amd at 33yo started my journey obese, at 222lbs, and by 35, today, I am at 157.lbs by doing mostly strength HIIT workouts 5 times a week. I also started running. I started with a trainer from day one, so I did endurance and strength from day one, although back then I didn't understand the importance of weights as I do now.

I agree with others about a bit if extra skin. For women there's also a dramatic change in bra size lol, sadly, but there's no other way.

Another good advice for avoiding that extra loose skin is to NOT lose too much too quickly, so that thd body has time to adapt and the skin time to regain its elasticity.
A good idea is to do a 10% calorie deficit in diet, taking into conditions calories used in training too.

Anyway, I had reached a plateau and I understood that diet really needs to be closely monitored for further progress. You are right, it's a bit obsessive and takes time, but it's all an investment in heath, so it's worth it!!
I'm also vegan and eat organic, mostly home made.

It's a way of life indeed and others are inspired even without words.... It's been a life changing experience.

I do have a question... how do you see yourself maintaining your interest alive for this long term? Keep your training interesting and challenging? Also, do you think eventually it's possible to stop monitoring diet closely (measuring, logging, counting), when the good habit has become second nature??? It's been almost two years for me, and I'm trying to picture myself in 20 years from now...

Thanks amd good luck!
Thanks for sharing, inspiring and helping!

Palmeralex

Hi, forgive me if you've answered this already; I thought I had a good handle on the eating-less/losing weight thing but apparently not.
I'm 5ft7 male, stocky, 40 years old. Weight 175 lbs. Aim is to get to 160lbs which is the upper end of the UK BMI (so whatever people's views of BMI are it seemed like a reasonable goal, and I have plenty of visible body fat).
So I lost a good amount of weight quickly - one morning my weight was down to 170lbs (digital scale) and I was delighted. But weighed again at the end of the day and I was 177!!! So obviously water weight... But my weight then stuck resolutely between 174 lbs and 177 lbs for a month. So I dropped to 1400 calories from previous 1650. Still no change 3 weeks later, I'm hovering around 175lbs.
Exercise-wise I do a 10 mile run once a week, and a 5 mile run once a week. Try and strong lifts 5x5 twice a week, but usually once.
Obviously my overarching goal is to have low body fat and lean frame but I really wanted to hit this psychological goal of 160lbs which MFP tells me every day I will hit within 5 weeks, but I never do!!!
Sorry for the essay, hopefully others can r

tomnev1

Hey Vismal,
I've been reading your advice. Very logical and very detailed, but most importantly it makes me feel like it is achievable. Just wanted to say thanks.
Tom

Palmeralex

I meant to say "hopefully others can relate, and thanks".

vismal

azaleeadinca wrote: »

Thanks for your amazing story. Congrats. Indeed, it's inspiring!!!

I am a 5ft8 female amd at 33yo started my journey obese, at 222lbs, and by 35, today, I am at 157.lbs by doing mostly strength HIIT workouts 5 times a week. I also started running. I started with a trainer from day one, so I did endurance and strength from day one, although back then I didn't understand the importance of weights as I do now.

I agree with others about a bit if extra skin. For women there's also a dramatic change in bra size lol, sadly, but there's no other way.

Another good advice for avoiding that extra loose skin is to NOT lose too much too quickly, so that thd body has time to adapt and the skin time to regain its elasticity.
A good idea is to do a 10% calorie deficit in diet, taking into conditions calories used in training too.

Anyway, I had reached a plateau and I understood that diet really needs to be closely monitored for further progress. You are right, it's a bit obsessive and takes time, but it's all an investment in heath, so it's worth it!!
I'm also vegan and eat organic, mostly home made.

It's a way of life indeed and others are inspired even without words.... It's been a life changing experience.

I do have a question... how do you see yourself maintaining your interest alive for this long term? Keep your training interesting and challenging? Also, do you think eventually it's possible to stop monitoring diet closely (measuring, logging, counting), when the good habit has become second nature??? It's been almost two years for me, and I'm trying to picture myself in 20 years from now...

Thanks amd good luck!
Thanks for sharing, inspiring and helping!

Keeping motivated in the long run comes from continually setting new goals. If my goal was simply to lose 100 lbs and that was it, I'd have done it a long time ago and had nothing more to work towards. Who knows where I'd be if I adopted that attitude. Once I lost the majority of my fat, I changed my goal to get even leaner. Once I did that I decided I wanted to gain more muscle. I don't ever plan on not having a goal. For that reason, I'll always be motivated. As to stopping with logging, I don't know if/when that will happen. Right now my goals are all pretty ambitious and without extremely strict tracking of calories, it will be difficult to achieve them. Maybe in the future, if my goals require less attention to nutrition, I will be able to eat without tracking. I am fairly confident I could maintain my weight loss without tracking, but I do not think I'd be able to get as lean as I'd like, and gain as little fat during bulking sessions without tracking.

