Epic's Journey of Weight Loss Shenanigans! :D

[tse_epic]

So in 2011, my cousin was diagnosed with a brain tumor. At the time of the Diagnosis, I weighed 380lbs and I was struggling to maintain that weight against all odds. Upon hearing that the kid I've considered a little brother for his entire life might have less than 5 years to live, I dove into my go-to comfort for depression and anxiety: Hamburgers.

i stopped caring about my health and I swelled up to over 420lbs. I'm not sure just how much I weighed, but my scale maxes out at 420, and it wouldn't register my weight. So I say 420 but It was probably more akin to 430 or so.

In 2012, I started a Journey to better myself. I wore a 6XL Shirt and my Pants Size was a 5XL(Or a size 60/62) with a waist size at around 70inches. I started swimming every day, without fail, for over an hour. My diet changed slightly, in that I stopped drinking Pop (Still don't drink it) and switched entirely to water, and I tried to incorporate more greens in my daily intake.

Since then, I've lost my grandmother, I've been dumped by my girlfriend, and I've seen my family tear itself apart over money. But one constant has been my drive to be healthier. On occasion, I backslide. When I was with my girlfriend and at my happiest, I made it to 299. Since then, and since the holidays, I've gone back to 320. And Now I'm resting at 315 and some change. Today I wear a 3XL Shirt, and my Pants are a size 2XL or a 46/48 (Depending on the day).

So join me on my path to health and fitness. I'll try and post what my workouts consist of every time I get to go, and answer whatever questions people have.

Today, I would've liked to do 30 minutes of Cardio plus my weight training. People were using the cardio machines, so  couldn't do much more than 15 minutes at the end of my workout, but I did some Pyramid Training to build more strength in my upper and lower body, maxing out at 365lbs on the Leg Press for 10 Repetitions. That's 30 light weights (220), 20 Moderate weights (295) and finally my 10 Heavy weights which I always set as just under my one-time maximum.

About 30 minutes of Pilates and Yoga stretches to warm up before all of that.

I feel good, but my back hurts. I'm pretty sure I hurt it during my leg presses, but we'll see tomorrow.

Wednesday is my next day for working out. Join me, won't you?

[Master Rel]

I am wishing you the most success and good health.

Last Aug I was 287lbs, had a liver condition brought on by an overactive stomach sending excessive hormones to said liver that were causing many problems.  Like gaining 100lbs in less than a year.

So I had that section that was broken removed.

185-190lbs today.

It is a complete game changer...no white sugar at all, limited food, must focus on water (never was a soda guy), grease is a sure ticket to the sith throne, and vitamins/minerals...I take lots.  So it was a jump start but also drastically life changing.

I am cheering for you and your efforts.

Being a chef I can only really recommend two pieces of advice in your cooking career...

1) tasting food for seasoning does not mean eating, a small taste is all that is required.  A thousand tastings a week the old school way is a thousand tablespoons...that is right around 4 gallons of product, just from tasting.  4 gallons a week.  So just taste enough to test the seasoning.  I have even treated fatty or sweet products like tasting wine, test the flavor and then out into the trash.

2) cook to create rather than cook to eat...it is ok to make food that you do not eat.  Sounds crazy but you gotta look at all the potential meals that you will make.  The power of aromas and the process of cooking/baking can carry you through a lot if you discipline yourself.  Eat to live, don't live to eat.

[tse_epic]

I am wishing you the most success and good health.

Last Aug I was 287lbs, had a liver condition brought on by an overactive stomach sending excessive hormones to said liver that were causing many problems.  Like gaining 100lbs in less than a year.

So I had that section that was broken removed.

185-190lbs today.

It is a complete game changer...no white sugar at all, limited food, must focus on water (never was a soda guy), grease is a sure ticket to the sith throne, and vitamins/minerals...I take lots.  So it was a jump start but also drastically life changing.

I am cheering for you and your efforts.

