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

ashleigharmour wrote: »

well done on your amazing weight loss you look amazing!
i was wondering whats the best exercise routine to help burn fat?

A good diet! To lose fat you need to create a calorie deficit. You do this by eating less then you burn in a day. Exercise will cause you to burn more calories but generally diet will create the bulk of your deficit. As far as good exercises to do while losing fat, weight lifting! It will ensure that less muscle is lost during the weight loss process so that more of what you use is fat. Cardio can create some additional calorie burn, but unless you are doing tons of it, diet will still be the most important factor in losing fat.

LR11036 wrote: »

I am going for a larger weight loss myself. I have lost 13 lbs already and going strong. Did you have any loose skin after you dropped the weight? And if yes, what did you do to tighten it up?

I've answered this question several times in the thread. Go back a few pages, there's even a video I posted on the topic.

hayner78 wrote: »

Been a big fan of yours for awhile! Dropped from 380ish to 240ish now, just wish I discovered your YouTube channel long before! Quick question...

I've been doing StrongLifts since January 1 but will be switching up to ICF next week. I'm still cutting, so would you recommend the cutting version of the program or just man-up and do the full thing?

Thanks in advance!

hayner78 wrote: »

Been a big fan of yours for awhile! Dropped from 380ish to 240ish now, just wish I discovered your YouTube channel long before! Quick question...

I've been doing StrongLifts since January 1 but will be switching up to ICF next week. I'm still cutting, so would you recommend the cutting version of the program or just man-up and do the full thing?

Thanks in advance!

If you were a complete newbie I'd say do the 5x5 but since you've been lifting since January, I'd do the cutting version.

Feeltheburn808 wrote: »

I'm trying to gain muscle for summer in a few months. I'm 5'7 and 161 lbs with 30% body fat. Due to your huge success, you know what you're talking about. So I have a few questions:
Do you know the military diet? I'm on it Rn and I hear a lot of success stories but with a few critics saying its starvation and just water weight loss. What is your opinion on it if you know it?

What is the best weight training workout routine for a beginner to gain as much muscle possible in a healthy way for this summer? I'm assuming I have to eat lots of protein along with it.

The military diet is a 3 day diet. Any 4 day diet, IMO, is worthless. You will lose mostly water. Even if you fasted for 3 days, the most you'd lose in fat is a few pounds. You'd lose lots of water, but not a lot of fat. It offers nothing in the way of long term weight loss of maintenance. It certainly will not work as a muscle building diet.

As far as gaining muscle, you need to do 3 things. Eat in a calorie surplus (more food per day then you burn), get in adequate protein, and lift weights. Eating in a surplus will cause you to gain weight. Building muscle is an anabolic process and requires excess fuel to work efficiently. While some beginners can make very small muscles gains while losing weight, it's not a lot and it's only for a short period of time. To gain muscle optimally, you need to be gaining weight. As far as protein, eating about 0.8 grams/lb you weigh should be plenty. For a weight lifting program, I always recommend beginners do a total body, 5x5 program. ICF 5x5 is my favorite. Just know that when you gain muscle, you will also be adding some fat. This is why most people interested in muscle gains must do bulk/cut cycles. It where we gain muscle (with some fat gain) for a period of time and then switch to a fat burning phase for a while. The idea is to build as much muscle as possible while keeping fat gains minimal in the bulking phase, then to lose as much fat as possible while keeping muscle losses to a minimum in the fat burning phase. For a female, gaining about 1 lb a month is usually optimal. It will keep muscle gains high relative to fat gains. Gaining any quicker will result in unnecessary fat gains, and any slower will result in sub optimal muscle gains.

dr_annebg wrote: »

Wow, I have just started about a month ago and losing weight dramatically. I have wanted to train lifting but people are discouraging me to do it. They say I am still too heavy and I might injure myself. Why did you say you wish you started lifting at day 1? Would it make a difference as far as loose skin is concerned? That is my biggest fear now.

Don't listen to them. You are never to big to lift weights. Many of the strongest men in the world (elite strongmen and powerlifters) are obese. The reason I wish I would have started lifting earlier is that I would have retained a bit more muscle mass then I did. I'd have also had a 6 month head start on strength training. Loose skin is ganna happen if it's ganna happen. Nothing is going to prevent it. Just don't focus on it. Loose skin and healthy is WAY better then fat and unhealthy. Trust me!

justjack18 wrote: »

I have been reading all the pages the last few days and you are such an inspiration. You look amazing! You should be so proud of yourself congrats!!! I started reading this because I've hit a plateau and it started after I gave birth to my son who is now 2. Its Basically taken me 2 years to lose 15 pounds, but let me start from the beginning. My starting weight was 279 in 2007. I got down to about 190 in 2010 just by eating less, I was doing nothing formal, just small portions. Then in 2012 I decided I wanted to lose more so I started myfitnesspal. I was very strict and lost about 40 pounds in 3 months, so I got down to about 150 and kept it off until I got pregnant. I only gained about 30 pounds during the pregnancy and lost about 20 of it right after giving birth but since then I've been playing around with the same freaking 10 pounds for 2 years. I want to get down to 139 as my goal, and right now Iam 163. for 2 years I've been doing 1200 calories to no success really, or slow. like 1/2 pound a month. I've been weighing everything in grams and started excersizing again. I feel like I have no metabolism if that makes sense. the only way I really lose is when Iam eating like 700/900 calories a day and it's just not doable for me most days. I do have a thyroid condition but Iam on medicine for it so I see no reason why my weight is stalled so much, do you have any advice for me? Iam desperate as I would love to get this extra weight off before I have another pregnancy/ child. Also, maybe your fiancé deals with this, during my period I will gain like 4 pounds and then it takes me week to lose it, it's a never ending cycle, I thought it was just bloat, water weight but it doesn't easily come off.....thanks for any advice you could give, keep up the amazing work!!!!!!

Normally when people aren't having good results eating what should be few enough calories to cause them, I say look to accuracy of tracking. I see you are weighing thing. This is good. How about cheat days? How often do you have them. Don't say never because we ALL have them. What about eating at restaurants of with friends and family when you don't prepare the food? As far as the thyroid goes, when was the last time your levels were checked? Were they within normal range? If not, this could be a big contributor to your problem. As far as your period goes, it's water weight. Unless you are eating more calories to gain fat during your period, it can't be anything other than water weight. Rapid weight gain is much like rapid weight loss, unless your calories are extreme, its almost always water.

JonasLifts wrote: »

Hellllooo please replyy to me i need to get my mind right i have been doing IIFYM my weight has been going down on the scale but not much body change in visual is that normal?

Need more information. How much have you lost, how long have you been tracking things? Typically it takes a least a month to notice a real difference in the mirror.