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

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Replies

  • Griff1996
    Griff1996 Posts: 11 Member
    Hey man, your transformation is awesome. I lost some weight and have just started StrongLifts5x5, hope I can accomplish my own goals like you did.
  • mowree
    mowree Posts: 74 Member
    I agree with everyone else...awesome results! You have a very nice approach and attitude to answering all these questions. I like how you've handled all of them (including the bad ones) as they really define the kind of person you are.

    I would be interested in knowing what your guess would be for daily calories for petite female, 4'11", 111 lbs, walking 4 miles 6x per week. I have been tweaking this for 2-3 years so have a pretty good idea what's needed for maintenance and what's needed for weight loss. I don't mean to test your knowledge on this by asking for your input. I just need another opinion to assure myself that my tweaking is accurate to some degree. And I need to know if I'm being too harsh or not disciplined enough. Thanks in advance for your time and input.
  • nutspegasus
    nutspegasus Posts: 10 Member
    You look fantastic well done.
  • Suezyq47
    Suezyq47 Posts: 199 Member
    Wow! You look amazing! Great job! I just upped my calorie intake to 2200 per day and I setup a work out room with an elliptical, Bowflex, and Dumbbells last weekend. I do 30 min intervals on my elliptical then upper or lower body workouts for 30 min. The upper and lower body workouts on the Bowflex are done 4 days per week (days 1&2, skip day 3, then days 4&5). I use my elliptical on the day off in between the upper/lower body workout. I am hoping this works for me. I have about 50-60 lbs to lose and I am so tired of low calorie diets! I am a large framed person and have always been able to eat more than the average woman without gaining. The problem is that I kept eating a lot and got lazy when I got married 13 years ago. I used to workout everyday before I got married and then stopped and became sedentary. I still have a lot of muscle but also a lot of fat lol. My body fat is about 35% and I would like it to be 25%. When I worked out daily and ate whatever I wanted, I had 26% body fat and weighed 186 lbs, so I have set my goal weight to 185 lbs and plan to get there by exercise.
  • vismal
    vismal Posts: 2,463 Member
    mowree wrote: »
    I agree with everyone else...awesome results! You have a very nice approach and attitude to answering all these questions. I like how you've handled all of them (including the bad ones) as they really define the kind of person you are.

    I would be interested in knowing what your guess would be for daily calories for petite female, 4'11", 111 lbs, walking 4 miles 6x per week. I have been tweaking this for 2-3 years so have a pretty good idea what's needed for maintenance and what's needed for weight loss. I don't mean to test your knowledge on this by asking for your input. I just need another opinion to assure myself that my tweaking is accurate to some degree. And I need to know if I'm being too harsh or not disciplined enough. Thanks in advance for your time and input.
    I would say for maintenance somewhere around 1500 and for weight loss, as low as 1000. Ultra petite women are tough to guess sometimes. That particular group, in my experience, has more variance than other groups. Those numbers would also reflect STRICT calorie counting, not a lot of cheating and not a lot of estimation of things.
  • Katerina9408
    Katerina9408 Posts: 276 Member
    edited February 2015
    vismal wrote: »
    I've always wanted to do an AMA so I thought I'd set one up here. The basics about my story are that I went from 315lbs to 195 and have been making small gains in muscles/losses to fat ever since. Ask me anything, anything at all!
    fat+skinny+fit.jpg

    Add me as a friend on here too!

    1) Is there a way to build muscle and lose fat (48 kilos,161 sm)? 2) Is that thing about 1 g of protein per pound right ? 3) about the 1st-Should I eat what TDEE tells me (1720 ) or less ( I currently eat 1300-1400 (and sometimes less) 4) I lift 10 kilo, should I increase it 5) Is soy protein good ( I don't eat animal products) ?
  • vismal
    vismal Posts: 2,463 Member
    vismal wrote: »
    I've always wanted to do an AMA so I thought I'd set one up here. The basics about my story are that I went from 315lbs to 195 and have been making small gains in muscles/losses to fat ever since. Ask me anything, anything at all!
    fat+skinny+fit.jpg

    Add me as a friend on here too!

    1) Is there a way to build muscle and lose fat (48 kilos,161 sm)? 2) Is that thing about 1 g of protein per pound right ? 3) about the 1st-Should I eat what TDEE tells me (1720 ) or less ( I currently eat 1300-1400 (and sometimes less) 4) I lift 10 kilo, should I increase it 5) Is soy protein good ( I don't eat animal products) ?

