I've been toying with the idea of starting a log on here for a few weeks but didn't because I wasn't sure how it'd be received. Given my contribution to 2+2 has been a whopping 2 posts I didn't think seeking help would go down well but **** it. Hopefully someone takes an interest and that they're super brutal because I really want to know anything I'm ****ing up and how to improve on it.

Basically I'm crazy fat. Absurdly fat. Before deciding to change how I lived I was resigned to dying before my 40s.

I'm 21, 5'9 and roughly 9 weeks ago I started at 352 lbs. As of this morning I weigh 307 lbs. The loss so far has been a result of a complete change in what I eat and introducing exercise (both cardio and strength training).

I record every mouthful I take on MFP (also weigh/measure absolutely everything) and just as example of what I've been eating for anyone interested, below are my last three days:




Exercise consists of 4 days a week of cardio alone; which is almost always 45 minutes on my crosstrainer at 8-10 kmph. I also set an alarm to go off every hour and if i've been sitting the whole time ill get up and walk around for 5-10 minutes. Recently bought a treadmill so I'm planning to do C25K and just tack it on to what I'm already doing.

On the other 3 days I workout with a friend which is a mixture of a lot of different stuff. Today was:

3 x 20 squats, 3 x 20 crunches, 3 x 30 second planks, 3 x 20 bicep curls w/ 70 lb resistance bands, 3 x 20 tricep things with the same bands, 3 x 5 working sets (and warmups) of bench presses at 105 lbs and 3 x 30 seconds of jump rope.

That session took about 70 minutes. May have forgotten some stuff.


Dont really have any current goals other than not dying anytime soon, ive also committed to a friend to start playing tennis and squash in January. So Ideally ill be fit enough to not feel like passing out after 10 minutes by then.

I think that covers everything, please don't hold back (judging from YTFs thread I doubt thats a concern though - not that I thought anything was terribly harsh) if I'm messing stuff up. Im looking for an unbiased and harsh assessment. Any help you guys provide wont go wasted - I am absolutely committed to this.

Cheers.

Good start so far, just got to keep the motivation high

Remember that crash dieting is not the best, you should be aiming for a modest deficit at first. This helps with long term compliance. Look at the progress YTF has made, and he still eats ~2400 calories.

you seem humble and knowledgeable, so I doubt anyone's going to give you the YTF treatment.

you're drinking only water, eating a non-terrible amount of fruits and veggies, and counting calories. not much else to say but keep it up. if/when you get more into lifting you should look at the FAQ. gl

You see I don't understand this jump in calories. To get to 350 pounds you were probably consuming 6000+ calories a day, maybe even more.

And now you are consuming 1200 calories a day. Makes no sense at all.

Why don't you learn to eat 2100 calories a day (with filling foods and that are not super calorically dense). Just eat 2100 everyday, for the rest of your life (maybe go to 3000 on birthdays and holidays).

That's it. See you at 200 lbs in a couple of years. You spent your whole life fattening up, I think a few of years to get back down to 200 is just perfect. This whole thing of consuming 10000 a day and then going to 1200 is completely insane and very LOLz.

Thanks, appreciate it. Its weird I dont feel like I need to be motivated anymore, its just what I do now.

Cheers - I want the YTF treatment though. The FAQ is my homepage. I've always planned to start SS asap but havent psyched myself up enough to be able to walk into a gym. Will likely end up buying everything required.

To be fair those were some light days; most days im between 1500 and 1800 cals. Is that unhealthily low?

Dont understand why I'd eat more on holidays let alone all the time tbh. I'm not wanting for anything, havent had any craving which lasted more than a couple hours since starting this thing. I'm never hungry and my view on food has changed completely, I see it more as fuel than anything else - why put more in if its not required. Its not like I'm losing weight at a ridiculous rate, 5lbs a week (which I imagine will soon slow down) doesnt seem absurd.

Also I put in a few of the meals i'd commonly eat before into MFP and my days would be anywhere from 3000-5000 cals.

I want to see you do this op. I like seeing people succeed and you sound like you can do this. I find when I set a goal if I have someone to hold me accountable I do better and from the sound of your op it is what you seek.

So step one is set some goals.

I don't like this goal, it has a bad ring to it. lol Stop talking like that you might be fat but you sound strong and at your age you can totally kick some big time ass. Here is parts of a post I put in ytf's thread about goal setting.

