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

jrenaud3 wrote: »

Awesome! How tall are you? I am 6'2" and 255lbs. I would love to get below 200, as that is what every height/weight charts tells me. I haven't been that since high school. I've been working out on and off for a few years but the lowest I can get myself is 230lbs. For the first time I am trying to watch my food intake. Any advice would be great! Thanks.

I'm 6'1. Don't put too much faith into height and weight charts. They don't take body mass or structure in to account. For instance, someone with very little lean muscle could carry quite a bit of fat at 6'2 230 while an nfl player might be a solid block of muscle at the same stats.

mooo92 wrote: »

Hey, can I get thoughts on keto? Great progress pics btw, thats really motivating.

Also regarding weights and cardio, for the majority of your weight loss did you do them individually?

I am not a fan of keto diets. While they do work, because any calorie restriction diet will work, I do not like restricting whole groups of foods. I do not feel keto diets work any quicker or better. The advantage some might gain from trying ketosis is that they are able to be more compliant with a their calorie restriction as limiting your diet to only protein and fat can be quite satiating. Many people struggle with reintroducing carbs back into the diet and ultimately gain most if not all of the weight they lost. I do weights and cardio congruently (if I'm doing cardio at all). Doing cardio while eating in a deficit without weight training will lead to losses in lean mass. It is much harder to build muscle then lose fat so you want to maintain as much of it as possible during the cutting phase.

saltypancakez wrote: »

Firstly, congratulations to you! You transformed yourself and look great! You are an inspiration to all!

I apologize in advance if you have been asked this before in this thread, but have you had any plateaus in your journey and what did you do when you reached them? You worked out harder? Just were patient? Or kick started it again by eating high-calorie food for a couple of days? Something else I don't know of?

PS: I am SO hoping you will say 'I ate a chocolate cake!'

Stalls in weight loss are usually caused by 2 things. For most people, the problem is that they are eating too much. Plain and simple. Even if you are tracking calories and don't appear to be eating too much, you need to examine how strict you are with your counting and measuring. If you are absolutely confident that your counting is extremely accurate (weighing foods, no cheat days/meals, not forgetting, not using measuring cups for solid foods, not eating out, etc) then the problem is most likely water retention. You can see no movement in the scale for as long as a month due to water retention. For that, you can do nothing more than wait. This is why it's so important to be 100% sure of your calorie counting. If you waste a month waiting for water retention to clear up when in reality your counting is just off, you just wasted a month. You will not kick start anything other than fat storage by eating high calories for a couple of days. It unfortunately doesn't work that way. Refeeds can be a useful tool to break water retention but those are best used for people who are already lean and looking to get extremely lean.

Jessica92xx wrote: »

Since there are at least 52 pages I haven't read them all, I'm sorry. However, my question:
I'd love to be more fit. I lost about 8 kilo's (don't know what that is in stones/pounds/etc.) and still want to shed a few. However, I also want to become more fit and muscular. Staying feminine of course, but being just skinny isn't what I'm longing for. I want to look athletic. And I do want to work for it, but I have had pretty bad lower back pain & instability issues so I don't have the guts to just start not knowing what I'm doing. Do you have any tips? Right now I'm doing Body Balance from Les Mills and a bit of exercising to strengthen my back at the gym, but that's just a bit of body maintainance in my opinion. How could I start with the weight lifting without damaging my body? I am pretty much recovered now, but there's been a time I could barely ride a bike or travel by bus (let alone play sports or party) without a lot of pain and I don't ever want to go back there. Hence the worries about how to start.

Sorry for the long question, but English is not my native language and I found it quite hard to describe what I meant in a few words.

Furthermore I absolutely respect your progress, lifestyle and perseverance. It's lovely how you've turned your life around. And answering all these questions, you're an angel. Very motivating to know that we're not all alone in our battle.

Good luck and (hopefully) thanks in advance.

With back injuries you really need to get your advice from a professional. I too struggle with back problems and it limits quite a few of the exercises I can do. I would not be comfortable suggesting exercises for you as I do not personally know much about your injury, and even if I did, I'm not really qualified to give that kind of advice. I would seek out someone who is and have them develop a program for you to achieve your goals. I would lean towards a doctor of licensed therapist rather than simply a personal trainer.

kthom001 wrote: »

Hey, awesome job. Just wondering what your take is on using weight machines as opposed to free weights? I really like the circuit training area at the gym with all the machines, but I'm wondering if I'm doing the right thing. I just started and have about 100lbs to lose. I want to lose the weight and be ripped too. What do I do?

Machines have their place but your main lifts should be barbell or dumbbell. I will use machines for isolation exercises as well as for certain types of rows or lat pulldowns but for chest, I benchpress, for legs, I squat, I do dumbbell rows, dumbbell or barbell shoulder presses, etc.

Brocksterdanza wrote: »

Vismal, true inspiration man. I can't fully explain your impact on me today.

Question time:

1. I lost about 125 pounds a couple years ago after finding my mother had cancer. I began running and doing insanity. Obviously you know how that ends, I lost a ton of lean muscle. However, the scale moved 125 pounds, which was great for me. Now 2 years later, I have regained 25 pounds and am sitting about 250 (6'1, 37 years old, male). I am really wanting to see the scale move again but I certainly enjoy lifting as I do stronglifts. Is there a way that I can lift and still see the scale move? I do cardio after workouts, generally elliptical, stair machine, etc. Lifting does not prevent weight loss. If you eat in a deficit, you will lose weight.
2. I currently eat at roughly a 750 calorie a day deficit, should I up that amount to 1000 a day? How do you know you are in a 750 calorie deficit? If you aren't losing any weight, I'd guess that you weren't. 750 is a fairly steep deficit to begin with, weight should be coming off at a decent pace. I'd examine your calorie counting methods. Give this guide a read: http://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/1296011/calorie-counting-101/p1
3. I very rarely get more than 5 days of workouts in a week... Lift 3 and do cardio of some sort on at least 4 days. Thoughts on this? That sounds fine

I would certainly appreciate your responses. Thank you so much be being there for us. I now have a go to person that has been there, done that.

Any chance you will add me as a friend? You are a true inspiration.

Thanks for your insights,

Coach

Answers in bold

MellowGa wrote: »

Hey Vismal, you are a great inspiration! I weigh about 174lbs, I am 5'8" I am about to start the 5x5 Strong lift program, I have built myself a Gym in my basement with a squat rack and Dumbbells, Now I would not classify myself as an experienced lifter, I did follow the New Rules of lifting program here and there. But my question is, starting this new program, how do I know what is a decent weight to start at without injuring myself because I tried to much to fast, I want to be cautious but also want to increase my strength. What would you say is a good starting weight for a novice for Squats, Bench, row? Basically how do I know I am lifting to little or to much? I am looking for that sweet spot of creating muscle, but not injuring my self. Thanks in advance.

You want to start with a weight that you can easily do for all 5 reps of all 5 sets with good form. Form is the most important thing for a beginner to master. It far outweighs how much weight you push. So if you start with a weight that by the end is really a struggle, you will stall out very early and are much more likely to compromise your form. I'm not saying make it so light you don't feel it at all, but again, you should easily finish the required sets and reps. Once you finish all sets and reps for the required lift, and your form is good, you move the weight up.