How do you go from 300+ to 200lbs? Ugh!
Replies
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Just saw something that was shared in another post I skimmed that I know not to be true.
Muscle tissue only contributes around 6 calories per pound:
https://www.ncsf.org/enew/articles/articles-poundofmuscle.aspx
So adding 10 pounds of muscle (which is pretty hard to do in a deficit) will earn you ... a small cookie. Not a lot of calories.3 -
Since November I've gone from 363lbs to 279. My goal is 185lbs so I still have a ways to go. You can do it. Persistence is key!2
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All good advice here....I'll add that there's no need for it to be a white knuckle ride. Cook and eat at home when you can, but if you go out to eat or to a party or on vacation, relax. This does not require perfection, it requires pretty good most the time.2
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Hi Folks, I'm a newbie. Mid 40's and somehow scales tipped over 323 lbs. 200 lbs is the mark, need to get there, please help!
What's your waist measurement? 1/1/y2k my waist measurement was 54", but I don't know what I weighed. That was the day I decided to quit trying to kill myself with food. I quit eating Jack-in-the-Box Ultimate Cheeseburgers.
I quit eating Sonic Large Chocolate Milkshakes. I quit using Party Size Nacho Cheese Doritos as a commute to work snack. I quit eating breakfast at home, in my car, and at work on the same day. I quit eating dinner in my car on the way home and at a restaurant with my wife on the same day. To reach and maintain a weight over 300lb, you had to have done similarly extravagant feats of consumption daily. Simply by quitting the most extravagant things, I lost close to 100 lb over the course of a few months and maintained at about that level for 15 years before discovering myfitnesspal and becoming able to resume losing weight. The first 100 lb you lose are the easiest.7 -
bad_dog_ny wrote: »I am currently in the same boat. I started at 336 and I'm now down to 265. Setting your calorie goal in MFP is important, and creating a calorie deficit will help you lose weight. But do not underestimate the importance of exercise. While MFP only calculates cardio exercise for additional exercise calories earned, strength training is far more important in the long run. Not only does it burn calories (MFP does jot count them because they are much harder to calculate), but every pound of lean muscle also burns about 75 calories a day, even at rest. Also, especially if you are diabetic, and even if not, toned muscle utilizes insulin far better thus burning the calories you eat more efficiently. My insulin intake went from 140 units per day and is already down to 25 in just a matter of months back at the gym. It started to decline steeply in just 2 weeks, showing I was using insulin better. Plus muscle looks good, and if you can put on 10 pounds of lean muscle you will burn about 750 extra calories a day. That's over a pound of fat every 5 days. For most men it is not that difficult to put on 10 pounds of muscle, and you should not look at just your weight as a measure of fitness. You are better off at a muscular 210 than you are at a flabby 200... and the extra muscle will make it much easier to maintain your weight. I have been fit and muscular much of my life, but I slacked off after I got married, developing diabetes and other health problems. I have lost weight dieting before, but my health problems did not really start to subside until I started taking working out again very seriously. You don't have to do a lot. I strength train every other day, and do cardio everyday. I know it sounds like a lot, but here's a trick. You probably watch a fair about of television. Get a Netflix subscription and choose a program that you will only watch (on a phone or tablet) while doing your cardio. Find something addictive, binge worthy. I started with Breaking Bad which you can download so you don't even need an internet connection at the gym. Episodes are 47 minutes. Doing 47 minutes on an elliptical or a treadmill goes much faster when you are distracted in this way. Don't worry about speed, figure out your target heart rate and go from there.
Try to keep your heart rate in that zone and you will find that suddenly you have to up your game to reach that heart rate. Watching Breaking Bad I logged over 400 miles on various machines. For strength training right now I only do 2 sets per body part every other day, and I still have not started on any core exercise, the abdomen and lower back, as I carry most of my excess weight there and it is difficult to do these. That will come later. I would also suggest super setting and circuit training to save some time. Super setting is when you work opposing muscle groups, so you do not have to rest as long between sets. So you do a set for the chest that and then a set for the back then another for the chest and then another for the back. Biceps and triceps is another good group to oppose each other. I then Do shoulders and legs, which is a combination circuit and superset. Shoulders and legs are not related, and the calf is not really related much to the upper leg. So that sort of makes it a circuit as opposed to a superset. However, when I do this routine and instead of doing squats or leg presses I do leg extensions and leg curls, that is a superset in the middle of the circuit. It also adds an exercise to my routine. Every 2 to 3 weeks you should change the exercises you are doing for each muscle group. So for a few weeks I will do a routine such as bench presses and rows two sets each, and I will switch to flies and lat pull-downs for a couple of weeks. I will do leg presses for a couple of weeks, and then switch to leg extensions and leg curls. Unfortunately calf raises are the only exercise I can think to do for the calf, but you could do them the different ways and change the angle a bit. You should also change up your cardio. I generally do treadmill on the days that I Strength train, and elliptical on the days that I do not. You can do this quicker than 40 or 50 minutes, but the longer you go the more calories you earn to eat back. As they said above, only eat back about 50% of the calories you earn. If you are using machines, be sure to enter your current weight to get a more accurate calorie count, but even that will NOT be spot-on, that's why you should not eat back more than 50%. Always get your heart rate into the target zone for a minimum of 20 minutes.