    1. Not efficiently, no.
    2. No. Most people need about 0.6-0.8 grams per lb they weigh depending how overweight they are. The more overweight you are, the less you need.
    3. Depends. I don't concern myself with tdee, mfp calories, or the like. I just pick a reasonable number to start with and eat that much for a few weeks. If I lose weight, I keep that number, if I don't, I reduce that number. Much easier and after a while you get really good at guessing what your starting point will need to be. When you have a weight loss stall, you can do the same thing, reduce calories a bit, give it a few weeks, and reevaluate.
    4. Yes. You should always try and increase weight over time. Lifting the same weight the same amount of times each week will not cause you to ever increase strength or muscle. You also should not be lifting the same weight for all exercises. Major muscle groups like quads, chest and back should be able to handle a much larger load then smaller muscles like biceps, and calves.
    5. Soy is probably okay. I say this because it is not studied enough. There are some claims and research that it can reduce testosterone levels in men (not a risk for you). I would say if you aren't eating any animal products, it's going to be next to impossible for you to get adequate protein without a healthy amount of soy. I'd say in your case, it's probably your best bet.
  • Katerina9408
    Katerina9408 Posts: 276 Member
    edited February 2015
    vismal wrote: »
    vismal wrote: »
    I've always wanted to do an AMA so I thought I'd set one up here. The basics about my story are that I went from 315lbs to 195 and have been making small gains in muscles/losses to fat ever since. Ask me anything, anything at all!
    fat+skinny+fit.jpg

    Add me as a friend on here too!

    1) Is there a way to build muscle and lose fat (48 kilos,161 sm)? 2) Is that thing about 1 g of protein per pound right ? 3) about the 1st-Should I eat what TDEE tells me (1720 ) or less ( I currently eat 1300-1400 (and sometimes less) 4) I lift 10 kilo, should I increase it 5) Is soy protein good ( I don't eat animal products) ?

    1. Not efficiently, no.
    2. No. Most people need about 0.6-0.8 grams per lb they weigh depending how overweight they are. The more overweight you are, the less you need.
    3. Depends. I don't concern myself with tdee, mfp calories, or the like. I just pick a reasonable number to start with and eat that much for a few weeks. If I lose weight, I keep that number, if I don't, I reduce that number. Much easier and after a while you get really good at guessing what your starting point will need to be. When you have a weight loss stall, you can do the same thing, reduce calories a bit, give it a few weeks, and reevaluate.
    4. Yes. You should always try and increase weight over time. Lifting the same weight the same amount of times each week will not cause you to ever increase strength or muscle. You also should not be lifting the same weight for all exercises. Major muscle groups like quads, chest and back should be able to handle a much larger load then smaller muscles like biceps, and calves.
    5. Soy is probably okay. I say this because it is not studied enough. There are some claims and research that it can reduce testosterone levels in men (not a risk for you). I would say if you aren't eating any animal products, it's going to be next to impossible for you to get adequate protein without a healthy amount of soy. I'd say in your case, it's probably your best bet.

    Ok thank you. One more thing (sorry that I am so annoying).What do you mean by reasonable number? Do you mean to control the portions you eat for example to eat from the same plate ? Or you just don't eat too fatty foods or "junk food" most of the time ? Also is it ok to increase cal 100 at a time to build muscles ? And is it good to combine cardio with strenght training or just do strenght training ? And is 2 hours of strenght training a day too much and should I do one week with heavy and one with not so heavy weights ?
  • Do you track exercise? I watched your video about not eating your earned calories (and I agree with that)! Because I've been logging in my exercise, it confuses my food tracking. If you don't track exercise on MFP, where do you track it? I am new to MFP and IIFYM and following you has been a giant help to me. Thank you!
  • mowree
    mowree Posts: 74 Member
    Thank you
  • vismal
    vismal Posts: 2,463 Member
    vismal wrote: »
    vismal wrote: »
    I've always wanted to do an AMA so I thought I'd set one up here. The basics about my story are that I went from 315lbs to 195 and have been making small gains in muscles/losses to fat ever since. Ask me anything, anything at all!
    fat+skinny+fit.jpg

    Add me as a friend on here too!

    1) Is there a way to build muscle and lose fat (48 kilos,161 sm)? 2) Is that thing about 1 g of protein per pound right ? 3) about the 1st-Should I eat what TDEE tells me (1720 ) or less ( I currently eat 1300-1400 (and sometimes less) 4) I lift 10 kilo, should I increase it 5) Is soy protein good ( I don't eat animal products) ?