Being a chef I can only really recommend two pieces of advice in your cooking career...

1) tasting food for seasoning does not mean eating, a small taste is all that is required.  A thousand tastings a week the old school way is a thousand tablespoons...that is right around 4 gallons of product, just from tasting.  4 gallons a week.  So just taste enough to test the seasoning.  I have even treated fatty or sweet products like tasting wine, test the flavor and then out into the trash.

2) cook to create rather than cook to eat...it is ok to make food that you do not eat.  Sounds crazy but you gotta look at all the potential meals that you will make.  The power of aromas and the process of cooking/baking can carry you through a lot if you discipline yourself.  Eat to live, don't live to eat.

Huh, I really like the idea of just cooking to create rather than to eat. I mean, it goes against everything I've been taught by my family (Don't cook unless you intend to eat it!), but I like the idea and it's certainly something I'll try! I just need to find a job so I can afford ingredients XD

IN other news, on Wednesday my workout was simple. 35 minutes on an exercise bike, and that was it. No weights, no resistance training, just 30 minutes of cardio at a decent pace. I enjoyed it and it was a good workout, giving me a good energy afterwards that helped me finish some homework for classes.

Today I'm hitting the Gym at 12 and this morning I was 316.2lbs and my pants size is still going down, so knowing that the number is more indicative of my strength at this point is a FANTASTIC feeling. And if anyone else reads this and goes "Yeah, i wish I could do this stuff", trust me, you can. You can do anything. I'm one of the laziest SOBs on the planet, and I find encouragement in a lot of little things. Heck, I take my tablet to the gym and watch netflix while I workout, to keep my mind off of "How long have I gone? ONLY Ten minutes? God this sucks!" kinda thoughts.

You can do this. You've got it in you.

[tse_epic]

Friday was a good workout. About a little under an hour of Cardio, broken up to ~30 minutes before my workout on a treadmill and ~20 minutes on an exercise bike at the end. In between I focused on some Pyramid Training, which I think I need to increase the intensity of my workouts because where I used to feel it two days after the work out, I really don't even feel it the day after. Which is somewhat confusing for me, because I work out until I can't lift the weights safely, so clearly I'm just not using enough weight, right?

Today's gonna be a bit weird, as I'm finishing building my PC and I may end up working out way later and way less than I intended to today. But I will try. The weekend wasn't fantastic in terms of dieting, so my 316 is up to 319, but that's entirely from a "Cheat weekend" I know, so It's a simple fix.

Let's do this!

[Deceptae]

Dude this is great! I've always been skinny, only in the past year have I built any muscle mass to speak of (thanks TPLA!), but as a quasi-Dark-Sider I support and encourage all attempts of self-improvement and this thread is exactly that! I'm giving you points for encouragement and will follow your progress.

Baby steps are great, 10 lbs here, 7 there, as long as there's progress. I like the occasional cheat weekend idea too, because it's good to reward yourself.

As for not feeling the burn, I wouldn't say you need to lift MORE (your body can only handle so much before your elbow inverts like that Olympian) but perhaps if you did it more OFTEN. When I work out I'll just go until I can hardly move, take a break for a couple hours, then get back to it, doing this with food would help too, several small meals rather than 2 or 3 big ones gets your metabolism working faster, burning fat like a Chevy burns dinosaur guts.

[sandman]

First of all, best of luck. Just by committing to transforming your body, you have done more than many.

Although not as epic as yours, I'm also going through a cutting phase. I started at 235lbs, now I'm 222lbs. My goal is to go under 200lbs by July 28th (I'm 6'2"). The date itself has no significance; rather I just calculated the amount of fat one can scientifically burn and added a lot buffer (like 6-7 weeks). I'm currently on track so everything's good.