Palmeralex wrote: »

Hi, forgive me if you've answered this already; I thought I had a good handle on the eating-less/losing weight thing but apparently not.
I'm 5ft7 male, stocky, 40 years old. Weight 175 lbs. Aim is to get to 160lbs which is the upper end of the UK BMI (so whatever people's views of BMI are it seemed like a reasonable goal, and I have plenty of visible body fat).
So I lost a good amount of weight quickly - one morning my weight was down to 170lbs (digital scale) and I was delighted. But weighed again at the end of the day and I was 177!!! So obviously water weight... But my weight then stuck resolutely between 174 lbs and 177 lbs for a month. So I dropped to 1400 calories from previous 1650. Still no change 3 weeks later, I'm hovering around 175lbs.
Exercise-wise I do a 10 mile run once a week, and a 5 mile run once a week. Try and strong lifts 5x5 twice a week, but usually once.
Obviously my overarching goal is to have low body fat and lean frame but I really wanted to hit this psychological goal of 160lbs which MFP tells me every day I will hit within 5 weeks, but I never do!!!
Sorry for the essay, hopefully others can r

You are eating more than you think you are. At your height and weight, you should be losing just fine at 1400 calories, or 1650. You should probably be able to lose eating as many as 1800 calories. You need to reexamine how diligent you are with tracking. Give this thread a read: http://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/1296011/calorie-counting-101/p1

mfm143

^^ bump - I recently got a food scale and it has helped immensely - I find I am getting better at portioning food accurately even without it- (although I use it at every meal) and since I do a lot of baking - it's been brilliant for that too- (I made my own protein bars the other day! ) It's definitely a good investment if you re serious about weight loss/gain goals

SenditToSarah

How does it feel to still be answering questions two years later? Have you considered a career path in the fitness industry? More to the point of the post: on your rare "free" days, do you reign it in at this point on your fitness journey by only having one or two things you'd like, or have whatever you'd like all day long? Do you still track your calories that day, or do you let it go?

vismal

SenditToSarah wrote: »

How does it feel to still be answering questions two years later? Have you considered a career path in the fitness industry? More to the point of the post: on your rare "free" days, do you reign it in at this point on your fitness journey by only having one or two things you'd like, or have whatever you'd like all day long? Do you still track your calories that day, or do you let it go?

It doesn't seem like I've been answering these for that long. I'll keep doing it as long as people keep asking questions. I see it as a way of paying back all the people that answered all my questions or pointed me to towards all the information that helped me along the way. I am a registered nurse so I am already working in health care. To work in fitness directly wouldn't make much sense as becoming a registered dietitian or exercise physiologist would require an additional bachelor's degree and would ultimately be a pay cut. I am actually working towards becoming a nurse practitioner with a focus on primary care. In a sense that will allow me to be more involved in things like weight loss and living a healthy lifestyle as those are extremely important parts of preventative care.

As to free days. They are just that, free. I do not count, I do not track, I do not care! They are so few and far between that they will not effect progress so when I have them, I simply enjoy myself.

Mark_on_a_Mission

Hi Nick, as others have said, your story is truly inspirational! I really enjoy your no-nonsense approach, and have really enjoyed reading your posts and watched your Youtube channel - and putting it all into practice!

I hope I'm not duplicating any questions (I dont think I am) but I wanted your advice..... I've lost over 50lb by following a 900 cal deficit over 7 months (using MFP and Fitbit) , and been attending the gym regularly using weights over the last 3 months. Initially I was gradually increasing my weights, but for a while now have been at a stage where I simply cannot increase my weights any more.

Am I right in thinking that this is likely to remain the case until I start increasing my calories?

I still have some belly fat I want to lose, which as you say seems to be the most stubborn part, so am planning to continue with my calorie deficit until that is gone - so my second question is, should I continue with the deficit to lose the last bits of fat - or increase calories, work on muscle, and do another cut at some point in the future in future to get rid of the unwanted fat?

I know some of this may be personal choice, but I would be really grateful to get your thoughts.

