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

Jezreel12

Your transformation is incredible and am very happy you have some one in your life who shares the same priorities with you.

katgoldatx

I just sent this to you in a PM, but figured I should have put it here.

I've been using MFP for 10 days. I have 3 burning questions.

1) Should I eat my exercise calories back? I am doing that, I think that is correct.

2) MFP gave me 1210 calories per day based on my initial check-in. You advised someone to figure out their BMR and subtract about 500 in order to loose weight. MFP says my BMR is 1300. There's no way I should be eating 800 per day. That would definitely throw me into starvation mode. What gives?

3) Do you have a fitness bible? What guided you through your journey?

vismal

1: I answered this question many times, as recent as this page and posted a video about the topic

2: I never advised anyone to eat 500 below their BMR. For the majority of people that would extremely low calories. You are probably confusing BMR with TDEE. You should try and eat below your TDEE. Also, starvation mode is a COMPLETE myth.

3: No fitness bible necessary. Eat in a deficit to lose weight. Eat in a moderate deficit with adequate protein and weight lifting to lose weight and retain muscle. That's everything you need in a nutshell. The details I learned from various sources along the way.

Edison563

I'm about 230ish, 5'7. I just got a gym membership and I'm starting tomorrow. (This is probably super repetitive) I want to lose 50 pounds to start with, if I'm understanding correctly I should eat in moderation and burn more than I eat at the gym? Sorry I'm a newbie just trying to figure this out and make my life better

vismal

Edison563 wrote: »

I'm about 230ish, 5'7. I just got a gym membership and I'm starting tomorrow. (This is probably super repetitive) I want to lose 50 pounds to start with, if I'm understanding correctly I should eat in moderation and burn more than I eat at the gym? Sorry I'm a newbie just trying to figure this out and make my life better

Don't try and lose weight by creating a deficit with activity. This is often hard to do. Create a deficit through your diet. That way, whether it's a workout day or not, you'll be in a deficit. You should then prioritize lifting as the next most important thing. Lifting preserves lean mass. Finally, you can do cardio to add to your deficit that you created though diet alone. When you try to create your entire deficit through activity (cardio) you often will find much slower results as people tend to overestimate how much they burn. In a nutshell diet is more important than lifting which is more important than cardio. This of course assumes your goals a health and physique based. If your goals are sport/activity based, this might not always be true. For instance, if you are a marathon runner, cardio becomes significantly more important.

maheshbhattarai

How did you do it? I want the same results! I'm 376 lbs now

Schila64

vismal wrote: »

I later switched to 5x5 training which is what I would have started with day 1 if I had to go back and do it again. I currently do a upper/lower 4 day a week split for intermediate lifters.

What is 5x5 training? Also did you use MyFitnessPal as a food log in tool?

vismal

maheshbhattarai wrote: »

How did you do it? I want the same results! I'm 376 lbs now

The past 50 pages describe exactly how I did it.

Schila64 wrote: »

vismal wrote: »

I later switched to 5x5 training which is what I would have started with day 1 if I had to go back and do it again. I currently do a upper/lower 4 day a week split for intermediate lifters.

What is 5x5 training? Also did you use MyFitnessPal as a food log in tool?

5x5 training is when you do 5 sets of 5 reps for the compound lifts (bench, squat, row, deadlift). Many programs are based around a 5x5 scheme. ICF 5x5, stronglifts, and starting strength are all good exaplmes. Of course I used MFP as my food logging tool. That's why I'm here

Angiefit4life

Just wanted to say thanks! 6 months ago I read this thread! 35# later and so close to goal weight! Fantastic information for all new people.

Bump (not sure why they unstickey this one!)

khaki33

vismal wrote: »

1: I answered this question many times, as recent as this page and posted a video about the topic

2: I never advised anyone to eat 500 below their BMR. For the majority of people that would extremely low calories. You are probably confusing BMR with TDEE. You should try and eat below your TDEE. Also, starvation mode is a COMPLETE myth.

3: No fitness bible necessary. Eat in a deficit to lose weight. Eat in a moderate deficit with adequate protein and weight lifting to lose weight and retain muscle. That's everything you need in a nutshell. The details I learned from various sources along the way.

Hmmm.just what I was looking for, thanks

giannigreco83

why in hell they removed your posts from the announcements?????

marchantbrian

I'm a male on a similar path that you started at but not as much weight to loose. I started at 233 in January and I've already lost 44 pounds and over 10 inches in my waist! For my height of 5'10" I need to weigh about 174 for a healthy BMI.

I've been lifting weights for about a month and a half and the weight loss is slowing down but I am liking what I'm seeing in the mirror. My concern is about the loose skin as well but like you said I do feel it tightening up gradually. I'm using FitBit to make sure I'm getting an adequate amount of activity each day and lifting 3 days a week. I'm eating at least 1800-1900 calories a day and getting about 35% protein as well. Any advise?

FeliJD

Whoa! You look amazing. So pleased for you!

P.s How did you get the pictures to sit closely together? I've just posted a transformation and its all over the shop!

cdcllcga01

Vismal - thank you very much for the amount of time you've spent on this post. I read it all the way through when I first found it and have consistently checked back for updates. I've lost 40 lbs so far and the information you have provided has been invaluable.

While the questions are getting very repetitive (and I admire your patience!), I think this should stay an "announcement" because of all the great info. Perhaps MFP would consider closing the post to new entries, but keeping it as an announcement?

jorow67

Best post ever, I have read all 50 pages at least twice and refer back to it all the time. Brilliantly written, and so much information and so patient - far better than any of the commercial diet plans and I have tried them all. To say thanks seems so inadequate, but thanks!!

giannigreco83

bump

jennyooh99

Hey there,

I'm a 51 yo woman, 5'9" and 225 pounds (obese)...although like you used to, I carry it well! My long term goal is to get down to 175. From there we'll see. 50 pounds seems daunting but I will do it. I'm down 8 pounds but it's taken longer than I'd like. I track everything on MFP, which says I should be eating approximately 1700 calories.