I'm no expert in either nutrition or fitness, but I've participated in competitive sports back in the day and have been working out for a while now. As you probably know, when it comes to changing how much you weight, it's simple calories - you burn less than you consume > weight loss, consume more than you eat > weight gain. Weight lifting, doing sports, all that steady pace/HIIT cardio etc. does not matter; all you need is a calorie deficit. Now, there are two ways to go about this - you can either consume less calories than your resting metabolism, and do no cardio/weight lifting whatsoever (thus creating a deficit); or you can consume more than your resting metabolism, but do cardio/weight lifting (thus creating a deficit). As far as your body is concerned, it doesn't matter how you choose to create the deficit.

Now, even though it's just math, obviously what you eat/do has health benefits/side effects. I'm not going to talk about that part here. My point is, you can eat whatever you want (all that junk food and everything, given that you like the taste), and still lose weight. Remember that skinny guy who used to eat one Big Mac a day for 28 years or something and keeping all the receipts? It worked b/c that was (literally) what he was eating all day. Again, this assumes the only concern is to weight less, with no regard to health consequences. I'm not saying you should adopt this perspective, BTW. Doing cardiovascular work and hitting the weights will give you many benefits, you just don't have to obsess over them from the get-go. People who fail at this kind of lifestyle change/body transformation are the detail-driven, obsessive, perfectionist types that can either do nothing or go at 110% speed. They tend to have unrealistic goals matching their unrealistic expectations of themselves. Like the other poster said, baby steps are golden as long as there's progress. Given your weight, and assuming you're healthy (no thyroid/hormone problems), you should be able to lose weight solely by constantly staying 250-300kcal under your maintenance level until you reach the average body fat ratio. You can go to a pharmacy and get one of those tests to give you a starting point. Anything other than a hydrostatic underwater weighing test (which is not really feasible and is quite expensive) will be arbitrary to a point so don't spend too much energy to get it exactly right, you just need a ballpark figure. Then, track everything you consume using a free app like MyFitnessPal. You will see that you massively underestimate how much you consume and overestimate how much you burn while exercising (like everyone else, I was so shocked myself, the discrepancy is ridiculous). Keeping a journal provides you with a great deal of self-discipline that is quite difficult to achieve otherwise. In our technology age, it takes around one minute a day (when you get used to it) to track everything you eat in a day.

Again, best of luck, we're rooting for you.

P.S. If you happen to give that aforementioned app a shot, add me so I can cheer you up when you make progress and go ballistic on you when you stray away

[tse_epic]

It's been a fair bit! I missed Monday's Workout due to building my PC and Friday i was out with my family. But Wednesday, I got in some Pyrmid Training and about 20 minutes of cardio. It was great! And I've watched my diet a lot more closely, eating only when I'm hungry and having a few small snacks in between when a craving struck me. This morning i wsa 313!

Can't wait for tomorrow's workout, too

[Master Rel]

Congrats!

I have found after 48+yrs of fluctuating weight, that the keys words of cheating, diets, and workouts can become curse words if taken in context of being the bad guys.

It is just a thought but perhaps consider flipping those thoughts...putting the weight on the foods by name that cause issues rather than noting it was a cheat for example. 

Live to eat...meaning pick and choose your battles.  Sandwiches with no bread or one slice vice two every single time, waiting for that sandwich that has special bread like a reuben for the rye.  Cut back on portion size rather then eliminate the foods you like.  If considering a heavy item like cookies...make your own.  You are in cooking school and nothing twerks me out of shape like a chef who says they can not cook one thing or another like desserts...make your own.  Add extra fiber, protein, and manage the sugar with replacements like splenda.  When making foods that have layers of flavor you can add replacements like splenda and not even notice them. 

Apple pie, with grape nuts and raw whole oats blended into the crust, with spenda...you can eat a full slice and be more full due the grains, have 10% or less of the sugar, all the flavor and texture...the main hurdle is getting past the logic of food math..."if this pie has 1/10th the sugar then I could eat 5 slices and still be under have the normal sugars".

Don't allow yourself a cheat, fix the food you like so that it is better for you.

