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

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Replies

  • bryce0000
    bryce0000 Posts: 21 Member
    Thanks for the info and paying it forward like this. Very inspirational.

    I saw you say that you ignore your exercise calories (use gross calories not net). I like that, but what would you use for your TDEE? The 'No Exercise' multiplier to BMR or '3x week' multiplier or what? Just curious.

    Im 280 with 40 or so to lose, trying to get a good idea, I love the numbers aspect. I'm using the (BMR x 1.375) - 20% for my daily calorie goal.
  • vismal
    vismal Posts: 2,463 Member
    bryce0000 wrote: »
    Thanks for the info and paying it forward like this. Very inspirational.

    I saw you say that you ignore your exercise calories (use gross calories not net). I like that, but what would you use for your TDEE? The 'No Exercise' multiplier to BMR or '3x week' multiplier or what? Just curious.

    Im 280 with 40 or so to lose, trying to get a good idea, I love the numbers aspect. I'm using the (BMR x 1.375) - 20% for my daily calorie goal.
    I just estimate my tdee. It doesn't matter if I'm right or even close because I'll adjust my calories based on my actual results. After doing that long enough you get a very good idea of your maintenance.

  • bryce0000
    bryce0000 Posts: 21 Member
    vismal wrote: »
    bryce0000 wrote: »
    Thanks for the info and paying it forward like this. Very inspirational.

    I saw you say that you ignore your exercise calories (use gross calories not net). I like that, but what would you use for your TDEE? The 'No Exercise' multiplier to BMR or '3x week' multiplier or what? Just curious.

    Im 280 with 40 or so to lose, trying to get a good idea, I love the numbers aspect. I'm using the (BMR x 1.375) - 20% for my daily calorie goal.
    I just estimate my tdee. It doesn't matter if I'm right or even close because I'll adjust my calories based on my actual results. After doing that long enough you get a very good idea of your maintenance.

    Ah gotcha. Ok thanks man! Catching up on all your videos too. Great stuff.
  • carolynmo1969
    carolynmo1969 Posts: 120 Member
    No questions just a virtual high-five. Great job!
  • induindhira
    induindhira Posts: 1 Member
    Hi its a fantastic transformation ..I need to lose like 45 lbs.i d count my calories and have started working out .what do you think you piece of advise for me to get on the right track as I hardly see any weight loss
  • BklynFitGuy
    BklynFitGuy Posts: 712 Member
    Awesome job. Started watching your videos and I'm hooked on those as well.

    I'm currently 208 looking to drop 20lbs or so. Mostly have a gut from a sedentary desk job. I'm 1 week into the C25K program. Ordered an Olympic bench and will be starting a 5x5 when it arrives. My question is should I change my calorie intake? MFP currently has me at 1850 to drop 1 lb/week.
  • aviatorrie1
    aviatorrie1 Posts: 12 Member
    How much did you lose a week and at what caloric daily intake.
  • vismal
    vismal Posts: 2,463 Member
    Hi its a fantastic transformation ..I need to lose like 45 lbs.i d count my calories and have started working out .what do you think you piece of advise for me to get on the right track as I hardly see any weight loss
    Weight loss is all about a calorie deficit. The first thing you need to do is make sure you are counting correctly by weighing your food and not doing estimating or lots of free/cheat days. After that, if weight doesn't move, you simply reduce calories.
    MikeDee_ny wrote: »
    Awesome job. Started watching your videos and I'm hooked on those as well.

    I'm currently 208 looking to drop 20lbs or so. Mostly have a gut from a sedentary desk job. I'm 1 week into the C25K program. Ordered an Olympic bench and will be starting a 5x5 when it arrives. My question is should I change my calorie intake? MFP currently has me at 1850 to drop 1 lb/week.
    I'd only change calories around if you felt there was a need too. If you are hungry all the time and not recovering well, you could up them a little, but if you are seeing results, then I wouldn't mess with anything.
    How much did you lose a week and at what caloric daily intake.
    It varied a lot throughout the whole process. At this point I can comfortably lose 1 lb a week eating around 2500 calories.