I read the Venuto book "The Body Fat Solution", it has great info about goal setting. A few of my favorite parts...


You need daily goals, weekly goals, yearly goals. If you want I can help you set good goals and I am willing to cheer you on till you reach them. I will try to let others give you detailed diet advice because frankly I have no idea what the best route is. Let me know what you think. You have done great so far be proud of yourself!

agree with loco, you're starving yourself. if you truly are eating that amount of calories per day you should feel miserable. do you feel miserable?

1. I actually disagree with those saying that your calories are too low. I've had quite a bit of experience/success with drastic weight cuts, and I understand the "I want instant results" mentality that leads you to want to have such few calories. With that said, you are going to need to find some super healthy/low calorie foods that you enjoy eating in order to have any chance at maintaining this pace. Veggies need to be your best friend....carrots, kale, spinach, celery, asparagus, broccoli- these are foods that you can have absolutely as much as you want of, so find some that you don't hate too much and EAT WHEN YOU ARE HUNGRY. If you can afford $650 for a Vitamix, you can make some really healthy kale smoothies that don't taste too horrible and will keep you full for hours on less than 250 calories. Starving yourself will not be maintainable no matter how motivated you think you are right now. For protein, I suggest eating a ton of chicken, fish, and shrimp.

2. Take videos of your squat and post it here ASAP. I know you might be embarrassed(both to take the video in a gym full of strangers and to post it on a message board full of strangers). Get over that embarrassment and do it. Its important. In fact, any exercise in which you aren't sure you are using correct form- post videos. You don't want an injury setback certainly.

3. Why are you doing 20 rep sets(of anything)? Have you read the FAQ? Are you familiar with SS? Its fine to not want to get on a SS program now, but the principle of lower reps being better for building strength still holds true and 20 reps is pretty absurd.

4. I would strongly suggest taking at least one rest day per week. If you hate the idea of not doing anything for an entire day, then learn yoga or foam rolling and do that for 30-60 minutes on your off day. I assume that you didn't do much athletically to get t 350, so jumping right into 7 days/week workouts is pretty drastic.

5. Start logging your lifting workouts and be precise. Don't "forget some stuff", and post the weight you are using for everything. Theres really no need for you to be doing any isolation exercises like curls right now. Focus on major barbell lifts(squats, deadlift, bench, overhead press....power cleans if you can learn them, but no biggie if you can't right away). Do bodyweight exercises like pushups and air squats. As you lose more weight, start doing pullups and chinups(you can jump to give yourself a boost if you can't do one at first, just work up to doing them correctly).

6. I would aim for 1200-2200 calories, 150-300g protein, and 30-55g fiber every day. To reach the better end of these numbers(~1200 calories, ~175g protein, ~50g fiber) you're going to have to eat pretty much nothing but chicken/fish/shrimp/veggies, which can be super tough, but maybe you can do that one or two days per week and then let yourself hit the worse end of those ranges on other days.

7. Do not get discouraged if you have one(or more) bad days. The worst thing that you can possibly do is adapt the mindset of "well I've messed up quite a bit with my diet/exercising for X period of time, so I might as well just go a little bit longer continuing to mess up"....its crazy how so many people fall for this(myself included).

8. Make sure you are measuring your portion sizes and counting calories accurately. You'd be surprised at how many people think they are doing it well yet are way underestimating.

9. You don't have to show anyone, but I would take a "before" pic of yourself shirtless....might be embarrassing now, but you'll love having it if/when you lose a ton of weight and can post the "after" pic alongside it.

Thanks mate.

Been looking for a new book to read, ill pick that up.

I've never really been one to set goals I guess because I've never strived for anything difficult. If they're generally helpful for people trying to lose fat I'm super keen to set some.

Totally agree with needing someone to be accountable to, its why I roped in a friend to workout with me a few times a week.

I assure you the calorie totals I gave are 100% accurate. What would be the point of lying? I'm trying to make real changes and particularly under the guise of anonymity I'll never be dishonest.

I answered loco above but honestly, I've never felt better. Admittedly I was starting from a pretty low place but right now and for the past couple of months I've been in a constant euphoric mood.

that's outstanding. i bet if you took 100 people your size and put them on your diet 99 of them would experience depression/intense cravings on a daily basis.

losing weight should be pretty easy if you can sustain that diet for a long period of time, good luck.

