I was 403lbs, now I am 337lbs, but I need some serious help...

[Altec Lansing]

TRY TO WAIT AN HOUR BEFORE YOU EAT. Maybe take a shower or something to kill this hour. You should notice a big difference in a month.

I will do my best to do this, but I'm not sure how well it will go, I've adapted to eating as soon as I get up. Nevertheless I'll really give it all I have.

 

[Altec Lansing]

Light headed ness is a very bad sign. Do you have hunger? I lost over 10" on my waist w/o hunger and i ate 'shit' the whole time. Pasta-roni, Ravioli, low fat pizza, low fat ice cream, 1% milk. My fat/protein/carb breakdown was about 30/15/55, but i did fine because i knew my base metabolic rate (around 3600/day) and i knew roughly how many calories i burned in cardio (about 1200/hr) so i did 5hrs cardio a week and ate 3000 calories a day. I didn't have hunger and (at first at least) i was losing 1/2" on my waist a week. But sadly that diet doesn't work taht well anymore and i need something else.

My point is you don't need to be an extremist to lose weight. I have met other people who lost 50+ lbs on a more or less non-restrictive diet filled with 'crap' and 'shit', they just made sure at the end of the day that they burned more calories than they ate. I made sure i burned on average 4300 a day and ate 3000, and i lost weight just fine doing that. I had no hunger, and virtually no deprivation feelings. If i felt deprived i just ate what i wanted, i found as long as i ate under 1300 calories a day of pizza or hamburgers i could still keep my daily calories at/near 3000 w/o any problems. Not only that but this diet made me feel better. I didn't sweat as much, and i felt like i had more energy.

Plus with your bodyfat percentage (probably 60% or so) your body will respond to dieting better. Many of the guys here are at 10% or less, a body at 10% responds to dieting differently than a body at 60%. So their advice about counting every calories, going deep into ketosis, never cheating, etc may be excessive for you.

Generally after I eat, I'm not hungry, I eat enough to feel full. I get light headed after I work out or after I walk. I basically sit down, and I get a "drunkeness" feeling. After this settles my vision begins to shake a little bit, like again i was drunk. Everything shakes, but it doesn't last very long and I can put up with it.


The problem with cheating is that I can't stop myself. As much as I try to stop eating something that tastes good, I just can't. I used to eat until I threw up or came close to it. Sticking to something strict, is probably the only way I can lose weight. I've tried so many diets, and as you can tell, my failure rate is very high.

The current one I am doing, while I know is wrong, is working for me. But I want to better myself and this is why I google'd a health forum and found this site. I have the motivation, I just don't have the proper knowledge and tools to achieve this.

 

[audiophyle]

The problem with cheating is that I can't stop myself.

I have the motivation, I just don't have the proper knowledge and tools to achieve this.

You're contradicting yourself. You MUST make a decision on whether or not you'd rather enjoy the short lived benefits of good food, or the long term satisfaction of good health. Every person here has made that decision, it's essential to success on any program.

 

[Lao Tzu]

You're contradicting yourself. You MUST make a decision on whether or not you'd rather enjoy the short lived benefits of good food, or the long term satisfaction of good health. Every person here has made that decision, it's essential to success on any program.

Thats not totally true, even strict dieters have at least one day a week when they cheat.

 

[borg4902]

Dude im the exact same way if I eat any bad foods im done for the day ill just sit home and pig out till im sick, and when the feeling passes I pound it on again. Why im not really sure It never really tastes good and never feels good but once I start I cant stop. Hopefully some day ill realize why and begin to deal with it. Until then I just take it one day at a time and bust my ass 5-7 days a week. I got really obsessed with the diet and lifting to, when I broke my neck it made me start thinkin about shit. Since then I have been tryin to just eat healthy and go out and drink once in a while but if I dont get laid or feel insecure watch out cause thats when it goes downhill.

 

[Altec Lansing]

You're contradicting yourself. You MUST make a decision on whether or not you'd rather enjoy the short lived benefits of good food, or the long term satisfaction of good health. Every person here has made that decision, it's essential to success on any program.

I don't see how I am contradicting myself. I have the motiviation to work hard meaning physically work hard to meet my goal. I do not have the ability to stop myself from eating bad foods once I start. Theres a big difference between those two. If I can stay away from the junk foods, I'll be alright. But once I start, I just can't stop until I overeat.

