Ok, so here's the obligatory before and after image
I started at 270.6 lbs and met my goal at 170.6 lbs. I'm a 5'10", 33-year-old male. I'm now actually trying to gain weight as I've gotten into strength training and bodybuilding as a hobby.
How'd you do it?
I lost the weight fast. I lost the 100 lbs in 10 months and I did it through reduced calories (about 1,200 - 1,400 / day), intermittent fasting (15 hour fast from 7:00p - 10:00a), exercise (one hour on the elliptical, six days / week), and general activity. I'm a teacher so I'm on my feet all day and walking 15-20K steps just at work.
I ate low carb because on that few calories, in order to eat for volume, you need to take carbs down. I ate a lot of salad, hard-boiled eggs, turkey burgers with no buns, cheese, cucumbers, hummus, and protein shakes. I drank a lot of diet soda and water.
Any problems?
Losing that much weight in that short amount of time is dangerous but for me, it was the only way I could do it. I needed to see quick results and I desperately wanted/needed to hear people telling me how much they noticed. As a teacher, I started my journey August 1st so by Christmas break I was already down 50 lbs and looking like a different person. Then, by the time the school year had finished I was down nearly 100 lbs and was unrecognizable to people I hadn't seen in awhile.
I don't recommend losing this fast if you can help it. It's dangerous, seriously. By the end of it, I was so deprived of nutrients that I would nearly faint every single time I stood up. My sex drive was almost nothing, I was weak, my legs felt numb. I did get the results I wanted but there was cost to pay.
What's your advice?
So the reason I'm posting this is because I love this sub. That's nothing new, I know, but it deserves to be said. This sub is one of the most energetic, positive, happy places on reddit and I love visiting it. However, our has grown fast and with that comes a whole lot of new accounts. These people should feel more than welcome to be here and should feel supported but the downside is that there are more people than ever commenting and giving advice that don't have any business doing so. I'm seeing a lot of comments that are actually terrifying if OPs actually took their advice. There have been comments made about how just slowing down your breathing is all you need, four hours of sleep is plenty, vegan diets are harmful, etc. and I thought it would be valuable to express what I've learned on my journey.
That being said, what are my qualifications? Well, truthfully I don't really have any. My qualifications are only that I am a success story and my account is not new. So, I encourage you to take my advice with a grain of salt. Verify what I'm saying with others but at least respect my journey because at the end of the day, it did work.
So here are a few pieces of advice I would give to anyone looking to lose the fat. I tried to stay away from everything in getting started Wiki like "get an app" or "calculate your TDEE". I tried to pick things where I'me seeing A LOT of comments that I wholeheartedly disagree with.
1- "BMI IS OUTDATED AND SHOULD NOT BE USED TO CALCULATE A HEALTHY WEIGHT"
For some people, BMI is outdated and should not be used to calculate a healthy weight. For example, bodybuilding legend Ronnie Coleman weighed 290 lbs during one of his last Mr. Olympia titles. At 5'11", this puts Ronnie Coleman with a BMI of 40.4 which is off the charts obese. But if you look at the picture, he's clearly not obese because he had a 0.33% body fat. For Ronnie Coleman, BMI means nothing. However, Ronnie Coleman is one of the select few that can brush BMI off. For the vast majority of people, BMI is a perfect tool to calculate what a healthy weight should be. Is it perfect? No. Is it close? Yes. I've been seeing a lot of blanket comments about forgetting BMI and I wholeheartedly disagree.
This is the one that I used but you can find them all over the place. Body fat % and other factors are a better indicator but for MOST people, BMI is a just fine way to figure out about where you need to be. I recommend using the calculator to find where the heaviest weight is in the healthy range and set that as your goal. Once you meet that goal, you'll at least know you're healthy and can decide if you need to go a bit more or adjust.