When I do a short workout I usually find a half-hour program to watch (Portlandia right now) I pump the elliptical very hard for the first 2 minutes and get my heart rate up, and then I maintain that for 21 or 22 minutes. I will do this sometimes on days I Strength train because for whatever reason I don't have the time to be in the gym that long. My gym is Cheap, Planet Fitness only $10 a month. If you can't afford a gym there are many exercises you can do at home with no weights at all, or with a cheap dumbbell set you can get at a garage sale. Walking is free...just keep a good pace and check your heart rate. Even if you can't maintain a HR at first, keep moving. The bottom line is you need to get moving and do something or maintaining any weight loss will be nearly impossible. And this is not a diet, it is a new lifestyle. You will always have to watch your portions and track your weight and your Fitness, and adjust accordingly. That doesn't mean you can never go to a party again, it just means that the week before or the week after you may have to be a little more strict with yourself. I know I went on for a while, but this is really important stuff and you cannot underestimate it. I did not gain my weight until I stopped my workouts. I really feel that activity is the key Fitness. Calories are important, but activity will burn those calories more effectively. START OFF SLOW, and build up as you udentify your limits. I woyld suggest abkut 12 reps per set to start, then add weight until you can't do 12...but can do at least 8. Stay there until you can do 12 again then add a few pounds.
For cardiovascular start easy for a few weeks but monitor your heart, then push a little harder each time until you are maintaining 75%-85% of your maximum heart rate. Do some research to calculate this and determine your most appropriate zone. We can take control of this thing, and it's not nearly as hard as it seems when you first start. Good luck, and feel free to contact me directly if you need any support or advice. I am on the same Journey, but managed to stay fit for a very long time after a pudgy childhood. I simply forgot my body's natural tendencies and let them get away from me. There is no magic pill or potion, just diligence and determination. Best to you.
Good Points above - simple and practical 0 -
Yikes. It doesn't take a novel on health and fitness to achieve health and fitness. I personally find that kind of thing to be overwhelming and discouraging (no disrespect).
Start with getting your calorie intake right (and perhaps a focus on protein) and just being a little more active. The rest will fall into place.5 -
Make a solid plan with realistic goals write it down and stick to it.
Prepare yourself to become very disciplined
Take weekly a picture of your body, much better than a scale for short term motivation.
Weigh yourself daily for the long term motivation, don't give any attention to the weight going up and down. That is mostly due to gaining and loosing water and feces.
Get some things in order:
- Start drinking water, a lot of it, nice goal is +3 liter a day, spread out over the day, your kidney's can handle a maximum of about 1 liter every hour.
– Make sure you sleep well, 8 or 9 hours, if not, change what is preventing you from a good night rest.
Blinds, new mattress, white noise generator, whatever.
- Try to get rid if as much stress as possible, well can't give you any advice here, don't know anything about your life.
- Relax now and then, If you have a busy job, make some time for yourself and do nothing.
Start with kicking the really some habits like:
– Junk food
– Sugar in coffee or tea
- Drinking soft drinks and juice
- No more candy bars
- No more alcohol
Pick up some good habits:
- Start logging your food intake
- Sign up at a gym
- Start eating clean food, gather recipes you like
- Start eating smaller amounts per meal.
- Start walking about 10.000 steps a day
If you go to the gym two or three times a week, start off slowly! I know you will be very motivated in the beginning and want to hit the ground running. You probably will have an injury within a week or two. Do some cardio and weight lifting.
You will probably gain weight! That is due to the muscles you are gaining, at your weight it is very easy to gain muscles, you want to have a bigger muscle mass:
1) muscles, even if you don't use them they use energy (burn fat).
2) They motivate loosing weight, as soon as you can feel these muscles but can't see them you will understand why.
3) Your skin will look less flabby once you start loosing fat.