  • triciab79
    triciab79 Posts: 1,713 Member
    vismal wrote: »
    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!

    LOL I know what you mean about the push up! One of the trainers at the gym made me do a plank as part of the sign up physical and I was straight but the skin was all hanging low. And that is when I decided planks were not for me. :-)

  • unbelievable! you are HOT!
  • IllBeBack1Day
    IllBeBack1Day Posts: 982 Member
    Good Job,keep it up that s all i have to say!
  • score45609
    score45609 Posts: 36 Member
    my question is how did you stay on track? What was the hardest part? Was it difficult to motivate yourself to exercise so much?
  • iwillsucceed0444
    iwillsucceed0444 Posts: 432 Member
    Great job! :-)
  • danyel74
    danyel74 Posts: 5 Member
    What particular exercise flattened ur stomach.
  • candysleirer
    candysleirer Posts: 28 Member
    Wow, your transformation is really inspiring! You look awesome! I'm down 20lbs and feel like I have a good handle on the calorie counting. And sorry if you covered this already but I didn't read through the 33 pages. So I still have probably 60-70lbs more to go and all of it is in my stomach. I really never had the desire to be totally ripped or anything but I have been 130 before and my stomach still looked exactly the same just in a smaller size. I am totally clueless when it comes to the weight lifting stuff you are talking about, and honestly would be really intimidated to join a gym and try to start. So would what your talking about reshape my mid-section and how in the world would I get the knowledge and confidence to start doing what sounds like pretty serious weight lifting?
  • laureenk8
    laureenk8 Posts: 4 Member
    hi could you please put a few of them on your computer and upload them on here, i am really interested to see them!
  • emartins1975
    emartins1975 Posts: 45 Member
    vismal wrote: »
    You look great!


    How has getting down to this weight and building up muscle impacting your life? The good and bad of it.
    The good: Feel better physically and emotionally by a degree I cannot put into words. Look better. More confidence. I can climb stairs with feeling like death. I work in health care and no long feel like a hypocrite when I tell my patience about the risk factors associated with obesity. I love being able to pull out old fat picture when someone says something to the effect of "You don't understand because your in shape" or "you don't get it, you've never been fat". I could go on and on in this category.

    The bad: I'm kind of a pain about going out to eat certain places. I don't much like eating food I didn't prepare unless its on my very few and far between free days. Don't get me wrong I eat treats and snacks all the time but I weigh/prepare them myself so I can account for it. I will always feel the need to better myself. When I was fat I didn't care. Sometimes this can be mentally exhausting. But the bads don't even begin to compare to all the goods.

    You're such an inspiration! You're post alone will help motivate tons of people! I appreciate you!
  • chasitym_74
    chasitym_74 Posts: 6 Member
    Way to go!!
  • vismal
    vismal Posts: 2,463 Member
    score45609 wrote: »
    my question is how did you stay on track? What was the hardest part? Was it difficult to motivate yourself to exercise so much?
    The hardest part is staying consistent even when you have a million excuses of why not too. It's easy to convince yourself to take a day off. It's just one day right? Well, if you do that once a week it'll slow you down. If you do that twice a week, you might stop losing all together. Once that happens, its easy to just give up. As far as exercising so much, I don't think I do. When losing fat I lift weights 3 days a week 1 hour per session, that's all. That's less then 2% of the total week During muscle building phases it's 3-5 days a week. Again, at most its 5 hours a week or around 3% of the total week.
    danyel74 wrote: »
    What particular exercise flattened ur stomach.
    No exercise will flatten you stomach. Losing fat is the only way to flatten your stomach. Spot reduction exercises don't work. You can do abdominal exercises to strengthen your core, but no amount of ab work will flatten your stomach. For reference, I almost never do direct ab work. My abs are built from doing heavy compound movements like squat and deadlift.
  • vismal
    vismal Posts: 2,463 Member
    Wow, your transformation is really inspiring! You look awesome! I'm down 20lbs and feel like I have a good handle on the calorie counting. And sorry if you covered this already but I didn't read through the 33 pages. So I still have probably 60-70lbs more to go and all of it is in my stomach. I really never had the desire to be totally ripped or anything but I have been 130 before and my stomach still looked exactly the same just in a smaller size. I am totally clueless when it comes to the weight lifting stuff you are talking about, and honestly would be really intimidated to join a gym and try to start. So would what your talking about reshape my mid-section and how in the world would I get the knowledge and confidence to start doing what sounds like pretty serious weight lifting?
    I always tell people if you reach your goal weight and don't look like you want, lifting or musculature is usually what's missing. If you are completely new to the gym, there are a few options. If you know someone who is more experienced, see if they will train with you. If not, and it's affordable to you, a trainer is a decent choice but you must be sure you pick a good trainer. Some of them are downright awful. You could also try and learn on your own. I would suggest reading the book "starting strength" by mark rippetoe. It's a great beginners book about lifting. It's probably at your local library.
  • HuskyHiker413
    HuskyHiker413 Posts: 78 Member
    First off your transformation is amazing!
    I watched your video on calculating macros.

