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

abhisheksengupta wrote: »

Thank you Vismal for taking the time for those great answers. If I may, I'll like to trouble you with a few more from your experiences.

Q1. Since you were a obese guy and started seeing results in a couple of weeks, did you ever get into into that rush to get rid of all that fat? By over-training or going for bigger calorie deficits? Was patience ever an issue? Also would weight training be your go to method for fat loss or is cardio exercise+calorie deficit a bigger factor?There was a time early on where I was eating around 1800 calories, running 6 times a week ,etc. I guess I wasn't really eating 1800 calories because I didn't weigh or measure and had a weekly cheat meal where I ate the whole house, but yeah, in the early part I think we all tend to get impatient and try and push the envelope. Your body will remind you fairly quickly that you can't keep that kind of a pace up. Weight training will not do much to aid fat loss. That should not be the reason you lift. Weight training preserves lean mass so that the majority of your weight loss is fat, not lean tissue. It will greatly improve your body composition once you've lost all the weight. It is also a crucial step if you have physique goals beyond just losing weight.

Q2. When you started getting rid of that fat, was it evenly out from all areas? Or where there places (like abdomen) that reduced slower? Since you have been dieting for a while, do you eat back the other exercise calories? Like for my case do I eat an extra 400 cals if I continue walking 4-6 miles a day? (I'm sorry but I find TDEE calculations (plain factor multiplications) very vague). Like most people, at first weight came off from everywhere. When my body fat became fairly low, places like my lower back and abdomen (common for men) seemed to hold fat the longest. The only way to handle this is to keep losing fat. I use a TDEE method so I never eat back exercise calories. The rare exception would be if my goal is to bulk (eat over maintenance) and I do an usual amount of "cardio" (20 mile hike, 3 hour bike ride, etc) then I will make a rough guess of how much extra I burned and eat it back. These occasions are rare.

Also could you do a comparison of HIIT vs. Low Intensity High Volume Cardio for us?
Few trainers (like musclecamp) swear by the latter that it creates deficits without impacting muscle growth. Any experience on that?Lyle has a great series of articles on the subject. It's much more thorough then I can be. This is the conclusion, http://www.bodyrecomposition.com/fat-loss/stead-state-versus-intervals-finally-a-conclusion.html/, but if you have the time, read the entire series.

Answers in bold.

Jte1130 wrote: »

Hey awesome job and definitely inspiring. Just finished reading through the thread. Thank you for all of these helpful information and for being so responsive to everyone's questions.

I just started tracking on MFP about a week ago. Eating at a deficit I'm down a pound so far but it's a start. I've also started walking at a fast pace on the treadmill(building towards a jog) about an hour a night.

My question is about weighing food. When it comes to food that has to be cooked is the "per serving size" measured before or after cooking? For instance with a pastor rice there is a big difference between when you weigh it.

Thank you in advance.

Go by what the nutritional information says. If the info cooked rice, weigh it cooked, if it's for dry rice, weigh it dried. If it doesn't specify, always assumed dry/raw.

michellel99 wrote: »

What do you recommend to target "bat wings". Also I'm a newbie to 5x5 workouts. And a little confused about the warm up and work outs. Can you explain that for me? Last question, I use an apt. Gym and we don't have barbell weights only dumbbells. Is there a dumbbell 5x5? Thank you!

As far as "bat wings" unfortunately you can't spot reduce fat so you must just lose fat overall and eventually it will come off of problem areas. For the warmup to the 5x5, do maybe 50% of what you'll be doing for your working sets. If you do not have a barbell you can complete 90% of the 5x5 as written, just use dumbbells. Squat you will have to modify to either goblet squats or rear foot elevated split squats (search youtube for those exercises if you need examples). Bench, overhead press, rows, etc can all be done with dumbbells.

cswalker02 wrote: »

Amazing transformation! Thanks for being so open, honest, unselfish and kind. I have a few questions for you.
1. How did your coworkers respond to your transformation?
2. How do you feel about people restricting their sugar intake to 25g or less per day not including fruit but from other sources? (Saw this on a website about this helps lose weight) You're in the healthcare field so wanted your opinion on sugar in regards to health.
3. Recently, there has been more promotion of organic food, whole foods, non gmo, etc. I love eating wholesome organic food, but it can get pricey. Especially for a large family. How can you be sure it is organic and howe much does it matter? Im starting not to trust labels anymore.