4) As you have a high muscle mass you will sooner reach a healthy fat percentage.
Start doing this for a about three months, the first month you will probably gain some weight and loose that amount in the next two months.
After these three months, you are used to smaller size meals, are used to clean food, know what your calorie maintenance is, build up some muscle mass, sleep 8+ hours a night and are stress “free”.
Now you are ready to create a calorie deficit, keep going to the gym for cardio and maintenance of your muscle mass. (you want to loose your fat, not your muscles).
DO NOT FOLLOW THIS. Seriously??? A liter of fluid an hour????
A lot of it is unwise and just plain wrong. Keep reading for better advice.8 -
Make a solid plan with realistic goals write it down and stick to it.
Prepare yourself to become very disciplined
Take weekly a picture of your body, much better than a scale for short term motivation.
Weigh yourself daily for the long term motivation, don't give any attention to the weight going up and down. That is mostly due to gaining and loosing water and feces.
Get some things in order:
- Start drinking water, a lot of it, nice goal is +3 liter a day, spread out over the day, your kidney's can handle a maximum of about 1 liter every hour.
– Make sure you sleep well, 8 or 9 hours, if not, change what is preventing you from a good night rest.
Blinds, new mattress, white noise generator, whatever.
- Try to get rid if as much stress as possible, well can't give you any advice here, don't know anything about your life.
- Relax now and then, If you have a busy job, make some time for yourself and do nothing.
Start with kicking the really some habits like:
– Junk food
– Sugar in coffee or tea
- Drinking soft drinks and juice
- No more candy bars
- No more alcohol
Pick up some good habits:
- Start logging your food intake
- Sign up at a gym
- Start eating clean food, gather recipes you like
- Start eating smaller amounts per meal.
- Start walking about 10.000 steps a day
If you go to the gym two or three times a week, start off slowly! I know you will be very motivated in the beginning and want to hit the ground running. You probably will have an injury within a week or two. Do some cardio and weight lifting.
You will probably gain weight! That is due to the muscles you are gaining, at your weight it is very easy to gain muscles, you want to have a bigger muscle mass:
1) muscles, even if you don't use them they use energy (burn fat).
2) They motivate loosing weight, as soon as you can feel these muscles but can't see them you will understand why.
3) Your skin will look less flabby once you start loosing fat.
4) As you have a high muscle mass you will sooner reach a healthy fat percentage.
Start doing this for a about three months, the first month you will probably gain some weight and loose that amount in the next two months.
After these three months, you are used to smaller size meals, are used to clean food, know what your calorie maintenance is, build up some muscle mass, sleep 8+ hours a night and are stress “free”.
Now you are ready to create a calorie deficit, keep going to the gym for cardio and maintenance of your muscle mass. (you want to loose your fat, not your muscles).
what a bunch of garbage advice! most of it wrong/totally unnecessary!3 -
Mavrick_RN wrote: »Make a solid plan with realistic goals write it down and stick to it.
Prepare yourself to become very disciplined
Take weekly a picture of your body, much better than a scale for short term motivation.
Weigh yourself daily for the long term motivation, don't give any attention to the weight going up and down. That is mostly due to gaining and loosing water and feces.
Get some things in order:
- Start drinking water, a lot of it, nice goal is +3 liter a day, spread out over the day, your kidney's can handle a maximum of about 1 liter every hour.
– Make sure you sleep well, 8 or 9 hours, if not, change what is preventing you from a good night rest.
Blinds, new mattress, white noise generator, whatever.
- Try to get rid if as much stress as possible, well can't give you any advice here, don't know anything about your life.
- Relax now and then, If you have a busy job, make some time for yourself and do nothing.
Start with kicking the really some habits like:
– Junk food
– Sugar in coffee or tea
- Drinking soft drinks and juice
- No more candy bars
- No more alcohol
Pick up some good habits:
- Start logging your food intake
- Sign up at a gym
- Start eating clean food, gather recipes you like
- Start eating smaller amounts per meal.
- Start walking about 10.000 steps a day
If you go to the gym two or three times a week, start off slowly! I know you will be very motivated in the beginning and want to hit the ground running. You probably will have an injury within a week or two. Do some cardio and weight lifting.
You will probably gain weight! That is due to the muscles you are gaining, at your weight it is very easy to gain muscles, you want to have a bigger muscle mass:
1) muscles, even if you don't use them they use energy (burn fat).
2) They motivate loosing weight, as soon as you can feel these muscles but can't see them you will understand why.
3) Your skin will look less flabby once you start loosing fat.