A gym's going to be easier, unless you have the space for a squat rack - it will get harder to pick up the weight and get it settled in the right spot on your back to squat it.

Just bite the bullet, damn the tourists and go to the gym. You'll quickly learn that nobody cares. If you're worried, pick times when fewer people are there - mid-morning, mid-afternoon, just before close/late at night.

Nobody think you're lying. But imo if you took a bunch of overweight people(250+lbs) and told them to log their calories, at least 50% would underestimate them even if they were absolutely trying to tell the truth. Its a phenomenon that is incredibly common, which is why this forum is always skeptical when an overweight person claims super low calories(although since you've lost a ton of weight already thats good proof that you're not too far off on your calorie count, if at all).

How exactly are you counting calories? For example if the package says:

serving size: 100g
calories per serving: 200
servings per container: 8

Are you just eyeballing 100g? Are you weighing the food on a food scale? Or are you keeping track of the exact number of meals you use the entire package for and then figuring out exactly what your average calorie intake was on all those meals. The last one is the one I do. The food scale option is significantly better than eyeballing.



And yea, seriously nobody cares at all about you at a gym. Everyone there has an ego themselves and cares way more about how they come across than how you come across. And if guys are looking around the gym, then they're almost certainly looking for hot chicks. Theres no reason whatsoever to be intimidated by a gym, and imo once you do get in good shape and look back you'll realize this- so many people at the gym do laughable stuff(look at our GGO thread) that its silly to care what these idiots think about you.

Money is no issue - Ill look into a Vitamix. I'm very aware I need to introduce more veg and will be doing so. I'm also never hungry. Ever.

I've been trying to psych myself up to walk into a gym for weeks. Havent gotten there yet. I will probably end up buying everything needed for SS to do it in private/with friends.

The FAQ is my new bible. 20 rep sets because they're without any extra weight. Very familiar with SS, bought the DVD and book. Hence when benching I'm recording weight and only doing 3x5 but I realise thats kind've worthless without doing the rest of the routine.

Will consider an off day.

Right now I'm about as flexible as a steel rod so yoga's probably a good idea. 0 chance I have the stones to go to a class, any dvds or books to recommend?

Will make sure to write down everything now. Have been looking into bodyweight exercises on reddit, was interested. Will do more research and pursuit it.

Yep, definitely need to hit better macro targets. Diet is undeniably a work in progress but I shouldnt have any issue sticking to lean meats and veg primarily. Only thing I find is that if I dont have some dense carbs preworkout I get exhausted really fast.

While I doubt anyone would believe me, I've honestly not ****ed up once. By ****ing up I mean drinking soda/alcohol or eating any form of takeout etc. Not sure how ill deal with it when it happens, however I feel way too good to just let one bump in the road derail me for good.

I do it with forensic like accuracy. Will maintain vigilance.

Have done so. They'll never see the light of day.

Really appreciate the lengthy reply. Thanks for taking the time to do so.

I'm not naive enough to think eyeballing is in any way a good idea. Bought a kitchen scale and measuring cups/spoons, everything gets either weighed or measured as I use it.

I have no doubt no one else at the gym cares but these things arent always an issue of logic. Getting over the mental hurdles and self doubt which come with 21 years of obesity is really ****ing daunting.

Looks like you've got a great attitude and are heading in the right direction quickly. I'd suggest going for a broader base of knowledge about nutrition. Assani's plan for vegetables, lean meat and higher protein goal seems about right. But, you'll be marvelously better off armed with several hundred pages of information about dieting than a couple paragraphs you read here.

Someone already mentioned the Venuto book, and I've seen that suggested in a couple other places. Lyle McDonald has several books (including crash dieting if you want to get home faster, and 3 different ketogenic diets), which are based on actual scientific research. Stuff like why you are getting wiped out so fast working out w/o carbs before the workout, and how to avoid that (or if you should avoid it at all). The TKD diet does in fact have you suck down some carbs right before a workout, but that is probably not the one for your situation.

I would definitely read some more about severe caloric restriction and exercise. I think I read that during such severe weight loss you are supposed to do higher reps of lower weight. Pretty much in all other cases you need high weight and low reps.

Keep it up, and good luck!

Nothing to add but good luck on your journey...its good you're tackling it at a young age. Keep the log going!

