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

holybell wrote: »

siuvai wrote: »

Question.. As a women starting my weight loss journey. I want to get toned I'm 244 lbs would it be wise for a women to do the 5X5 PROGRAM? I do not want to bulk up from lifting weight but also do not want hangy skin..

I personally think you would be fine doing that program, but know your limits. On the topic of bulking up and loose skin, two things.

1. Women do not have the necessary amount of hormones needed to "bulk up." By lifting, you will get that fit look that most people want.
2. Lifting will somewhat help with the prevention of loose skin in my opinion, but it also depends on your body.

So all in all, try the 5x5 and see if that what fits for you. And don't worry about loose skin, getting healthy is the main goal.

Hope this helps.

I don't think that lifting really helps as much with loose skin as is often reported. You simply do not build muscle at a rate to ever come close to filling in all the space the fat once took up. Time, age, and genetics will be the much more dominate factor in determining how much loose skin you develop and how much it will recover.

antwanettey wrote: »

Congratulations that's awesome one day I hope to be a success story !!! I'm just starting any advice ?

Get extremely accurate at counting calories. It is the single most important thing I ever learned to do.

cmlivsey wrote: »

Hey u look great! Congrats. How did u do it?

This entire thread is about how I did it.

laurajune72 wrote: »

Hello there. I have read I think most of your posts. And I saw one I think that says you read a bunch on the science of nutrition and dieting. I am a reader and believe knowledge is power. Recommended reading? I am female looking to lose a bunch of weight currently doing strength training and cardio and eating "clean". But in my 40's so it is slow going and frustrating. Yup... Weighing and measuring.

My two favorite authors are Lyle McDonald (www.bodyrecomposition.com) and Alan Aragon (alanaragon.com/). They both have written several books and have lots of free reading material on their websites.

Oldbitcollector wrote: »

@vismal -- Checking in! Down 21lbs today thanks in part to your inspiration and some really great food ideas!

Thanks man! See you at the next 20..

Awesome work! Keep it up!

CowboyTweeks1102 wrote: »

Hey! Great Job! I know there a lot of questions being thrown around but mine is ... Did you have any issues with stretch marks or pigmentation? If so did they lessen with weight loss? Are they more or less visual?

I have some very mild stretch marks. You can see them a little bit in the winter time when I have no tan. During the summer, they are basically invisible.

kaykaymichellee wrote: »

How did u set up your calories mostly carbs, fats,proteins?

This is the method I use

mkstevet wrote: »

I apologize if this has been asked before but during your cutting phase how consistent was your weight loss? We're there weeks that you didn't lose anything and if so did you make any alterations to your diet/exercise or did you keep at it? Thanks!

Weight loss is rarely linear. There are times when I won't lose weight for up to 3 weeks. Because I am very confident in my calorie counting, I don't let this bother me. I know I am in a deficit, and despite the scale not showing it, fat is being lost. Usually after about 3 or so weeks the scale catches up. If more time than that goes by, I explore possible causes (inaccurate tracking, lower than normal daily physical activity, recent increase in sodium intake, etc). For beginners, it's almost always a case of inaccurate tracking. It's the first thing I'd examine if weight loss stalled. For the more advanced calorie counter, it's usually water retention that will resolve itself. Making adjustments after a week of no losses is silly, it could be a million different things. I would wait at least 3 weeks to look for any problems (besides inaccurate tracking, there is never a bad time to examine tracking!)

Scrntn wrote: »

I am a female, 5'1 and 135lbs. Most of it is fat though. I am going to start following a PPL routine but am not sure how many calories I should be eating. I do need to lose fat. Should I eat at maintence, or lower? Any suggesstions for TDEE - a certain number of cals?

Knowing whether fat loss or muscle gain should come first is hard to determine without seeing pictures of your physique. My guess based solely on height and weight would be fat loss first, but again, I'd need to see your physique to give a more informed opinion. I'd also have to take your long term goals into consideration. Calories to eat per day would totally depend on whether or not fat loss or muscle gain was the goal. I would not run a PPL routine as a novice. They are better suited for intermediate/advanced lifters. While It's better then a single body part split, something like a proven beginners program would be better.

Eskay11 wrote: »

I want to lose weight and I would like to consider myself as very dedicated haha .... but I don't want to sell myself dreams. I currently weight 160 pounds and I am exactly 5 ft tall

Losing weight doesn't have to be a dream. If you utilize proper diet and exercise, you can reach any reasonable goal you set.

Kimgreen27 wrote: »

When u started did u just eat daily cals or did u eat daily cals and workout cals?

I never ate back workout calories. It's confusing and most people underestimate what they eat and overestimate what they burn. I find it easier to just pick any reasonable calorie number for a goal, eat that number for a few weeks, then adjust based on actual results.