4) As you have a high muscle mass you will sooner reach a healthy fat percentage.
Start doing this for a about three months, the first month you will probably gain some weight and loose that amount in the next two months.
After these three months, you are used to smaller size meals, are used to clean food, know what your calorie maintenance is, build up some muscle mass, sleep 8+ hours a night and are stress “free”.
Now you are ready to create a calorie deficit, keep going to the gym for cardio and maintenance of your muscle mass. (you want to loose your fat, not your muscles).
DO NOT FOLLOW THIS. Seriously??? A liter of fluid an hour????
A lot of it is unwise and just plain wrong. Keep reading for better advice.
Did you actually read the comment? "your kidney's can handle a maximum of about 1 liter every hour." (Emphasis mine)
There's a bit that's wrong (weight gain due to exercise is more likely to be water retention, usefulness of "clean" food is arguable) but it's mostly solid. Just a lot at once.
OP, I'd suggest simply weighing and logging everything you eat for a week or so. It's a damn pain, but it does get easier with practice. And it will help you become more aware of portion size and how much you've been eating. That will help you figure out what changes you want to start with.0 -
^Beat me to it!
OP all you need to do is plug your stats into the calculator to get your calorie goal then be careful with logging. Weigh and measure what you can, don't guess. Take a long-term view and try to add some exercise now/later, when you can. Read the stickies if you have time. All it takes is persistence - don't let the odd bad day set you back, just move on and stick with the plan. Good luck!0 -
@DuncanAA means well and there is some truth in there. But it's too much to grab at once. Plus, don't worry about all the "no this, no that" rules. Trying to tackle all of that together can be too overwhelming.
I would condense it substantially. Take a step at a time. Read the stickies. Measure your food weight and log. Move more. Have patience, even when you fluctuate. (You can't stop fluctuation).
But, to address the OP's intent, which I believe has to do with a goal that looks daunting, go to the Success Stories message board. Visit often. You'll see many folks who have done what you want to do, along with those who have given their own testimonials in this thread.2 -
For consistent weight loss, I really like the ketogenic / paleo way of eating. I adjusted my macros to 45% protein; 40% fat and 15% sugar/carbs.
Go slowly and steady to minimize sagging skin. Eat a lot of healthy organic fats and protein to nourish and build muscle and skin while you lose the fat. Counter-intuitive, but true.
Paleo recipes are all over the web. I do like Paleo leap and Paleo tribe. For me, eating low carb and low sugar all of the time some amazing things happened:- I don't crave sugar (I have an entire box of Charms Wild Berry Blow Pops in my file drawer that I haven't touched since November because I don't crave sugar; I once measured my stress level by how many of them I consumed in one day);
- My moods are more even and I don't have blood sugar spikes and crashes;
- By consuming more healthy fats my joints don't hurt as much and I am more or less satiated on 1400 calories.
Note: For you, your calories will be different, but the principle is the same. I also kept my maintenance calories the same as my weight loss calories - I eat the amount for the size I want to be and maintain rather than for weight loss alone. That way, it's a way of life not just to lose weight. So far I am happy with the results.
For reasons why good fat is essential to health and satiety, see this website:
https://www.westonaprice.org/health-topics/know-your-fats/good-fats-bad-fats-separating-fact-from-fiction/
Also check out the video Fat, Sick, Nearly Dead. It's free here: http://www.fatsickandnearlydead.com/
Note: fiber is essential on low carb diets because without sufficient carbs your bowels won't work as well as they should. There are good carbs and bad carbs for your bowels and your life. White beans (like navy beans) are needed. Fermented foods are needed (think kimchi, fermented sauerkraut). Once you get close to your ideal goal add the beans and look also at fermented bean paste, called miso. Miso / kimchi work well in blended meals (see Joe's Fat, Sick, Nearly Dead for recipe ideas).
I make mine up for the week and add raw apple cider vinegar as well as miso paste and kimchi so that as the week progresses the blended food ferments. By Friday it's tangy and dang good. I also add psyllium seed to thicken it so that it looks like "soup". This goes to work with me in a mason jar.
While I wasn't able to cut out my allergy medicine / prednisone on food alone (like he did), I did find that by taking a low-dose adrenal supplement (80 mgs) and 7-keto DHEA (100 mgs) that my stress / allergy response was much reduced. For the short term other than walking "more" just take the time to re-set your body and begin to listen to it.