Thanks again, keep up the fantastic work Mark

BuccaneersFan

Out of curiosity, what was your body fat percentage in the middle picture and right picture from your very first post in this thread?

amsdragonfly

You say that the 2 mo. mark is around when people get discouraged, and I can attest to that. I have tried to start exercising/eating better twice in the last two years and both times stopped around 2-3 months in because of some random reason (got a cold and never got back to running, forgot to count foods and just gave up, etc.). I have started again and am 10 days strong, but I am curious, what did you do to keep motivated when it came around two months?

cquang

Hey great story bro. I have been working long hours (about 60 hpw excluding travel time) for the past 18 months and my weight has steadily creeped up. I want to bring it back to what it was in my late 20's (79 kg = 174 pounds) by 12 December. Great to see your determination!

vismal

Mark_on_a_Mission wrote: »

Hi Nick, as others have said, your story is truly inspirational! I really enjoy your no-nonsense approach, and have really enjoyed reading your posts and watched your Youtube channel - and putting it all into practice!

I hope I'm not duplicating any questions (I dont think I am) but I wanted your advice..... I've lost over 50lb by following a 900 cal deficit over 7 months (using MFP and Fitbit) , and been attending the gym regularly using weights over the last 3 months. Initially I was gradually increasing my weights, but for a while now have been at a stage where I simply cannot increase my weights any more.

Am I right in thinking that this is likely to remain the case until I start increasing my calories?

I still have some belly fat I want to lose, which as you say seems to be the most stubborn part, so am planning to continue with my calorie deficit until that is gone - so my second question is, should I continue with the deficit to lose the last bits of fat - or increase calories, work on muscle, and do another cut at some point in the future in future to get rid of the unwanted fat?

I know some of this may be personal choice, but I would be really grateful to get your thoughts.

Thanks again, keep up the fantastic work Mark

You are correct in thinking that you will no longer be able to make significant strength gains without increasing calories. When you are new to lifting, much of the strength that is gained is neurological adaptation to lifting weights. After the beginning phase comes to an end, those types of strength gains drop off significantly. You now actually need to be gaining muscle mass in order to make significant strength gains, and that will only come from being in a calorie surplus. Most people can not get extremely lean during their first cutting phase. I couldn't. You reach a point where a lean bulk is actually the better course of action even though you still have some fat present. It sounds like this might be where you at. This is what happened to me between my 2nd and third pictures from the original post.

BuccaneersFan wrote: »

Out of curiosity, what was your body fat percentage in the middle picture and right picture from your very first post in this thread?

Because there is no affordable and reliable method of measuring body fat, I've never checked mine. Calipers and electronic devices are terrible where accuracy is concerned, and more accurate methods like dexascan cost hundreds of dollars. That being said, knowing the number isn't really helpful either. I can look in the mirror and determine if I am lean enough or not. If I had to hazard a guess, and it's just that, a total guess, I'd say 14 in the middle picture and 12 in the right most picture, give or take 2%...

amsdragonfly wrote: »

You say that the 2 mo. mark is around when people get discouraged, and I can attest to that. I have tried to start exercising/eating better twice in the last two years and both times stopped around 2-3 months in because of some random reason (got a cold and never got back to running, forgot to count foods and just gave up, etc.). I have started again and am 10 days strong, but I am curious, what did you do to keep motivated when it came around two months?

I stopped letting single mistakes snowball into all out failure. It's very easy to let one slip up lead to a total cheat day lead to a week of not tracking lead to giving up. Just like when trying to modify any behavior, when you fall off the horse, you must get back on IMMEDIATELY. One day isn't a big deal, it's 0.0027% of a year. It's only significant if you let that day become a week become a month and so on.

Palmeralex

One day isn't a big deal, it's 0.0027% of a year.

ahem

Palmeralex

mfm143 wrote: »

^^ bump - I recently got a food scale and it has helped immensely - I find I am getting better at portioning food accurately even without it- (although I use it at every meal) and since I do a lot of baking - it's been brilliant for that too- (I made my own protein bars the other day! ) It's definitely a good investment if you re serious about weight loss/gain goals

Thanks I do have a little set of digital scales, and it has been very useful, for example to see how desperately sad a 25gram portion of muesli is. I don't use it all the time because I won't let my dieting affect family life (we eat healthily anyway, its just me that's the greedy one), but my wife wouldn't be amused by my tipping her food onto scales. Granola is almost unbelievably calorific isn't it? Let me have your recipe for protein bars.

mfm143

I hear that ^^ -- I too use it mainly for the good stuff- as in how many chocolate chips REALLY make up 125grams? Weighing organic spinach is pointless as really you can never have too much spinach - Lol - my protein bars/ brownies are as follows:

4 tbsp cocoa powder ( try to use best quality)
1 cup almond flour
1 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
2 scoops Whey protein powder ( depending on which brand you use, macros may change)
1/2 cup 0% fat Greek yogurt
1 tbsp espresso powder
1/2 cup chopped pecan halves
1/4 cup maple syrup
2 tbsp brown sugar
2 eggs

