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