See this website:
https://www.yourhormones.com/signs-symptoms/
https://stopthethyroidmadness.com/adrenal-info/
In the mean time add some rice bran powder (Now brand) plus psyllium (Bob's Red Mill) to your breakfast smoothie (I like a combination of 12 oz unsweetened coconut milk, 2 TBSP egg white, 2 TBSP hemp protein, 1 TBSP ground flax or chia seed, 1 teasp l-glutamine, 1 teasp moringa powder with the 1 TBSP rice bran powder / 1 teasp psyllium. It is palatable, but an acquired taste. To me it tastes like I blended wheat-a-bix in milk.)
This is very filling 224 calories, anti-inflammatory and high in good fiber. Note: flax (like soy) has estrogen in it - not recommended long term.
For men, specifically, don't neglect key minerals:
https://www.westonaprice.org/health-topics/man-in-the-iron-mask-the-holistic-treatment-of-mens-diseases/- Also, get a FitBit Alta HR. This will help in so many ways: how many times are you waking up at night; how far are you walking; what is your resting heart rate; what is your peak heart rate;
- DO NOT eat back your calories!!! EVER!!! (At least not until you are running five miles, biking 20 miles and swimming across the lake and back!)
- GET A FOOD SCALE!!! Weigh your food and log everything - even if you are not having a good day. Get lots of friends and keep your diary open so that they can keep you honest.
Good Luck and Welcome!0 -
If it seems overwhelming, start with small changes. Increase your water intake (100 oz a day has helped me a lot), stock up on high protein foods, eliminate one major carb food a week, etc. Also, see your doctor. Mine had me get blood work done and determined that higher fat/lower carb would be best for me. I am finishing up on the drastic part (the first 8 weeks) of under 1000 calories a day and am moving up to 1300. I've lost 34 lbs since April!0
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For consistent weight loss, I really like the ketogenic / paleo way of eating. I adjusted my macros to 45% protein; 40% fat and 15% sugar/carbs.
Go slowly and steady to minimize sagging skin. Eat a lot of healthy organic fats and protein to nourish and build muscle and skin while you lose the fat. Counter-intuitive, but true.
Paleo recipes are all over the web. I do like Paleo leap and Paleo tribe. For me, eating low carb and low sugar all of the time some amazing things happened:- I don't crave sugar (I have an entire box of Charms Wild Berry Blow Pops in my file drawer that I haven't touched since November because I don't crave sugar; I once measured my stress level by how many of them I consumed in one day);
- My moods are more even and I don't have blood sugar spikes and crashes;
- By consuming more healthy fats my joints don't hurt as much and I am more or less satiated on 1400 calories.
Note: For you, your calories will be different, but the principle is the same. I also kept my maintenance calories the same as my weight loss calories - I eat the amount for the size I want to be and maintain rather than for weight loss alone. That way, it's a way of life not just to lose weight. So far I am happy with the results.
For reasons why good fat is essential to health and satiety, see this website:
https://www.westonaprice.org/health-topics/know-your-fats/good-fats-bad-fats-separating-fact-from-fiction/
Also check out the video Fat, Sick, Nearly Dead. It's free here: http://www.fatsickandnearlydead.com/
Note: fiber is essential on low carb diets because without sufficient carbs your bowels won't work as well as they should. There are good carbs and bad carbs for your bowels and your life. White beans (like navy beans) are needed. Fermented foods are needed (think kimchi, fermented sauerkraut). Once you get close to your ideal goal add the beans and look also at fermented bean paste, called miso. Miso / kimchi work well in blended meals (see Joe's Fat, Sick, Nearly Dead for recipe ideas).
I make mine up for the week and add raw apple cider vinegar as well as miso paste and kimchi so that as the week progresses the blended food ferments. By Friday it's tangy and dang good. I also add psyllium seed to thicken it so that it looks like "soup". This goes to work with me in a mason jar.
While I wasn't able to cut out my allergy medicine / prednisone on food alone (like he did), I did find that by taking a low-dose adrenal supplement (80 mgs) and 7-keto DHEA (100 mgs) that my stress / allergy response was much reduced. For the short term other than walking "more" just take the time to re-set your body and begin to listen to it.
See this website:
https://www.yourhormones.com/signs-symptoms/
https://stopthethyroidmadness.com/adrenal-info/
In the mean time add some rice bran powder (Now brand) plus psyllium (Bob's Red Mill) to your breakfast smoothie (I like a combination of 12 oz unsweetened coconut milk, 2 TBSP egg white, 2 TBSP hemp protein, 1 TBSP ground flax or chia seed, 1 teasp l-glutamine, 1 teasp moringa powder with the 1 TBSP rice bran powder / 1 teasp psyllium. It is palatable, but an acquired taste. To me it tastes like I blended wheat-a-bix in milk.)