** if batter is too dry add a lil more yogurt or applesauce

Combine dry and then add wet ingredients - place in a 9x9 baking tin. Bake @ 350 for 25-30 min until toothpick comes out clean. Yields 12

Macros per 1 bar/brownie :

154 total cal

Fat 9.5g
Carbs 10.5g
Protein 9.7

Palmeralex

Thanks that looks good! I wonder if you could decrease the calories by using some kind of sweetener? Maybe this should be on the recipe forum.

msharrington315

Incredible story! It has inspired me to try as well!

mfm143

By all means tweek it to your liking - personally, I don't like using artificial sweeteners and don't really buy stevia , I use what I have on hand and like you - what my family eats - so I usually buy organic raw honey and local maple syrup and use that as sweetener or organic unsweetened applesauce - works well as a fat substitute while keeping sugars low.

** Sorry to take up space on your thread Nick

caroldavison332

Super, man! I’m a 54 year old, 63” disabled female veteran whose blood sugar was at 455! I want to lose fat to go from 228 to 150. (I am very muscly under my fat.) I work 59 hours weekly, and NEED to exercise at home so I have time to check my blood sugar, eat right, and rest. I’ve been eating for life and tracking my diet for two weeks and consistently at 1600 daily. My exercise is high intensity interval exercise and calisthenics to accommodate my foot and shoulder tendinitis. I lost 5 pounds so far. Perhaps a can do PX90 when I am stronger and less fat. Any recommendations? Please speak “English”. I don’t know what cuts and 5x5, and other terms mean. If you tell me to lift, please tell me how much to lift, and how many times, etc.

vismal

Palmeralex wrote: »

One day isn't a big deal, it's 0.0027% of a year.

ahem

0.27%, forgot to drop move the decimal when converting to a percent. Point remains the same, its an insignificant amount of time.

msharrington315 wrote: »

Incredible story! It has inspired me to try as well!

Looks like you've already made some massive progress!!!

caroldavison332 wrote: »

Super, man! I’m a 54 year old, 63” disabled female veteran whose blood sugar was at 455! I want to lose fat to go from 228 to 150. (I am very muscly under my fat.) I work 59 hours weekly, and NEED to exercise at home so I have time to check my blood sugar, eat right, and rest. I’ve been eating for life and tracking my diet for two weeks and consistently at 1600 daily. My exercise is high intensity interval exercise and calisthenics to accommodate my foot and shoulder tendinitis. I lost 5 pounds so far. Perhaps a can do PX90 when I am stronger and less fat. Any recommendations? Please speak “English”. I don’t know what cuts and 5x5, and other terms mean. If you tell me to lift, please tell me how much to lift, and how many times, etc.

My recommendations would always be lifting in a gym, with barbells, doing a 5x5 beginners routine (google will fill you in if you don't know all of the terms). Because you can't access a gym, and because it seems like you have chronic injuries, something like p90x is probably okay to try. You may have to modify it based on those injuries but that's something you'll have to decide as you go.

caroldavison332

Thanks you for your advice. I goggled 5x5 and will begin lifting asap!

ShapingTheLaw

mfm143 wrote: »

I hear that ^^ -- I too use it mainly for the good stuff- as in how many chocolate chips REALLY make up 125grams? Weighing organic spinach is pointless as really you can never have too much spinach - Lol - my protein bars/ brownies are as follows:

4 tbsp cocoa powder ( try to use best quality)
1 cup almond flour
1 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
2 scoops Whey protein powder ( depending on which brand you use, macros may change)
1/2 cup 0% fat Greek yogurt
1 tbsp espresso powder
1/2 cup chopped pecan halves
1/4 cup maple syrup
2 tbsp brown sugar
2 eggs

** if batter is too dry add a lil more yogurt or applesauce

Combine dry and then add wet ingredients - place in a 9x9 baking tin. Bake @ 350 for 25-30 min until toothpick comes out clean. Yields 12

Macros per 1 bar/brownie :

154 total cal

Fat 9.5g
Carbs 10.5g
Protein 9.7

Sounds yummy and easy! Thanks SO much for sharing it! I'm gonna try this fir me and my kids. I'll probably substitute with Stevia though because I'm still leaning out. Thanks again

SonOfCulbert

For a fat guy (5'10, 270 lbs) who is trying to get his life together, this thread is UNREAL. Thanks for answering all of these questions and keeping this thread active. I'm looking forward to changing my life and achieving a fraction of your success!

CurvesCreations22

Great job! !!!

jee_nee_us

I started my weight loss journey in March 2015. My starting weight was 251 lbs and now it is 193.6 lbs.