    1. Not efficiently, no.
    2. No. Most people need about 0.6-0.8 grams per lb they weigh depending how overweight they are. The more overweight you are, the less you need.
    3. Depends. I don't concern myself with tdee, mfp calories, or the like. I just pick a reasonable number to start with and eat that much for a few weeks. If I lose weight, I keep that number, if I don't, I reduce that number. Much easier and after a while you get really good at guessing what your starting point will need to be. When you have a weight loss stall, you can do the same thing, reduce calories a bit, give it a few weeks, and reevaluate.
    4. Yes. You should always try and increase weight over time. Lifting the same weight the same amount of times each week will not cause you to ever increase strength or muscle. You also should not be lifting the same weight for all exercises. Major muscle groups like quads, chest and back should be able to handle a much larger load then smaller muscles like biceps, and calves.
    5. Soy is probably okay. I say this because it is not studied enough. There are some claims and research that it can reduce testosterone levels in men (not a risk for you). I would say if you aren't eating any animal products, it's going to be next to impossible for you to get adequate protein without a healthy amount of soy. I'd say in your case, it's probably your best bet.

    Ok thank you. One more thing (sorry that I am so annoying).What do you mean by reasonable number? Do you mean to control the portions you eat for example to eat from the same plate ? Or you just don't eat too fatty foods or "junk food" most of the time ? Also is it ok to increase cal 100 at a time to build muscles ? And is it good to combine cardio with strenght training or just do strenght training ? And is 2 hours of strenght training a day too much and should I do one week with heavy and one with not so heavy weights ?
    By pick a reasonable number, I meant pick a reasonable number of calories to start with. For weight loss, generally 9-11 calories per lb you weigh is a good starting point. 12-16 calories per lb is usually a good guess for maintenance, and 16-17 is usually a good starting point to try and gain weight. If gaining weight in the form of muscle is your goal I'd suggest you try and eat just slightly over maintenance. As a women, a realistic goal for weight gain in a year is about 12 lbs. That's only 1/4 lb a week. That's kind of hard to keep track of. You essentially want to see the scale creeping up ever so slowly. If you are spending 2 hours strength training in the gym, your program probably needs tweaked, or scraped all together. I would recommend you get on a decent beginners lifting program. Something like ICF 5x5 or stronglifts. They can be completed in about 1-1.5 hours and are done 3 days a week. Either one would be a great choice. There is no reason to have a heavy day and a light day until you become a more advanced weight lifter.
    JEG617 wrote: »
    Do you track exercise? I watched your video about not eating your earned calories (and I agree with that)! Because I've been logging in my exercise, it confuses my food tracking. If you don't track exercise on MFP, where do you track it? I am new to MFP and IIFYM and following you has been a giant help to me. Thank you!
    I write all my workouts down in a workout log. It has what lifts I did, how many sets, and how much weight. You can also track them on MFP. I believe it has a function where you can manually add calories burned. What people who don't eat back exercises calories do is log the workout and manually add 1 calorie burned so it doesn't mess with your count.

  • I was a young man and extremely skinny, one day I just woke up and wanted to change. It took me about 6 mths to see change and it was amazing! Omg... Food Omg..... Rest & grow. Weight lifting, cardio & boxing no so much as to fight but to train like a boxer. I literally ate anything and stayed fit-riped. But I had to do something everyday to stay that way. Now 30 yr. Later @ 54 yr. & 220# 6'2". things are starting to get rusty. My blood sugar is high, my blood pressure also. Only fell off the workout wagon 3 mths ago. Getting back to format.. Now!!! Your story makes me wanna wake up and change.... Again. I'll keep you posted.
    Chick
  • whats 5x5 weight lifting
  • CanuckLove
    CanuckLove Posts: 673 Member
    Amazing transformation.. You look incredible!
  • vismal
    vismal Posts: 2,463 Member
    tkhanna05 wrote: »
    whats 5x5 weight lifting
    You lift 5 sets for 5 reps. This allows you to go relatively heavy. The idea is to increase your weight as often as possible. If you are able to lift all 5 sets for all 5 reps, you increase the weight on that particular lift. The 5x5 is meant for compound movements: Bench, squat, deadlift, rows, etc. Isolation moves like curls, tricep movements, calve raise etc can be done in a higher rep, low set range. Maybe 3x8 or 3x8-12

  • Katerina9408
    Katerina9408 Posts: 276 Member
    vismal wrote: »
    vismal wrote: »
    vismal wrote: »
    I've always wanted to do an AMA so I thought I'd set one up here. The basics about my story are that I went from 315lbs to 195 and have been making small gains in muscles/losses to fat ever since. Ask me anything, anything at all!
    fat+skinny+fit.jpg

    Add me as a friend on here too!