This is very filling 224 calories, anti-inflammatory and high in good fiber. Note: flax (like soy) has estrogen in it - not recommended long term.
For men, specifically, don't neglect key minerals:
https://www.westonaprice.org/health-topics/man-in-the-iron-mask-the-holistic-treatment-of-mens-diseases/- Also, get a FitBit Alta HR. This will help in so many ways: how many times are you waking up at night; how far are you walking; what is your resting heart rate; what is your peak heart rate;
- DO NOT eat back your calories!!! EVER!!! (At least not until you are running five miles, biking 20 miles and swimming across the lake and back!)
- GET A FOOD SCALE!!! Weigh your food and log everything - even if you are not having a good day. Get lots of friends and keep your diary open so that they can keep you honest.
Good Luck and Welcome!
And it is answers like this and the other list of do and don't that you need to learn to ignore. You don't need a lot of unnecessary rules to get started. Work out what works for you and understand that there will be a lot of bad advice on the way. Keep it simple to start and don't make it more difficult than it needs to be.9 -
aliciabruch wrote: »One very helpful thing for me has been adding recipe apps. FitMenCook is an awesome one.
Love it! Made his cottage cheese pancakes this AM!1 -
One pound at a time.
That sounds flippant but it is the truth. Determine your calorie goal by completing your MFP profile. Set it to lose 2 lbs per week. Eat those calories plus 50% of exercise calories you earn. After four weeks adjust your calories if you are losing too slowly or two quickly.
Best of luck to you!
This^
Eat "regular" food but measure & log your portions. After a time you will make changes to your diet. Some foods aren't as filling as you like, some foods aren't worth the calories, etc.....you will figure that out as you go.
My changes are more veggies & fruit. Less fast food (not zero fast food)......better choices.
The thing you don't want to do is make radical changes. You want to find some permanent changes so you keep the weight off.....in the future.
I make an effort to move more every day. Look for activity that you enjoy.2 -
Muscleflex79 wrote: »Make a solid plan with realistic goals write it down and stick to it.
Prepare yourself to become very disciplined
Take weekly a picture of your body, much better than a scale for short term motivation.
Weigh yourself daily for the long term motivation, don't give any attention to the weight going up and down. That is mostly due to gaining and loosing water and feces.
Get some things in order:
- Start drinking water, a lot of it, nice goal is +3 liter a day, spread out over the day, your kidney's can handle a maximum of about 1 liter every hour.
– Make sure you sleep well, 8 or 9 hours, if not, change what is preventing you from a good night rest.
Blinds, new mattress, white noise generator, whatever.
- Try to get rid if as much stress as possible, well can't give you any advice here, don't know anything about your life.
- Relax now and then, If you have a busy job, make some time for yourself and do nothing.
Start with kicking the really some habits like:
– Junk food
– Sugar in coffee or tea
- Drinking soft drinks and juice
- No more candy bars
- No more alcohol
Pick up some good habits:
- Start logging your food intake
- Sign up at a gym
- Start eating clean food, gather recipes you like
- Start eating smaller amounts per meal.
- Start walking about 10.000 steps a day
If you go to the gym two or three times a week, start off slowly! I know you will be very motivated in the beginning and want to hit the ground running. You probably will have an injury within a week or two. Do some cardio and weight lifting.
You will probably gain weight! That is due to the muscles you are gaining, at your weight it is very easy to gain muscles, you want to have a bigger muscle mass:
1) muscles, even if you don't use them they use energy (burn fat).
2) They motivate loosing weight, as soon as you can feel these muscles but can't see them you will understand why.
3) Your skin will look less flabby once you start loosing fat.
4) As you have a high muscle mass you will sooner reach a healthy fat percentage.
Start doing this for a about three months, the first month you will probably gain some weight and loose that amount in the next two months.
After these three months, you are used to smaller size meals, are used to clean food, know what your calorie maintenance is, build up some muscle mass, sleep 8+ hours a night and are stress “free”.
Now you are ready to create a calorie deficit, keep going to the gym for cardio and maintenance of your muscle mass. (you want to loose your fat, not your muscles).
what a bunch of garbage advice! most of it wrong/totally unnecessary!
Yep^
Drink some water? Probably, but it's not a set amount....hydration needs are an individual thing.
Sleep? Yes, but again (individual) some people are fully rested on less than 8 hours.
Eliminate - "junk," alcohol, candy? Elimination helps you DIET. Elimination doesn't often help you during maintenance though. Most people aren't going to eliminate forever, so eventually they need to work on moderation.
