Extreme weight loss advice.

[Deleted]

My advice, is cut out the cardio. I was in the same boat as you about 8 months ago, trying to lose weight by doing cardio and dieting and after the initial loss i hit a brick wall even though i was training harder then ever. I then read an article (I will try and find the link if you want it, it explains the science behind it all) and decided to change my tactics, I moved on to purely weightlifting (going for strength training rather than anything else so high weights, 5-8 reps and lots of sets, it's effectively a cardio session of itself) and a diet plan known as Intermittent Fasting with calorie restriction and I started losing over a kilo a week with 4/5 days in the gym and about an hour walking a day (to and from uni). Since then ive lost 34.6 kilos, a margin over 70 lbs, and reduced my body fat by 16%.
Lift your way to a better life, the diet is the hardest and most important part though.

[Jackishi]

Probably a shameless plug, but you could try this: http://www.absdiet.com/uof/absdiet/abospl/

You can find the book in any bookstore, and it's really good at giving a basic rundown about what kind of foods to look for and which to eat less of (though you can still have a cheat day every now and then). It's not really a diet program, but rather it advocates tenets of both bodybuilding and dieting, and what I loved about it was not having to worry about calorie counting, just focusing on which 'right foods' to eat. Lost about 25 lbs this way, though I yo-yo'd back up when I started binge eating and drinking. <_<

It's also been reviewed here: http://health.usnews.com/best-diet/abs-diet

[Deleted]

Ok, I wanna give an advice how I lost a bit many years ago, I ONLY ate fruits and vegetables pretty much, NOTHING unhealthy at all. I ate alot of fruits so I wasn't starving and ofcourse some real meals but not much. This worked for me, but may not work for everybody, Also I didn't do much gym traning etc, but it sure helps.

[Blueobelisk]

*AHEMMMMMMMMMMM*

Buffalo mothafreakin Wild Wings...

Love that place. Don't know if it counts as fast food or not.

If it doesn't: Zaxby's.

We need to change our habits...

[bricktop123]

The "cardio doesn't work" people in this thread are pretty insane. If the guy is almost 400 lbs its obvious he's living a completely sedentary lifestyle at this point and any exercise is going to do wonders for him. Personally I've gone from 325 to 165 in the last year by a combination of walking for an hour or so every day and changing my diet(completely cutting out soda, eating healthier etc). The exercise and cutting out the soda got me to the point where I was no longer an obese monster and then I worked on my diet. As other people have said, once the ball starts rolling and I was trying to eat healthier my tastes absolutely did change to the point where I was craving stuff like fruits and salads that I would never eat before.

[TommiTMX]

The "cardio doesn't work" people in this thread are pretty insane. If the guy is almost 400 lbs its obvious he's living a completely sedentary lifestyle at this point and any exercise is going to do wonders for him...snip

That's not necessarily true, I was 414lbs when I started my diet in the second week of January. Before that I was far from sedentary, I just used to eat pathetic meals and then snack well into the night on the worst stuff I could come across.

To the original poster though, people have already given you most of the advice you'll need, I'm just posting to wish you the best of luck and hope that you'll change your thoughts about the food you eat. I'm a horrendously fussy eater (though I do generally like fruit and select vegetables), I just had to suck it up (try some new foods to fill in gaps for calorie intake - I was getting too much from carbs etc. - and come up with a set plan). Try using an app on your smartphone (if you have one) called MyFitnessPal, it has a huge database of foods (and if anything is missing you can add the figures manually and save them for later). This lets you monitor your calorie intake (and breakdown) giving you a rough idea where you're at.