2- "YOU CANNOT LOSE WEIGHT DRINKING DIET DRINKS"
It's no mystery that diet drinks are unhealthy. They spike insulin levels, they're full of chemicals, they make some people crave sweets even more. If you can avoid drinking them, avoid it. However, you can still lose weight drinking diet drinks. I was drinking 2-3 diet drinks a day because for me it helped satisfy my sweet tooth without going to eat a piece of cake or a candy bar. And although the drinks are not a healthy alternative, they do have zero calories so for me, a can of diet orange soda was better than a 220 calorie Snickers or 600 calorie milkshake from Whataburger.
This comment is frustrating to me because it's putting too many limitations on a healthy diet which can be intimidating to people, especially at the beginning of their journey. I no longer drink diet drinks because of body building but I needed them to lose the weight. I'd encourage you to cut back if you can but if you need a Diet Coke every now and again, you can lose weight just fine.
3- "YOU LOSE WEIGHT IN THE KITCHEN, NOT THE GYM"
It is very true that weight loss comes from calorie reduction. You need to eat less but I hate this comment because it takes away from all the other great stuff that exercise provides to overall health. This sub isn't just about losing fat but promoting a healthy lifestyle as well and you need to exercise but exercise comes in all shapes and sizes.
Exercise doesn't mean running, swimming, or cycling. Exercise does mean walking, jumping jacks, gardening. Being active is what your body needs. You need to stand up. You need to move. You don't need to be sweating profusely and wanting to die because of the agony you're in. A 10-minute walk around the block is infinitely healthier than two hours on the couch.
You should be doing aerobic activity at some points to get your heart rate up and build a healthy circulatory system but just being more active will help with your overall health too. Especially now in COVID where many people are not going to the gym, simple walks are great. If you live in a two-story house, just put some ear buds in and walk up and down the stairs 20 times or whatever your body allows you to. Just get moving. As you start to lose weight and exercise becomes easier, you will find exercise more enjoyable, I promise. I've always said, if overweight people could feel what it's like to exercise at a healthy weight, there would be a lot fewer overweight people.
4- "IT'S HARDER TO MAINTAIN WEIGHT THAN LOSE WEIGHT"
This is perhaps the one I hate the most. One because I don't think it's true. Losing the 100 lbs was far harder than me maintaining it for two years. Two because it's not encouraging to anyone looking to start their journey. Losing weight is so hard to think that maintaining it would be even harder is so discouraging. In my experience, losing was significantly harder.
5- "EVERYONE PLATEAUS"
No, not everyone does. The plateau is a real thing, don't get me wrong, but you can work around it as long as you're aware of it. We plateau for a couple reasons. The most common one is that people get their TDEE at the beginning and stick with it. Every pound you lose changes your TDEE. For example, if you are eating 2,200 calories to lose 1 lb/week but after 30 lbs it's no longer working, that's because your TDEE is no longer 2,200 calories to lose 1 lb/week. Now that you're lighter, your body doesn't burn as many calories doing things like walking, sleeping, blinking, etc. Everything is easier for your body so you'll need to either increase activity level, decrease food in, or a combination of both. I was VERY aware of this and that's why I was able to avoid the plateau. I was also consuming so many calories under my TDEE the entire time that it didn't really matter.
If you've adjusted this and you've still plateaued, this isn't just something that happens to everyone. It could be a medical issue that you're going to want to get checked out. This could be thyroid or adrenal gland issues, medications, etc.
There's also the set point theory that suggest your body has a natural weight that it's most comfortable at and to go beyond that is extremely difficult. I don't necessarily buy it but it is something to look into.
I hope this helps someone. Again, take all of these with a grain of salt because I'm not a nutritionist, a doctor, a therapist, etc. I'm just a guy who has lost a ton of weight and has kept it off for a couple of years. I used this sub to help me and would like to pay it forward however I can. Feel free to comment or DM me if you have any questions. I'll try to get to all of them if there is any interest.
Also, feel free to disagree with me. That's totally fine too.