    1) Is there a way to build muscle and lose fat (48 kilos,161 sm)? 2) Is that thing about 1 g of protein per pound right ? 3) about the 1st-Should I eat what TDEE tells me (1720 ) or less ( I currently eat 1300-1400 (and sometimes less) 4) I lift 10 kilo, should I increase it 5) Is soy protein good ( I don't eat animal products) ?

    1. Not efficiently, no.
    2. No. Most people need about 0.6-0.8 grams per lb they weigh depending how overweight they are. The more overweight you are, the less you need.
    3. Depends. I don't concern myself with tdee, mfp calories, or the like. I just pick a reasonable number to start with and eat that much for a few weeks. If I lose weight, I keep that number, if I don't, I reduce that number. Much easier and after a while you get really good at guessing what your starting point will need to be. When you have a weight loss stall, you can do the same thing, reduce calories a bit, give it a few weeks, and reevaluate.
    4. Yes. You should always try and increase weight over time. Lifting the same weight the same amount of times each week will not cause you to ever increase strength or muscle. You also should not be lifting the same weight for all exercises. Major muscle groups like quads, chest and back should be able to handle a much larger load then smaller muscles like biceps, and calves.
    5. Soy is probably okay. I say this because it is not studied enough. There are some claims and research that it can reduce testosterone levels in men (not a risk for you). I would say if you aren't eating any animal products, it's going to be next to impossible for you to get adequate protein without a healthy amount of soy. I'd say in your case, it's probably your best bet.

    Ok thank you. One more thing (sorry that I am so annoying).What do you mean by reasonable number? Do you mean to control the portions you eat for example to eat from the same plate ? Or you just don't eat too fatty foods or "junk food" most of the time ? Also is it ok to increase cal 100 at a time to build muscles ? And is it good to combine cardio with strenght training or just do strenght training ? And is 2 hours of strenght training a day too much and should I do one week with heavy and one with not so heavy weights ?
    By pick a reasonable number, I meant pick a reasonable number of calories to start with. [b ]For weight loss, generally 9-11 calories per lb you weigh is a good starting point. 12-16 calories per lb is usually a good guess for maintenance, and 16-17 is usually a good starting point to try and gain weight[/b]. If gaining weight in the form of muscle is your goal I'd suggest you try and eat just slightly over maintenance. As a women, a realistic goal for weight gain in a year is about 12 lbs. That's only 1/4 lb a week. That's kind of hard to keep track of. You essentially want to see the scale creeping up ever so slowly. If you are spending 2 hours strength training in the gym, your program probably needs tweaked, or scraped all together. I would recommend you get on a decent beginners lifting program. Something like ICF 5x5 or stronglifts. They can be completed in about 1-1.5 hours and are done 3 days a week. Either one would be a great choice. There is no reason to have a heavy day and a light day until you become a more advanced weight lifter.
    JEG617 wrote: »
    Do you track exercise? I watched your video about not eating your earned calories (and I agree with that)! Because I've been logging in my exercise, it confuses my food tracking. If you don't track exercise on MFP, where do you track it? I am new to MFP and IIFYM and following you has been a giant help to me. Thank you!
    I write all my workouts down in a workout log. It has what lifts I did, how many sets, and how much weight. You can also track them on MFP. I believe it has a function where you can manually add calories burned. What people who don't eat back exercises calories do is log the workout and manually add 1 calorie burned so it doesn't mess with your count.
    Do you mean 9-11 calories per lb net or + cal from workout ? Do I have to eat only 1160 cal (48kg )when I workout like 60-90 min a day (every day) ?
  • bwyon
    bwyon Posts: 24 Member
    how do you build the lean muscle?! ive lost all my weight and am lifting now
  • arashikuro
    arashikuro Posts: 2 Member
    Bump
  • vismal
    vismal Posts: 2,463 Member
    vismal wrote: »
    vismal wrote: »
    vismal wrote: »
    I've always wanted to do an AMA so I thought I'd set one up here. The basics about my story are that I went from 315lbs to 195 and have been making small gains in muscles/losses to fat ever since. Ask me anything, anything at all!
    fat+skinny+fit.jpg

    Add me as a friend on here too!