My questions are:

I cycle or ride a stationary bike for cardio 4-5 days a week (sometimes 6, rarely everyday). I will continue to do this because I love it, not necessarily to burn calories, although it helps since I love to eat too! I hesitate to do any weightlifting for the quads, hamstrings, and calves...is cycling enough to take care of those areas?

The other lifting I've been doing for upper body is light weight and more reps, which I will be changing after reading all of this! I get that I need to burn more calories than I take in to lose fat. I also understand that it will be difficult to build muscle while losing fat. As long as I'm losing weight I'm happy, but at what point do I adjust my caloric intake in terms of weightlifting -- or is that something that will just constantly change depending on my goals? It seems like 1700 calories doesn't give me alot of wiggle room to adjust down if needed, to create a deficit. But if I do a maintenance or bulk phase, my calories would go back up anyway, right? Maybe I need to start higher? Say 2000 calories and go from there? Just trial and error...

If you have any thoughts or other information to pass along I'd appreciate it.

And lastly, words can't really express how I and many others here feel -- it's amazing what you've done physically and you are amazing with your generosity and time. Thank you so much for sharing your experience and answering so many questions. You are an inspiration!

fitfat1975

You look great! Thanks for answering all of our questions. This is a very informative thread! I would love to see what you eat in a typical day.

vismal

giannigreco83 wrote: »

why in hell they removed your posts from the announcements?????

Probably just to put some different ones up there. I just noticed it wasn't on top anymore.

marchantbrian wrote: »

I'm a male on a similar path that you started at but not as much weight to loose. I started at 233 in January and I've already lost 44 pounds and over 10 inches in my waist! For my height of 5'10" I need to weigh about 174 for a healthy BMI.

I've been lifting weights for about a month and a half and the weight loss is slowing down but I am liking what I'm seeing in the mirror. My concern is about the loose skin as well but like you said I do feel it tightening up gradually. I'm using FitBit to make sure I'm getting an adequate amount of activity each day and lifting 3 days a week. I'm eating at least 1800-1900 calories a day and getting about 35% protein as well. Any advise?

Don't worry much about loose skin as there isn't much you can do about it. Also, BMI is a decent guiding number, but it's not the end all, be all for what you should weigh. I am considered overweight according to BMI even though my body fat is in the "athletic" category, which is the step beneath "healthy". If you plan on continuing with weight lifting, you may find that BMI becomes somewhat irrelevant for you as well.

FeliJD wrote: »

Whoa! You look amazing. So pleased for you!

P.s How did you get the pictures to sit closely together? I've just posted a transformation and its all over the shop!

It's actually 1 big picture. I used mspaint to join the three individual ones together.

vismal

cdcllcga01 wrote: »

Vismal - thank you very much for the amount of time you've spent on this post. I read it all the way through when I first found it and have consistently checked back for updates. I've lost 40 lbs so far and the information you have provided has been invaluable.

While the questions are getting very repetitive (and I admire your patience!), I think this should stay an "announcement" because of all the great info. Perhaps MFP would consider closing the post to new entries, but keeping it as an announcement?

I don't think closing the post to new entries is a good idea. While many questions are repeated, many more are asked that either apply to people's individual situations, or are new ones. I'm fine re-answering simple questions or pointing people towards the answers of more elaborate questions. As to being an announcement, I had nothing to do with making it one or no longer making it one so you'd have to ask the MFP people.

jennyooh99 wrote: »

Hey there,

I'm a 51 yo woman, 5'9" and 225 pounds (obese)...although like you used to, I carry it well! My long term goal is to get down to 175. From there we'll see. 50 pounds seems daunting but I will do it. I'm down 8 pounds but it's taken longer than I'd like. I track everything on MFP, which says I should be eating approximately 1700 calories.

My questions are:

I cycle or ride a stationary bike for cardio 4-5 days a week (sometimes 6, rarely everyday). I will continue to do this because I love it, not necessarily to burn calories, although it helps since I love to eat too! I hesitate to do any weightlifting for the quads, hamstrings, and calves...is cycling enough to take care of those areas?

The other lifting I've been doing for upper body is light weight and more reps, which I will be changing after reading all of this! I get that I need to burn more calories than I take in to lose fat. I also understand that it will be difficult to build muscle while losing fat. As long as I'm losing weight I'm happy, but at what point do I adjust my caloric intake in terms of weightlifting -- or is that something that will just constantly change depending on my goals? It seems like 1700 calories doesn't give me alot of wiggle room to adjust down if needed, to create a deficit. But if I do a maintenance or bulk phase, my calories would go back up anyway, right? Maybe I need to start higher? Say 2000 calories and go from there? Just trial and error...

If you have any thoughts or other information to pass along I'd appreciate it.

And lastly, words can't really express how I and many others here feel -- it's amazing what you've done physically and you are amazing with your generosity and time. Thank you so much for sharing your experience and answering so many questions. You are an inspiration!

Cycling isn't quite the same as weight lifting. While it certainly will work the muscles in your legs, I'd dedicate at least 1 day a week to legs in the weight room rather than the usually 2-3. As far as calories go, I am always a fan of eating as many calories as possible while you can still see results at an acceptable speed. Start high and reduce as you go. Eventually, once you reach your weight loss goals, you can reevaluate calories and do a maintenance phase leading into a bulking phase and cycle between bulking and cutting from there on out.