Pasta...there are vegi pastas to cook up the exact same, I use them all the time. So when you have pasta it is a serving of veg.

Eat raw when you can but flavor it...dips you make with greek yogurt which is loaded with protein instead of mayo and sour cream or vinaigrette or dry dust seasoning (salt/pepper/red pepper/etc.).  Th eraw takes longer to digest and keeps you fuller.

Only sip during meals instead of drinking...drinking washes away food before it is digested with then has to sloooooowly break down in the intestines...which is not fully absorbed or completely utilized and in some cases spoils before it processes completely...hence the issues of deadly farts.

Ha!

Seriously though...get the mentality that this process is a struggle or a battle out of your head.

Diet is a crappy word.  Give the food real names instead of clinical terms.  I never say I ate food today in my diet.  I note that I had "insert a meal name".  Give it a name and it gains strength in identity. 

The only way to lose the weight and keep it off is to lose the fuel behind the issue...and that is most often that the change in diet and behavior is some how bad or a struggle.

Flip that around.

Being overweight, which I have struggled with forever, until recently...I am 100lbs less and have not gained an ounce back, coming up on a year...being overweight is the culprit and not the food or the exercise.

Break down the food to work for you and not against you.

Use the exercise to be something to want for a goal and not a punishment.

This is the only way to create a new mentality, and that is the only way to meet your goal and maintain it.

Change your processes and ways of thinking grasshopper, and only then will you be able to take the stone from my hand...when you can do this, you will find the stone was in your hand the whole time.

I know right?  Mind blown!

lol

[tse_epic]

All of that is beyond true, and having it here will surely help people who read the thread - myself included! I've been trying to avoid the word Diet, in all honesty, because it both tricks people into thinking I'm doing something super different, akin to Atkins or similar to Southbeach or something, and it just doesn't feel right to me. I'm not "on a Diet", so much as I've changed my nutritional intake XD

As it is, I'm trying to incorporate a lot more fiber into my diet. Saturday, for instance, I had some really fantastic steamed Broccoli with some small Alaskan Cod fillets. Store bought and battered (If there were a fresh fish market near me, I would die happy), but fantastically delicious and VERY filling. The Broccoli was really tasty and seasoned with some Mrs. Dash rather than just salt and pepper.

Today will be a day of unhealthy hamburgers, though. I'm cooking dinner and I'm making my Big Rig Burgers. 1/3lbs of beef, a sauce made from Mayo, Ketchup, Frank's Red Hot, and Sweet Pickles (Although I've also made an alternative with Greek Yogurt instead of Mayo to see how it tastes. I let it air out overnight, per my Chef's instructions), and some red onions, iceberg lettuce, and tomato. Toasted Sesame Seed buns.

Thankfully I was able to convince the people with the money to buy some semi-decent beef though. Normally they buy Ground Beef that's 73/27 and I hate it. It's disgusting and it shrinks beyond all measure and it's just worthless to me. This beef is 87/13, so it's a helluva lot better.

[Master Rel]

Fresh fish in Detroit!  (you are right, I live in a small city, and I am on the Gulf Coast, but I have 20 places within 10mi to get fresh fish/seafood)

Costco
http://www.costco.com/WarehouseLocatorView?langId=-1&storeId=10301&catalogId=10701


Superior Fish
http://www.superiorfish.com/


Eastern Market
http://www.detroiteasternmarket.com/


Alchemo's Market (Phil is a fish monger next door)
http://www.yelp.com/biz/alcamos-market-dearborn


Fresh Fish House
http://freshfishhouse.com/


And with that I will add...the fish head song...