Like I said, I was 414lbs when I started, I'm on my 11th week now (though due to family illness I've slowed down a bit recently) and I've lost 54lbs so far with plenty more to go (some people say that the way I've done it is unhealthy - I'm bordering a VLCD - but I understand the risks and the consequences fairly well and it's still working for me without any loss in strength). To do it I had to change my lifestyle, keeping your old lifestyle but modifying it slightly I always found ends up back where you started shortly after. The biggest thing you can do is remove any lies you've told yourself / other people about the state you're in. I've always been fairly honest about my weight and why I was the way I was (and still am) so it was easier for me. I've also seen a lot of fat people blame every single thing they come across as being a contributing factor to their weight instead of just saying "maybe I don't need those Maltesers after all". (P.S. I miss Maltesers!)

Like I said at the start, good luck and I hope you keep this thread updated with your progress!

[Tommy T]

Ok so if any of you ever wonder the off-topic/fitness forums, then you have probably seen my posts or threads.

For those of you who don't know, I am one of the heavier members of MMO-C, I have struggled with my weight ever since 6th grade (currently a sophomore in college) and I really do put effort into losing weight. I want to lose weight so that maybe one day I can help someone else lose weight or get on track.

I am 5'7 white, 21 years old and weigh about 375 pounds. I "try" to go to the gym everyday, though most of the time I get sidetracked with school or social life issues. I really don't play games anymore (this is why I gained all the weight I did, paired with eating out) and I try to keep myself pretty busy. Based off what I have told you, what advice could you give me?

Here are some things I am doing or will be doing very shortly (in the next couple of days):

-Gym every single day (1-2 hours, 85% time spent doing cardio)
-No sugary drinks (water pretty much)
-Portion control (eating when I have to, not when I want to)

What are some other tips? Thanks in advance!

EDIT: My diet includes everything that isn't healthy. Like even basic healthy thing I won't eat, not cause I'm a dumbass but rather because I'd throw up or starve to death if I was forced to eat them. Any kind of vegetables I won't eat, salads, fruits, etc. When I diet I do portion control and calorie counting. That is it.

The only reason you don't like healthy food is because you're addicted to junk.

Once you start eating healthily, you will enjoy it. No offence but you sound like you don't have the right attitude and for weight loss, you need to be serious or it's not going to happen. Going to the gym for 1-2 hours (which really isn't needed at your weight) is useless if you're eating a lot of high GI foods.

[Deleted]

Weight loss is an attitude problem. You need to be the one that wants to loss weight and if you really want to, you will have to give up that god awful diet you say you are on. If this means using one of these so called fad diets then use it but don't get dragged back into your old routine of eating crap.

Also exercise is a huge part of it and finding a group of people on the same boat or starting a sport may help as well.

[juliapeter]

Do more weights, balance it out with cardio for best effect.

Your attitude to food needs to change, healthy food is not bland, boring or horrible. Learn to make decent things and you'll find they are far more tasty and filling than fatty, processed crap.

[szandos]

Seriously, if you want to lose that much weight effectively and risk-free, go see a professional.

[Venant]

It sounds like you have an issue with vegetables, and while it is all fine and good for people to say 'just force yourself to eat this', it isn't always as easy as this for some people. What I would suggest looking into is getting an inexpensive blender and giving making juices/smoothies a try. You will want to use organic raw fruits and vegetables, preferably vegetables like spinach/kale/romaine lettuce mixed with something sweet which will modify the taste so that it is palatable for you. Over time start modifying your proportion of fruit to vegetable so that it is a higher percentage vegetable and you will become more and more accustomed to the taste and perhaps you will eventually be able to eat non blended vegetables and fruits without feeling sick.

As for eating in general, it is bad to keep eating junk food because it lacks much of the nutrition your body needs to stay healthy in the long run. Instead of feeling like you are depriving yourself of the food you crave, try to increase the percentage of healthy food you eat over time, which will lead to eating less unhealthy food and work at breaking the addiction to salty/sugary foods you likely have. If you should fall off the wagon someday, just get back on it and try to keep progressing, don't just give up. Educate yourself as much as possible and make your own decisions on what is healthy for you.

[Deleted]

Eat healthier and exercise. Extreme weight loss is very bad.