Thank you! ☺

My coworkers were supportive for the most part. They were pretty good at not nagging me when I didn't want to order food out, or eat the things they brought/made from home. As far as limiting sugar to 25 grams or less per day, I could think of no reason anyone would need to do that. Sugar does not hamper weight loss. Weight loss is all about calories and sugar is just another thing that contains calories. So long as you remain under your calorie goal, hit you macro nutrient goals, and eat enough micro nutrient rich food, it really does not matter how much sugar you consume. This is of course providing you do not have a health condition (diabetes for example). As far as eating organic or gmo free, I think it's mostly nonsense. Lead and arsenic are organic, they can kill you. Many medications are not organic, they might save your life. There simply isn't any quality research the proves eating all organic, or gmo free, is any better for you. You also cannot be sure anything is "organic" unless you grew it yourself. I just don't see any reason whatsoever to spending all that extra money on something not proven to do anything at all.

Th3Ph03n1x wrote: »

Sorry if this is been asked did you work out at the gym or at home or both? Also where did you look to for information when you were starting to life (assuming you didn't already have basic knowledge).

I primarily work out in the gym. I prefer to use barbells and dumbbells for most of my workouts and I don't have the space/money to put together a proper home gym. A good place for beginners to start are places like this! Many of the pinned posts here are treasure troves of information. Lyle McDonald's website is another very good place to start (www.bodyrecomposition.com). All of his stuff is scientifically based and IMO quite trustworthy.

ttwagneriii360 wrote: »

Question: Did you have to significantly up your game (different workouts, cardio, more calorie restriction) to lose the final pounds for the shred?

You don't really need different workouts. I do buy the "keep the body guessing" BS. You may need to add some cardio if you need/want to eat more food. Increasing calorie restriction will most likely be necessary as you get leaner and leaner.

TalhaKhan05 wrote: »

Vismal I'm a beginner at these things like cardiovascular, calorie counting, strength training etc. I have been obese my whole life, currently I'm 20 years old weighing 260lbs at 6'1. I joined MYP and saw you and I was inspired the moment I saw your transformation. I was just asking I want to lose atleast 75lbs to reach my normal weight.
Please help me like how many calories should I eat, along with how many days should I do cardio and how many days should I do 5x5, how many of rest days so that I can lose weight and gain muscles and be like that for the rest of my life.

P.s. Please reply I need help, and which 5x5 should I do ice cream or strong lifts as I'm a beginner.

Either of those programs are fine for a beginner. Both are 3 days a week. I would do cardio 2 times a week and take 2 rest days. As far as calories, give this video series I made a watch: http://goo.gl/zqIv6H

abhisheksengupta wrote: »

Hi again Vismal, I watched the video series. Was really great, thanks.

I had mentioned earlier how I have become a little skinny fat. At 163 pounds, 5'10 (after losing 50 lbs). So according to your suggestions, the videos, in the past week I have started with the following:

Primary Workout: Ice Cream Fitness 5x5 (3 days a week)
Secondary Workout: Walking - upto 6 miles on workout days and 2.5 miles on break days (560/260 cals respectively)

BMR/TDEE at Sedentary - 1760/2100

Diet - 2600 calories on workout days and 2000 calories on rest days.
Is this regime fine? I am trying to cut my tire like belly fat and bit of chest fat.
I know this might sound extremely silly, but should I be expecting weight loss or maintenance? since I am (trying for) adding muscle mass simultaneously?

My best advice would be do not try to lose fat while adding mass. It's usually an uphill battle and most people only end up failing at both goals. If you are going to be walking up to 6 miles a day, and doing the 5x5, why would you put your activity level to sedentary? I'd simply things and just start eating 2500 calories a day, after a few weeks start watching what the scale does (the first few weeks will have water weight gain). You will ideally want to gain 2 lbs a month. If you are gaining at an appropriate rate, don't change anything. If you aren't gaining, increase calories by about 100 calories a week. I'd give it at least 6 months time before you cut again.