Fish heads fish heads,
Roly poly fish heads,
Fish heads fish heads,
Eat them up yum

Fish heads fish heads,
Roly poly fish heads,
Fish heads fish heads,
Eat them up yum

In the morning,
Laughing happy fish heads,
In the evening,
Floating in the soup,

Fish heads fish heads,
Roly poly fish heads,
Fish heads fish heads,
Eat them up yum

Ask a fish head,
Anything you want to,
They won't answer,
They can't talk

Fish heads fish heads,
Roly poly fish heads,
Fish heads fish heads,
Eat them up yum

I took a fish head,
Out to see a movie,
Didn't have to pay
To get it in

Fish heads fish heads,
Roly poly fish heads,
Fish heads fish heads,
Eat them up yum

They cant play baseball,
They dont wear sweaters,
There not good dancers,
They dont play drums

Fish heads fish heads,
Roly poly fish heads,
Fish heads fish heads,
Eat them up yum

Roly poly fish heads are never seen
Drinking cappucino in Italian resturants,
With oriental women, yeah

Fish heads fish heads,
Roly poly fish heads,
Fish heads fish heads,
Eat them up yum

Fish heads fish heads,
Roly poly fish heads,
Fish heads fish heads,
Eat them up yum, (yum!)

Fish heads fish heads,
Roly poly fish heads,
Fish heads fish heads,
Eat them up yum

Fish heads fish heads,
Roly poly fish heads,
Fish heads fish heads,
Eat them up yum,

Yea..

[Master Nero Attoru]

This thread impresses the hell out of me.  Pretty much anyone can look at their life and say, "I want to make a change", but actually taking those first few steps forward and continuing onwards from there is another matter entirely.  I have nothing but respect for anyone who has that kind of character.

Keep up the good work Epic, looking forward to seeing even more progress!

[tse_epic]

So the Greek Yogurt substitute didn't taste nearly as good as the Mayo. Although that might've been my fault due to ratios. Either way, it still tasted a lot like Greek Yogurt and I can't stand the taste. It makes me sad, but whatever. The hamburgers themselves were okay-ish. The beef didn't hold together as well as I'd hoped, but then this is the leanest type of beef I've ever used, so that might be my lack of experience at play rather than the beef. Same for the Yogurt, in fact.

I'm growing increasingly aware of just how bad at cooking fancy things I am, and it reminds me "Oh yeah, I've only had two cooking classes so far!" and I just lol.

My workout was really good though. Plenty of stretches to warm up, with pilates and yoga thrown in for added variety. Did some weight training afterward, but my focus was on Cardio today, going on an exercise bike for about 30 minutes, all in all a little under 2 hours straight.

I'm exhausted and tired, but it's the good kind of exhausted. I'm not fatigued from sitting around doing nothing, I'm fatigued from working myself into exhaustion. My muscles feel fantastic and tired in just the right ways. My only issue at the moment is I'm having some back pain so thankfully tomorrow I can take it easy.

This thread impresses the hell out of me.  Pretty much anyone can look at their life and say, "I want to make a change", but actually taking those first few steps forward and continuing onwards from there is another matter entirely.  I have nothing but respect for anyone who has that kind of character.

Keep up the good work Epic, looking forward to seeing even more progress!

Many thanks. I find a lot of people start to make that change but deem the work too much for them, or simply do as you say and just look at themselves and wish they could change. People woefully underestimate their own strength, and They don't like the fact that they can't make the change overnight, but they also workout SO hard the first few times that they get sick and they hurt themselves and then they fall into the trap of "I'll go tomorrow. Oh well, I guess I'm too busy!"

It's never too late to make a change. It's never too busy to take an hour out of your day to go for a walk.

It's hard. It's not fun on some days. But it's worth it. It's so very very worth it.

[Master Rel]

Focus on your workouts as you can...food on the other hand, this I can help with lol.  My first official cooking lesson was in 1979

Yogurt to replace mayo, whip air into it.  Treat it like whipped creme.  Add your lemon, seasonings, and have a touch of almond milk or whole milk (I have to avoid cow's milk or others will suffer...ooohh how they will suffer) ready...add a bit of the yogurt to the bowl, your lemon and seasonings, and a tiny bit of the milk...whip until the volume doubles or you get stiff peaks (altitude and humidity will vary).