    1) Is there a way to build muscle and lose fat (48 kilos,161 sm)? 2) Is that thing about 1 g of protein per pound right ? 3) about the 1st-Should I eat what TDEE tells me (1720 ) or less ( I currently eat 1300-1400 (and sometimes less) 4) I lift 10 kilo, should I increase it 5) Is soy protein good ( I don't eat animal products) ?

    1. Not efficiently, no.
    2. No. Most people need about 0.6-0.8 grams per lb they weigh depending how overweight they are. The more overweight you are, the less you need.
    3. Depends. I don't concern myself with tdee, mfp calories, or the like. I just pick a reasonable number to start with and eat that much for a few weeks. If I lose weight, I keep that number, if I don't, I reduce that number. Much easier and after a while you get really good at guessing what your starting point will need to be. When you have a weight loss stall, you can do the same thing, reduce calories a bit, give it a few weeks, and reevaluate.
    4. Yes. You should always try and increase weight over time. Lifting the same weight the same amount of times each week will not cause you to ever increase strength or muscle. You also should not be lifting the same weight for all exercises. Major muscle groups like quads, chest and back should be able to handle a much larger load then smaller muscles like biceps, and calves.
    5. Soy is probably okay. I say this because it is not studied enough. There are some claims and research that it can reduce testosterone levels in men (not a risk for you). I would say if you aren't eating any animal products, it's going to be next to impossible for you to get adequate protein without a healthy amount of soy. I'd say in your case, it's probably your best bet.

    Ok thank you. One more thing (sorry that I am so annoying).What do you mean by reasonable number? Do you mean to control the portions you eat for example to eat from the same plate ? Or you just don't eat too fatty foods or "junk food" most of the time ? Also is it ok to increase cal 100 at a time to build muscles ? And is it good to combine cardio with strenght training or just do strenght training ? And is 2 hours of strenght training a day too much and should I do one week with heavy and one with not so heavy weights ?
    By pick a reasonable number, I meant pick a reasonable number of calories to start with. [b ]For weight loss, generally 9-11 calories per lb you weigh is a good starting point. 12-16 calories per lb is usually a good guess for maintenance, and 16-17 is usually a good starting point to try and gain weight[/b]. If gaining weight in the form of muscle is your goal I'd suggest you try and eat just slightly over maintenance. As a women, a realistic goal for weight gain in a year is about 12 lbs. That's only 1/4 lb a week. That's kind of hard to keep track of. You essentially want to see the scale creeping up ever so slowly. If you are spending 2 hours strength training in the gym, your program probably needs tweaked, or scraped all together. I would recommend you get on a decent beginners lifting program. Something like ICF 5x5 or stronglifts. They can be completed in about 1-1.5 hours and are done 3 days a week. Either one would be a great choice. There is no reason to have a heavy day and a light day until you become a more advanced weight lifter.
    JEG617 wrote: »
    Do you track exercise? I watched your video about not eating your earned calories (and I agree with that)! Because I've been logging in my exercise, it confuses my food tracking. If you don't track exercise on MFP, where do you track it? I am new to MFP and IIFYM and following you has been a giant help to me. Thank you!
    I write all my workouts down in a workout log. It has what lifts I did, how many sets, and how much weight. You can also track them on MFP. I believe it has a function where you can manually add calories burned. What people who don't eat back exercises calories do is log the workout and manually add 1 calorie burned so it doesn't mess with your count.
    Do you mean 9-11 calories per lb net or + cal from workout ? Do I have to eat only 1160 cal (48kg )when I workout like 60-90 min a day (every day) ?
    This is just a starting number. It's the total calories per day to eat. If you workout a lot, you can probably get away with a little more. If you are sedentary you might need a little less. This is why you must use trial and error. I would guess that you really don't need to lose much more weight. For someone petite like you, weight will come off SLOWLY. I would be okay with 1/2 a lb weight loss per week. After about 5 or so lbs, I'd consider gaining weight in the form of lean muscle. After doing that for a period of time, I'd return to fat loss. This will have an overall positive effect on your physique.
    bwyon wrote: »
    how do you build the lean muscle?! ive lost all my weight and am lifting now
    In short, you eat in a surplus, get in adequate protein, and lift weights in a manner that progressively increases the weight lifted over time. That's it in a nutshell. This video explains it in more detail:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DcgwkZ-iq40
  • Likichina
    Likichina Posts: 50 Member
    I have no question that haven't been answered in your previous posts, just want to say.. congratulations! Awesome transformation :)
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