    I started at 315 and now weight 295 and would like to lose at least 100 more lbs. Based on your numbers I should eat 2655 calories with 177 grams of protein and 88 grams of fat. Should I shoot for these numbers or is it safe to adjust them down a bit? What would you recommend?
  • ReinasWrath
    ReinasWrath Posts: 1,173 Member
    Damn if looks could kill!! B)
    So what's your diet like? Also what's your take on cheat days/ free days??
  • bump!
  • lizalmp1234
    lizalmp1234 Posts: 311 Member
    good job
  • VintageMommy
    VintageMommy Posts: 3 Member
    Did you have an issue with excess skin? I know some people who were really big and then lose it ha e that issue . Great job too by the way!
  • SuziAstro26
    SuziAstro26 Posts: 197 Member
    Well done you! Super fit ;)
  • HealthWoke0ish
    HealthWoke0ish Posts: 2,078 Member
    Bump. Because, awesome. ;)
  • dhruti387
    dhruti387 Posts: 2 Member
    Wow!! Congratulation on achievement.
    Need some help buddy. I want to lose around 50lbs. Female, current weight is 185lb.just Started gym in mid January. My calorie intake 1500. What should I do in gym? I got no idea so.
  • vismal
    vismal Posts: 2,463 Member
    Damn if looks could kill!! B)
    So what's your diet like? Also what's your take on cheat days/ free days??
    To start, I define a cheat/free day as a day or meal where you don't care what calories or macro nutrients you consume. For some people a cheat day means eating a certain banned food. I do not ban foods and eat whatever foods I want on a daily basis and just log them and work them into my goals. On paper, the same rules apply to a cheat day that apply every other day. If you eat more then you burn, your body will store the excess fuel. If you do a weekly cheat/free meal/day then you might undue your entire weeks worth of work. It just depends on how much of a deficit you made throughout the week vs how much of a surplus you got into on a cheat day. Suppose you eat 500 calories below what you burn per day for 6 days. On day 7 you eat 1500 calories over, you just slowed your weight loss in half. Eat 3000 calories over and you just stopped your weight loss in it's tracks. Are rare cheat days okay? Sure, and honestly, they are probably necessary for sanity sakes. Are regular cheat days okay? Depends on how quickly you want to lose weight and how much you eat on those cheat days. I have never used regularly scheduled cheats. I save them for special events throughout the year (holidays, birthday, vacation).
    Did you have an issue with excess skin? I know some people who were really big and then lose it ha e that issue . Great job too by the way!
    Check back to page 24. I posted a video that discusses loose skin.
    dhruti387 wrote: »
    Wow!! Congratulation on achievement.
    Need some help buddy. I want to lose around 50lbs. Female, current weight is 185lb.just Started gym in mid January. My calorie intake 1500. What should I do in gym? I got no idea so.
    I personally feel most people's time in the gym is best spent lifting weights. This will ensure that once you lose the weight, you'll have a decent shape to you rather then just looking like a smaller version of your former self. Losing the fat will be more about the diet then the working out, so use the working out to preserve muscle and build strength.

  • Ok finally figured out how to post my reply to you. Great job! You look incredible, and must be very proud. Keep up the good work and thanks for the inspiration.
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