Or...use less mayo lol.

The meat issue.  Hamburgers are an art in truth.  Some people get it and others do not.  If you consider that a good burger in its raw state is a handful of small pieces, like holding a bag of marbles lol.  Be gentle and let the burger set on the one side, do not touch it until it need to flip and flip only once.

The less fat means less steam, less steam means a more direct cooking.  So you must be gentle and careful with the flip.

But before the actual cooking it is the seasoning that comes to mind fore front.  I like salt and pepper.  That is it.  Anything more and the burger tempts the meatloaf gods IMO.  No eggs or fillers, unless you want it to taste like meatloaf, I like meatloaf but most times I just want a burger if it is a burger.

Lean meat, if in a pan or on a flat top, hit it with a touch of water and cover, the steam will only help bind the protein.

If you really do not like yogurt, then don't use it lol.

Use the condiments you want, just be careful with amounts.

Load up with dressed veg...lettuce and tomato with a touch of salt and pepper or a vinaigrette. Distract the taste buds with texture and flavors.

You will not miss the condiments this way.

[tse_epic]

Ah God it's been forever! Stupid school

I've been keeping up on my diet and workouts as much as I can, but I didn't have a quality workout until Monday, when I went for about an hour and a half of good quality cardio and weight training. I'm still feeling it today, and I've got another workout in a few hours XD

Diet kinda tanked yesterday and last weekend, as I was with friends and really enjoyed some ice cream and Yesterday I just snacked a lot because movies happened. So today I'm 319, but I'm not too insanely worried, because of the aforementioned snacking yesterday. I also had a much larger breakfast than I usually do yesterday. Which was weird, because I got hungry sooner than I usually do.

Usually I eat a small breakfast of one or two eggs with a piece of toast and I dont get hungry until after my classes (About 6 hours later), but yesterday I had two eggs, some sausage, and a bagel with cheese and I somehow got hungry two hours later.

Weird.

[Master Rel]

Living and living well is a choice.

When you go to eat make sure if you want to be full in a while rather than hungry in a while that you include items that are harder to digest, these take longer...or...reduce the volume of the meal and break it up over a period of time.  The stomach will shrink in short order and thus the smaller meal will fill you up quicker.

If you are eating bread then let it be whole grained and more grains if possible...the fiber for sure but it is coarser and thus not easy to digest like the foul bleached soft white bread that dissolves in water after 2-3 seconds.

Hard crusty bread with lots of grains.  Some cheese.  Piece of cured meat.  Some raw fruit and or veg.  This sort of thing will provide fuel for the fire much like a dried hard wood does for a fireplace rather than the balled up newspapers of white bread meals.

You are worrying over the quality and frequency of workouts which puts it in your mind as a challenge and an obstacle rather than a tool and a choice to improve health.  Need to fix that my friend.  Let it become a goal that brings you pride and a smile.  Not like eating a bran muffin, but more like consider that each workout means something tangible like an extra week of life...worked out 4 times this week and "I gained a month of healthy life, an investment for later!"  Just don't say it out loud or you will seem all crazy and stuff.

Small steps taken consistently will tender results that are meaningful and lasting.

Remember the baseline equation...you must keep the fire within your internal furnace burning and this requires fuel, it is easier for the body to burn sugar, so avoid sugar as if it were poison, use splenda as it is free...avoid easy starches whenever possible because these are really close to the fuel of sugar...burn more than you take in.  That is the only real way.  Reduce the volume, increase the frequency, move around more.  Smaller meals, more meals, do not sit around...stand, walk, pace, something while watching TV and such...15mins of exercise counts...15mins of every hour of regular TV is commercials...use these to your advantage...commercials could be a cue to stretch out, to do windmills, knock out a set of leg lifts.

Keep it up my friend...may the Force be with you!