I now realize that i took a wrong approach towards weight loss , have eaten only 1400 calories on average and did a lot of cardio (mostly only walked a lot for first three months). I didn't do any strength training , I wanted to but I was worried because I broke my arm in an accident in september 2014. I feel that i have lost a lot of lean body weight as well along with the fat. I still have a lot of fat in my hips , abdominal and chest areas.

I have started SL 5x5 three weeks ago and for around a month my weight loss is on stall. I am eating around the same and hitting my cardio goals consistently as well. Does strength training have anything to do with weight loss stall? If not , what could I do to go past this plateau ?

xenyen

vismal wrote: »

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

....
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.

So what is the truth? What would you advise to someone seriously starting out on fitness?
Thanks!

And by the way, aside from the beautiful physcial transformation, I think the guts and courage it took to make it happen is just as amazing!

ShapingTheLaw

Vismal, I enjoy coming back to this thread. I really like your "ask me anything" approach. I have a couple of questions about your leaning out phase: 1. Did you or do you carb cycle? Why or why not? I am considering doing so but I'm on the fence about it. 2. What's with the foam rolling craze? My time is limited at the gym because my kids' gym daycare time is limited, so I go from 10 mins of warmup right into strength training. Prior to and after each set of exercises, I stretch A LOT to lengthen my motion and prevent injury (I am in my late 40s), But I'm wondering if I'm missing out on something by not "foaming". What's your take on the foam rolling?

vismal

jee_nee_us wrote: »

I started my weight loss journey in March 2015. My starting weight was 251 lbs and now it is 193.6 lbs.

I now realize that i took a wrong approach towards weight loss , have eaten only 1400 calories on average and did a lot of cardio (mostly only walked a lot for first three months). I didn't do any strength training , I wanted to but I was worried because I broke my arm in an accident in september 2014. I feel that i have lost a lot of lean body weight as well along with the fat. I still have a lot of fat in my hips , abdominal and chest areas.

I have started SL 5x5 three weeks ago and for around a month my weight loss is on stall. I am eating around the same and hitting my cardio goals consistently as well. Does strength training have anything to do with weight loss stall? If not , what could I do to go past this plateau ?

Strength training can cause water retention for the first few weeks you do it. If the stall continues past a couple more weeks, you are stalling because you are eating too many calories. If you feel your calories are low enough that it shouldn't be an issue, than the problem is most likely accuracy of calorie counting. Almost everyone is eating more than they think they are, some of us are eating A LOT more than we think. This thread will help fix that problem: http://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/1296011/calorie-counting-101

xenyen wrote: »

vismal wrote: »

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

....
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.

So what is the truth? What would you advise to someone seriously starting out on fitness?
Thanks!

And by the way, aside from the beautiful physcial transformation, I think the guts and courage it took to make it happen is just as amazing!

The truth is found in science. Losing weight in the long run is 100% about creating a calorie deficit. If you eat less calories a day then you burn, you will lose weight. There is no other way to do it (save amputation or liposuction). Any diet that "works" does so because it created a calorie deficit. There are ways and strategies to make creating that deficit easier, and ways to organize your protein, carbs, and fats to maximize fat loss and minimize lean tissue loss, but the fact remains, that if you eat in a deficit you will lose weight, and by the same token, if you are not losing weight, it's because you are not in a deficit. This is stone cold, scientific fact, not my opinion.

ShapingTheLaw wrote: »

Vismal, I enjoy coming back to this thread. I really like your "ask me anything" approach. I have a couple of questions about your leaning out phase: 1. Did you or do you carb cycle? Why or why not? I am considering doing so but I'm on the fence about it. 2. What's with the foam rolling craze? My time is limited at the gym because my kids' gym daycare time is limited, so I go from 10 mins of warmup right into strength training. Prior to and after each set of exercises, I stretch A LOT to lengthen my motion and prevent injury (I am in my late 40s), But I'm wondering if I'm missing out on something by not "foaming". What's your take on the foam rolling?

I did not carb cycle. The reason I didn't is because it isn't proven to do anything at all. If you prefer to do it for personal preference that's fine, but it will not affect results in any way beyond compliance. Foam rolling is great but I'll be honest, I don't do it much. I was better about it when I had endless amounts of time on my hands, but these days, I don't get around to it much. It can also help in injury prevention and shorten recovery time. It's something I should probably get back into the habit of doing.

ShapingTheLaw

Thanks for your honest response on carb cycling. It's good to know that you were still able to lean out so well without carb cycling. As for the foam rolling my time is pretty limited at the gym, so I think I'll pass. Take care now!