Hope that clears up what I was trying to say

 

[chewyxrage]

Don't be scared of fat. You need to find your metabolic rate and count calories. You'll find that you are way too low.

Should be somewhere near 500-1000 cals below your daily calorie rate to lose weight safely. The lightheadedness and shit is prolly because your're starving yourself.

You need alot more protein. Chicken, steak, and beef. Make one of those the main part of each meal and everything else around it.

 

[Lao Tzu]

Don't be scared of fat. You need to find your metabolic rate and count calories. You'll find that you are way too low.

Should be somewhere near 500-1000 cals below your daily calorie rate to lose weight safely. The lightheadedness and shit is prolly because your're starving yourself.

You need alot more protein. Chicken, steak, and beef. Make one of those the main part of each meal and everything else around it.

yep, exactly. You aren't getting enough calories or protein. A guy your size who walks 6 miles a day probably burns at least 4500 kcal a day. Walking at 3mph at your size is almost 600 kcal/hr. two hours is 1200 kcal a day. Plus you lift daily, so a metabolic rate around 4500 is reasonable, if not higher. Plus if you only cut about 1000-1500 or so below maintenance you don't have many/any side effects from dieting or feelings of deprivation.

You probably aren't getting any muscle development due to your low calories too.

http://www.elitefitness.com/forum/showthread.php?t=276933&page=2

Borg4902 says of the 104 lbs he lost in 4.5 months maybe 50 was fat. That is only 2.7 lbs of fat a week. A reasonable diet with a few supplements can easily burn 2 lbs of fat a week and its alot easier to do and stay on than an extremist lifestyle.

 

[callthedoctor]

IMHO, and I'm no pro by any means....you SHOULD be taking in less calories.

I'm 6'2" and went from a flabby 285 to a pretty lean 225 in 6 mos.....what I did was hit the aerobics real hard and diet similar to you, but with less starchy-carbs and more protein...(I hate and STILL hate aerobics...I'm currently a beefy (and fairly lean) 260 now...but probably can't run over a couple of miles....)

However, back then before I dropped the weight, I couldn't even run 1/2 a mile...I would park on a forest road with my dogs and run as far as I could...about 1/2 a mile then I would walk another 1/2 mile, then turn around and walk/run back to the truck....I worked my way up TO running a mile then 2 miles then 3, 4, 5 and even 6 miles a day....GOD I hate running...and back then I thought that is what I was becoming, a RUNNER...achilles tendonits finally slowed me down...I lost about 60lbs of flab...

Midway, I started hitting the weight room pretty hard...and that's were I'm at now....The only aerobics I do now is the elipical trainer (few times a week)...as well as weekend hiking. I know I need to do more, but I don't want to lose muscle and I HATE AEROBICS....lol

As far as supps....I definelty recommend you get taken a quality Daily since your dieting. But don't get anal about the mg's mcg's and what not....I would also recommend a good B complex about an hour before you start cardio....

I've never used Bowflex, so I can't comment, but I suspect you would do much better with free weights....

In general and to wrap this up, think about losing more flab first...get to where your comfortable working out cardio harder and harder (like interval training but with instinctive progressive milage)...THEN start worrying about muscle and bigger amounts of protein....it'll come back with some heavy lifting ! ! ...and someone your size probably already has quite a bit of muscle just from moving around normal-like.

Hope this helped in someway.....experts feel free to flame me as I probably don't know what I'm talking about....only that it worked for me.

 

[cwick0]

I will do my best to do this, but I'm not sure how well it will go, I've adapted to eating as soon as I get up. Nevertheless I'll really give it all I have.

TRUST ME, YOU WILL ADJUST TO IT.

Breakfast is my favorite meal of the day, trust me, i dont miss it and wont. I have eaten breakfast every morning for the past 25 years and it isnt a problem hitting the cardio first. The hard part is that if i have a late night of work at the bar, then have to be in my office at school first thing in the morning. When this happens, cardio is the first thing to get cut.

Jkurz1 is trying to whip my ass into shape when it comes to my diet, so maybe i can cut 10-15 pounds and hover aroun 235. Whereas, he wants me to add some more mass to him in exchange.