Sign up at the gym? There are plenty of people who lose weight and stay fit without a gym. Find something you enjoy, if that's a gym.....great. If it's not, keep looking. Strength training = good stuff!
"Clean" has a multitude of definitions and isn't necessary for weight loss. Weight loss is all about calories. Eating better is about health.3 -
You got this. Just get started eating less and moving more. Track it here! Remember you didn't gain it overnight you won't lose it overnight and stick with it no matter what!0
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bad_dog_ny wrote: »I am currently in the same boat. I started at 336 and I'm now down to 265. Setting your calorie goal in MFP is important, and creating a calorie deficit will help you lose weight. But do not underestimate the importance of exercise. While MFP only calculates cardio exercise for additional exercise calories earned, strength training is far more important in the long run. Not only does it burn calories (MFP does jot count them because they are much harder to calculate), but every pound of lean muscle also burns about 75 calories a day, even at rest. Also, especially if you are diabetic, and even if not, toned muscle utilizes insulin far better thus burning the calories you eat more efficiently. My insulin intake went from 140 units per day and is already down to 25 in just a matter of months back at the gym. It started to decline steeply in just 2 weeks, showing I was using insulin better. Plus muscle looks good, and if you can put on 10 pounds of lean muscle you will burn about 750 extra calories a day. That's over a pound of fat every 5 days. For most men it is not that difficult to put on 10 pounds of muscle, and you should not look at just your weight as a measure of fitness. You are better off at a muscular 210 than you are at a flabby 200... and the extra muscle will make it much easier to maintain your weight. I have been fit and muscular much of my life, but I slacked off after I got married, developing diabetes and other health problems. I have lost weight dieting before, but my health problems did not really start to subside until I started taking working out again very seriously. You don't have to do a lot. I strength train every other day, and do cardio everyday. I know it sounds like a lot, but here's a trick. You probably watch a fair about of television. Get a Netflix subscription and choose a program that you will only watch (on a phone or tablet) while doing your cardio. Find something addictive, binge worthy. I started with Breaking Bad which you can download so you don't even need an internet connection at the gym. Episodes are 47 minutes. Doing 47 minutes on an elliptical or a treadmill goes much faster when you are distracted in this way. Don't worry about speed, figure out your target heart rate and go from there. Try to keep your heart rate in that zone and you will find that suddenly you have to up your game to reach that heart rate. Watching Breaking Bad I logged over 400 miles on various machines. For strength training right now I only do 2 sets per body part every other day, and I still have not started on any core exercise, the abdomen and lower back, as I carry most of my excess weight there and it is difficult to do these. That will come later. I would also suggest super setting and circuit training to save some time. Super setting is when you work opposing muscle groups, so you do not have to rest as long between sets. So you do a set for the chest that and then a set for the back then another for the chest and then another for the back. Biceps and triceps is another good group to oppose each other. I then Do shoulders and legs, which is a combination circuit and superset. Shoulders and legs are not related, and the calf is not really related much to the upper leg. So that sort of makes it a circuit as opposed to a superset. However, when I do this routine and instead of doing squats or leg presses I do leg extensions and leg curls, that is a superset in the middle of the circuit. It also adds an exercise to my routine. Every 2 to 3 weeks you should change the exercises you are doing for each muscle group. So for a few weeks I will do a routine such as bench presses and rows two sets each, and I will switch to flies and lat pull-downs for a couple of weeks. I will do leg presses for a couple of weeks, and then switch to leg extensions and leg curls. Unfortunately calf raises are the only exercise I can think to do for the calf, but you could do them the different ways and change the angle a bit. You should also change up your cardio. I generally do treadmill on the days that I Strength train, and elliptical on the days that I do not. You can do this quicker than 40 or 50 minutes, but the longer you go the more calories you earn to eat back. As they said above, only eat back about 50% of the calories you earn. If you are using machines, be sure to enter your current weight to get a more accurate calorie count, but even that will NOT be spot-on, that's why you should not eat back more than 50%. Always get your heart rate into the target zone for a minimum of 20 minutes. When I do a short workout I usually find a half-hour program to watch (Portlandia right now) I pump the elliptical very hard for the first 2 minutes and get my heart rate up, and then I maintain that for 21 or 22 minutes. I will do this sometimes on days I Strength train because for whatever reason I don't have the time to be in the gym that long. My gym is Cheap, Planet Fitness only $10 a month. If you can't afford a gym there are many exercises you can do at home with no weights at all, or with a cheap dumbbell set you can get at a garage sale. Walking is free...just keep a good pace and check your heart rate. Even if you can't maintain a HR at first, keep moving. The bottom line is you need to get moving and do something or maintaining any weight loss will be nearly impossible. And this is not a diet, it is a new lifestyle. You will always have to watch your portions and track your weight and your Fitness, and adjust accordingly. That doesn't mean you can never go to a party again, it just means that the week before or the week after you may have to be a little more strict with yourself. I know I went on for a while, but this is really important stuff and you cannot underestimate it. I did not gain my weight until I stopped my workouts. I really feel that activity is the key Fitness. Calories are important, but activity will burn those calories more effectively. START OFF SLOW, and build up as you udentify your limits. I woyld suggest abkut 12 reps per set to start, then add weight until you can't do 12...but can do at least 8. Stay there until you can do 12 again then add a few pounds. For cardiovascular start easy for a few weeks but monitor your heart, then push a little harder each time until you are maintaining 75%-85% of your maximum heart rate. Do some research to calculate this and determine your most appropriate zone. We can take control of this thing, and it's not nearly as hard as it seems when you first start. Good luck, and feel free to contact me directly if you need any support or advice. I am on the same Journey, but managed to stay fit for a very long time after a pudgy childhood. I simply forgot my body's natural tendencies and let them get away from me. There is no magic pill or potion, just diligence and determination. Best to you.
