Introduction:
I've been a long time lurker here on reddit, casually browsing the front page and various sections just for laughs and information, but I've never really had anything I felt strongly enough about to post. But my weight loss journey is something I feel very proud of, and now that I've found this reddit section, I though I would use my story to try and motivate others that feel lost.
Story:
I've always been a bit of a big guy. As posted in my title above, I'm a tall guy at 6ft 5in, and when I graduated high school I was a happy and hefty 265lbs. After high school though, thats when my weight began to skyrocket. Most of my free time was spent going out to dinner with my then girlfriend, and playing video games at home, or at a friends house. Short of that, I really had no social life and this lasted for about 8 years. I remember sometime during this time, my girlfriend and I went to Knotts Berry Farm, and trying to ride the Jaguar, when I found out I would not be able to ride the rollercoaster as the safety bar would not fit over my body... But I contributed that to my height..... But then, in late 2011, one day a relative of mine, a little younger than me, got news that she tested positive for Diabetes. This was a wake up call for me, as we both were overweight, but I knew I was heavier than she was... so if she has diabetes, then that means I was a candidate for sure. So I knew something had to change. The first thing I needed to do was find out exactly where I was, weight wise. In my mind, I felt I hadn't looked any different than high school, but the scale soon brought me to reality. First scale I tried was just my family scale (good for up to 320lbs), which to my surprise read "ERR" once I stepped on it..... Ok... thats sucks... luckily I knew of a buddy that owned a scale that went up to 365lbs. So I tried his scale.... and "ERR" again... Ok so I'm heavier than 365lbs! Something has got to change, and my journey began there.
Diet:
This is where I first struggled. Like most that decide to diet, first thing I did was go on the strictest diet I could think of. Tossed all the food out I had in my pantry, and went to the grocery store and stocked up on oatmeal, chicken breast, veggies, salad, salmon, lean beef etc.... And then stopped and picked up a Large pizza on the way home.... after all, I'm gonna start my diet tomorrow.... Of course, tomorrow never came, because I would start off my day ok, eating oatmeal for breakfast, canned tuna (w/ mustard) for lunch, and then by dinner I was craving my old habits, so I would give in to a fast food dinner such as 2 double cheese burgers at MC Donalds large fry, and large Dr Pepper.
So this diet thing wasn't going to work for me, I realized I couldn't just give up comfort food like this. After all, food is considered social in my family, my girl likes to go out to eat, and quite frankly I love food myself. So my goal was to figure out a way that I could eat the food I loved, and still lose weight...
I signed up with Bodybuilding.com to do some research on weight loss. And I came across something called If It Fits Your Macros (IIFYM) and Calorie counting, which seemed to be my dream come true. Was it true that I could eat whatever I wanted, whenever I wanted, and as long as I stayed in a caloric deficit, I would lose weight?!?!? After reading several forums, most people believed that you still had to eat "clean, healthy foods" to lose weight, but I didn't see how your body would know the difference between a good calorie and a bad calorie (when it comes to losing weight, Nutrition wise is another story). So I decided to try IIFYM and calorie counting, and enjoy myself... in moderation.
STAGE 1:
I downloaded MyfitnessPal to keep track of my daily calories, and began keeping track of things I ate throughout the day. When I first began using the app, my goal was to eat 2000 calories or less per day to drop some lbs. Food type didn't matter, just whatever I craved, just under 2000 calories.
SAMPLE DAILY MEALS
SAMPLE 1: Breakfast: One A Day Multivitamin - 15 calories 6 egg white omelette - 90 Calories 4 slices Center Cut Bacon - 100 calories 1 slice Fat Free Cheese - 25 calories
Lunch: ON Whey Protein Shake - 120 calories Sugar Free Metamucil - 15 calories
Dinner: 2 McDonalds Mc Double - 390 calories each (780) 1 McChicken no mayo add mustard - 300 calories (OR) 2 In & Out Double Double (ketchup and Mustard instead of Spread) (550 calories each) Snack 1 Bag flaming hot Cheetos - 480 calories
Daily Total: 1925 Calories
SAMPLE 2: Breakfast: 2 Servings Cereal (cinnamon toast crunch) w/ 1 serving non-fat milk - 300 calories
Lunch: ON Whey Protein Shake - 120 calories Sugar Free Metamucil - 15 calories
Snack: 1 Bag of skittles - 230 calories
Dinner: 1 whole Digorno Pizzeria Pizza (Primo pepperoni) - 1360 calories
Daily Total: 2025 calories
You get the idea... And my weekend were cheat weekends, where I wouldn't monitor my calories, and just eat whatever I want, whenever. This still allowed me to go out with friends, with my girlfriend, and didn't hamper my social life too much.
Workout: During this time, Only workouts I did was cardio in my apartment gym 3 days a week, for 45 mins at a time. Nothing too big at all.
Progress: This lasted for about 3 months, and during that time, I would go over my friends house every once in a while and weight myself. Finally seeing a number on that scale was my first victory, even though it was 354lbs... but over time, that 354 became 330's and eventually 320lbs. At this time, I decided I wanted to incorporate some weight training with my cardio, to try and combat the potential loose skin I was now afraid of.