[Deleted]

If I were you I would lift weights too..Cardio is simply not enough to lose lose weight.O and I would increase my protein intake too

[Wiizper]

If I were you I would lift weights too..Cardio is simply not enough to lose lose weight.O and I would increase my protein intake too

Cardio is enough to lose weight, but chances are you'll be skinny fat in the end if you dont weight lift.

[Badpaladin]

Cardio is enough to lose weight, but chances are you'll be skinny fat in the end if you dont weight lift.

Cardio builds muscle, so becoming "skinny fat" is pretty tough if the goal is more than to simply lose a few pounds. It's awfully hard to find a "skinny fat" runner, climber, or cyclist.

[Souichirou]

Cardio builds muscle, so becoming "skinny fat" is pretty tough if the goal is more than to simply lose a few pounds. It's awfully hard to find a "skinny fat" runner, climber, or cyclist.

This is true and false, yes cardio will build some muscle its different from lifting weights, Lets break it down a pound of muscle occupies less space than a pound of fat if you do just cardio the body will drop fat but as well as muscle so it doesn't have to carry as much around for less stress on the body Eg. marathon runners vs a sprinter, while they both run the sprinter is built more like a body builder while a marathon runner is built for distance running with super low body fat% and very little muscle.

[zcrooked]

the biggest weight lose is from the kitcken imo. enough said.

I've lost over 60 pounds and gym make me took 10 so..

[Badpaladin]

This is true and false, yes cardio will build some muscle its different from lifting weights, Lets break it down a pound of muscle occupies less space than a pound of fat if you do just cardio the body will drop fat but as well as muscle so it doesn't have to carry as much around for less stress on the body Eg. marathon runners vs a sprinter, while they both run the sprinter is built more like a body builder while a marathon runner is built for distance running with super low body fat% and very little muscle.

"skinny fat" is when you're skinny, but your body mass is still disproportionately composed of fat rather than muscle. Athletes in "cardio" sports are not "skinny fat".

[Gunzy]

I lost 23 kg, was about a 100. Running+Gym no strick diet (I didnt eat mcdonalds and didnt drink sugar water even before i started dieting. Its just idiotic.). It sucks to start out and its so painful. I remember i coudnt walk fast on threadmill for 10 min. Now i run 7 km 3 times a week. Took me about a year to do so. Simple advice is just to not care about pain or anything, you need to just do "work" and have a routine, till it becomes a habit. Your body can adapt to anything in time if your persistent. At least thats how i feel. Then its easy. I started out by walking realy fast as long as possible before every gym routine. A gym trainer helps, i had one for about two mouths, helps to go to the gym because you actualy have someone waiting for you there. A simple thing like that realy helps in the begining.

[Rabidewok]

EDIT: My diet includes everything that isn't healthy. Like even basic healthy thing I won't eat, not cause I'm a dumbass but rather because I'd throw up or starve to death if I was forced to eat them. Any kind of vegetables I won't eat, salads, fruits, etc. When I diet I do portion control and calorie counting. That is it.

I'm going to sound like a jerk, but this is completely where you're going wrong. Restricting yourself to limited calories isn't going to last long term, and likely to severely fuck with your metabolism. You're essentially starving yourself, even if you eat 1,500 calories a day of junk food - you are starving your body of nutrients. Hamburgers, cheese sticks and whatever else doesn't have the nutrients you need to sustain your body in a healthy manner.

I know it's a stretch to ask you to switch from that way of living and that diet to "oh have a salad", but just try this - use the "swap" method. Swap your afternoon chocolate bar for say.. a few strawberries instead - or make a smoothie with *some* chocolate and add fruit like a banana or blueberries. Slowly familiarize yourself with fruits, and then vegetables. Instead of peanut butter on wholegrain toast, try avocado or tomato with pepper. Instead of doritos, make healthy tacos with salsa, a bit of cheese and fill it with some lettuce, cucumber, beans, etc. Add veggies to your pizza, cut them up small so you don't notice them as much if you wish. You need to get in a habit of eating veg!

Your body will thank you for it in the long run