I read the whole thing.
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I blogged about how to maintain focus over the long haul.
http://www.myfitnesspal.com/blog/jgnatca/view/in-it-for-the-long-haul-focus-722409
Mountains get smaller by paying attention to where you step next. One step at a time. I did it. I had a lot of professional help, but it took over three years.
You can do it.3 -
1. CICO works, trust it. (Calories in < Calories out for loss)
2. Measure your foods because you are likely going to underestimate portions
3. Exercise is good and very healthy but honestly not needed if you are at a deficit
That is the bulk of it. Not all that scientific but it does not need to be to lose weight. Yes you can make it more complicated and still lose but everything is based off of CICO first for loss.
There is plenty of debate on diet and exercise or the need for either. Mark Haub from KSU lost 27lbs by eating sweat and salty snacks in 10 weeks. His LDL went down by 20% and his HDL went up by 20%. He also went down by 39% on triglycerides in those 10 weeks. This is with a calorie deficit and completely crap diet on purpose. It's not a good diet and he does not recommend it. It just is an example that a high fat, high carb, low protein diet will work to purely lose weight.
By the way I was a 300 pounder at beginning of April. I have lost 20.9 lbs since then. I do it by using MFP and swimming. I do not swim to lose weight but to lay the groundwork for a more physical life and it hurts less than running/walking. I try to hit a 40% protein - 30% carb - 30% fat diet but I do not worry if I am off as long as I get to within 5%-10% of daily goal calories.0 -
One day at a time. I went from 388 to 183.3
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Hi, don't give up! I have lost weight very slowly - around 1 lb a week but am down to 226 from 250. Took me around 4 months...so not quite 2 stone but almost there! I originally set my target to an unrealistic amount but have now set it to 200 lbs and will then start again from there....
i can't exercise much so this is purely on diet. I did get some help from the doctor with the dreaded blue fat pills but, as long as I obeyed the rules, they helped and I manage to have a healthy diet with a bit of everything and still lose weight...0 -
Where are the stickies that people mention?
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One Lb at a time, steady and consistent weight loss will help keep it off. I did the food diary for about two weeks (and be honest with yourself) to see where my biggest contributor to weight gain was. Carbs & Cheese were my big downfall, so with portion control and switching to some lower fat options meant that I didn't have to cut any food out. As for exercise I just did a bit of walking, slightly increasing the speed, then as I got lighter, I increased the distance. You can do it and good luck with your journey.1
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Hi Folks, I'm a newbie. Mid 40's and somehow scales tipped over 323 lbs. 200 lbs is the mark, need to get there, please help!
I started here at MFP at 305lbs. I lost 126 pounds in about 16 months by meticulously logging everything I ate/drank to the gram, staying within my set goals, and exercising as much as I could physically and mentally stand (and sometimes even more). I likely lost it even a little too fast, even managed to injure myself a couple of times unintentionally pushing too hard. But the point is I got there, and now intend to never get in that shape again. I started with a bad back, bad knees, arthritis, mid 40's, high blood pressure, etc. I walked, walked, walked until I was in better shape to try other things. Took months and months. Determination is the key, just don't quit whatever you do. Get up each day, accept failures that happen from time to time and start again. It's that simple. You can do it.2
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