STAGE 2:
Workout: I looked online for a good beginners routine that I would be able to do with dumbbells only, as this was all I had available to me in my apartment gym (set that went from 10-40lbs), and I was still too ashamed of my body to try and workout at a LA Fitness. I found a routine very similar to this one here http://ift.tt/1qDVeaZ and just did it every Monday Wednesday and Friday, with 45 mins of cardio every Tuesday and Thursday.
Mon,Weds, Friday: Squat - 2-4 Sets - 8-12 reps - 5-10 kg Stiff Leg Deadlift - 2-4 Sets - 8-12 reps - 5-10 kg Lying Press - 2-4 Sets - 8-12 reps - 3-6 kg Lying Flys - 2-4 Sets - 8-12 reps - 3-5 kg Overhead Press - 2-4 Sets - 8-12 reps - 3-5 kg Lateral Raise - 2-4 Sets - 8-12 reps - 3-5 kg Bent-over Rows - 2-4 Sets - 8-12 reps - 4-6 kg Biceps Curls 1-3 Sets - 8-12 reps - 4-5 kg Lying Triceps Extensions - 1-3 Sets - 8-12 reps - 3-5 kg Abdominals Crunches - 2-4 Sets - 8-12 reps - 2-5 kg
Tuesday, Thursday: 45 mins Cardio (treadmill, or elliptical)
Weekend: Rest
Diet & Progress: My diet didn't change at all from what I was doing before as I felt my calorie deficit was enough, and after another few months, I was able to drop down to about 285lbs.
STAGE 3:
Exercise: At this point, I was beginning to bore from working out in the apartment guy all the time, and was looking to try something new, so I decided to sign up at LA Fitness where I would have access to more equipment. With this new gym, came a new routine, and this is the routine that I've been using since (with minor modifications every few weeks)
5 Day Split:
Monday - Chest (4 sets-12 reps)
Incline bench Flat Bench Decline Bench Chest Fly Machine Cable Crossovers Dips Abs 30 mins Cardio Machine
Tuesday: Back (4sets-12reps)
Pullups/Assisted Pullups Lat Pulldown High Rows Seated cable rows Dumbbell rows Hyper extensions 30 mins Cardio Machine
Wednesdays - Shoulders (4 sets 12 reps)
Shoulder Press Lateral raise machine Rear delt flys Dumbell Front Raises/lateral raise Supersets Shrugs Upright Rows Abs 30 mins Cardio Machine
Thursday - Legs (4 sets 12 reps)
Deadlifts Leg Press Hack Squats/Squats Leg Curls Leg Extensions Calf raises 30 mins Cardio Machine
Friday - Arms (4 sets 12 reps)
Barbell curls / skull crushers superset Hammer curls / dumbbell tricep kickbacks superset Supine curls / rope pulldowns superset Cable Curls / cable tricep extensions superset 7-7-7's / tricep dips superset Abs 30 mins Cardio Machine
Saturday, Sunday - REST
Diet: Now this changed actually a few times... At first I kept the same IIFYM diet I had been doing until I hit 265lbs, but then I hit a plateau for a month. During my frustration, I found r/keto and I gave that a shot. Doing keto for only a month and a half bust my plateau, and allowed me to drop down to 245lbs. After I got off keto, I went back to my IIFYM diet, with a new calorie intake goal of 1700 calories per day, and continued to lose weight were I would eventually setting at around 225lbs. It was here I hit another plateau where I would add in a second LISS cardio session per day. This allowed me to drop my lowest point of 208lbs.
Where I am Currently:
The entire weightloss progress took about 2 years, and I have been able to keep the weight off since then (From 2014-now) making little strides here and there. After spending the last summer walking around with visible abs, and enjoying every minute of it, I knew I never wanted to lose that... But I also felt small. Most of my friends and family said I was too skinny, so I knew a winter bulk would be in order. Starting in September, I went on a dirty bulk, where I monitored nothing that I ate, got on creatine, and dropped cardio complete. My only focus was making sure I went to the gym every weekday. And by January 30th, I got back up to around 235lbs. Mid February, I began cutting to judge my progress, and currently sit at 220lbs as seen in my current photo (Photos Below).
Current Workout:
5 DAY SPLIT (Still the same routine above)
Current Diet:
IIFYM, 1500 calories a Day, Cheat Weekends Big 3 Lifts: Bench - 335 Squats - 355 Deadlift -455
Progress Photos Starting weight -370lbs http://ift.tt/1YDuBjX
Progress http://ift.tt/1YDuBjZ http://ift.tt/1YDuBk3
Starting (370) vs Lightest (208) http://ift.tt/1YDuzss
Lightest (208) to Current (220) : After Bulk http://ift.tt/1YDuBAm
Conclusion:
And there you have it. It is possible to go from Morbidly Obese, to reasonably fit, and keep it off for a while. It is also possible to eat what you like, enjoy life, and still lose weight. It just comes down to moderation and self control. I understand results would have possibly been quicker if I ate clean, but I realized I would never succeed eating food that I didn't enjoy so I had to find something that worked for me. All you need to do, is find what works for you, and keep working, even if things slow down, keep pushing and you will accomplish your goal.
TLDR: Weighted 370lbs+ (Scale said ERR) Lost 160lbs over 1&1/2 years eating fast food and pizza (reached 208lbs) Kept weight off for 2 years Currently bulked to 220lbs