Its been said, but just make sure you arent trying to do too much at once. Is everything you are doing good? Yes, I am just worried a bit about compliance. Is eating that few calories necessarily bad? No, probably not, but it is a very low number and not really sustainable for a reasonable weight. Is doing a ton of cardio + c25k + strength training bad? No, but it all just adds extra steps that could make it easier to get frustrated because it makes your commitment so much larger.

If you can stick with this plan, you will get great results. If it gets to a point where you cant maintain it, dont worry about scaling back to more calories and less cardio [look at YTF's insane results with a 2400 cal goal] Keep posting here even if you **** up so that you are held accountable and we can get you back on track if it happens.

First goal = I will read "The Body Fat Solution" and set my goals no later than mm/dd. You just copy and paste that fill in the date and post it here now then get it done before the date. Seriously do it.

Do you have social anxiety problems? The only suggestions you have avoided so far involve going out in public. Sorry if that is snoopy just giving full ytf treatment.

That's what I was wondering. How many cals per day were you consuming to gain all that weight?
Are you consulting a doctor? Is it healthy to consume only 1500 cals a day? You probably should be eat 2000 cals a day and just lose weight slower.

You have added a substantial cardiovascular and strength fitness regimen to your daily activities, which is absolutely essential to making progress toward your goal. You also have improved your diet, providing yourself the necessary nutrition but monitoring and limiting your intake so that you consistently burn more than you fuel. That is important, because you will not lose fat unless you take in less than you burn off. Even more importantly, you are providing your body the kind of calorie content that is effective. In other words, you could eat cheetos in the same calorie counts as the foods you describe every day, and even though it is identical in calories, you would not have the energy level to do the exercise you are doing--it would be almost impossible.

Furthermore, you have imposed the discipline on yourself to set alarms and hold yourself accountable to do the things you have set out to do without deluding yourself. This is similar to someone who sets out to succeed in poker. Failure to keep account of expenses and income in detail only leads to self-delusion and a lack of discipline to do what it takes to succeed. Same thing goes for what you're doing. Keeping it in writing and forcing yourself to get out of the chair at least once an hour for a substantial 5-10 minute walkabout is absolutely a wonderful idea.

But the thing I like the most about what you're doing is that you are beginning for the first time to show that you love yourself enough to give yourself the chance to live a long and healthy life, not one that is cut way short and gives you and your loved ones great pain for a substantial portion of the end of it. That love for yourself opens up opportunities for you to love someone else and be loved in return in a romantic way, which really is the highest pleasure you can have in life. And the sexual satisfaction that comes from being in a relationship where you have the physical stamina is incomparable to anything else. The better shape you're in, the better the sex is, and the more you love each other, the better the sex is.

Just as a sidenote, you are brave to share your story on a website filled with unforgiving, boorish losers who like nothing better than to drag you down into their miserable mud. You are obviously showing through your actions that you love yourself enough to be proud enough to share your story--a story of victory, really--that I think you will navigate through any haters just fine, whether they are on here or in your every day life. This website is also filled with kind, compassionate winners. I am going to root for you, and I hope you keep us posted on your progress. I have only two recommendations: 1) progress to jogging on a treadmill for periods of at least 20 minutes nonstop as soon as you are able--strengthening your knees through squatting exercises will reduce the pain and risk of injury to your knees and will get you in a position to do that sooner rather than later. 2) Start watching old and current episodes of The Biggest Loser, and make sure you have a box of tissues handy, as you WILL cry. Usually tears of joy.

This is bad advice. OP is right to make a drastic cut in caloric intake, and to replace the bad calories with good ones, as well.

200 lbs for a 5-9 person is not a good goal, as 203 lbs is clinically obese for a person 5-9 in height. The goal should be a normal weight of 140-145. If OP should choose to add muscle mass and bulk up once they get there, then those guidelines lose their accuracy, but until then, I would go with CDC recommendations.

[QUOTE The goal should be a normal weight of 140-145. If OP should choose to add muscle mass and bulk up once they get there, then those guidelines lose their accuracy, but until then, I would go with CDC recommendations.[/QUOTE]

5'9 140-145? Nah, I'd say more like 105-110.

this is great stuff

the fact that your thread looks like this and YTF's looks... the way it does, is the reason why he got trolled and you didn't. Great approach, good luck sustaining it, cause honestly, there is still a bit of a luck factor at work.

also lol @ 5'9 140-145, obvious troll is obvious

99 pounds, might as well shoot for double digits!