Ask a guy who lost his entire bodyweight in fat and stays lean anything

[Serpentarius]

Ask me anything and i will give you the truth about any fitness related question with brutal honesty and common sense about lifting, supplements, and food.

[SteveFromNY]

good job dude, and your posts on this forum are top notch. I'm curious, did your loose skin ever tighten?

[MrM27]

How many pints of ice cream do you eat per week?

[Serpentarius]

good job dude, and your posts on this forum are top notch. I'm curious, did your loose skin ever tighten?

Absolutely, i have only a very small amount now that shows as a couple of wrinkles when i bend over slightly

How many pints of ice cream do you eat per week?

Anymore, i only eat around 1-2 as i started eating more fruit and learned how to bake and cook other foods to add more variety to satisfy my sweet tooth

[MrM27]

I'm dissapoint. I always considered you the ice cream man.

Now a serious question. If you can remember which I'm sure you can.
From when you started deadlifting, what did you start at? What were you at after 1 year?

[SteveFromNY]

damn you're ripped!

[Serpentarius]

I'm dissapoint. I always considered you the ice cream man.

Now a serious question. If you can remember which I'm sure you can.
From when you started deadlifting, what did you start at? What were you at after 1 year?

haha, i still get my fair share of ice cream but have tried just about every flavor and it gets tiresome

My first time i deadlifted, my starting weight was 2 plates after many sets of finding where i should be, in about 3 months i was at 320 already and then stalled because i was at a good 1000 calorie deficit, my noob gains happened very fast though. After a year i wasnt too much higher because i made the mistake of following typical advice given at the time which was "eat big to get big" and lost a lot of strength because i had to cut AGAIN for a long time and tried to do it fast to erase the mistake i made. I was only around 360 because of poor programming after a year though.

[DarthInvadeHer]

Why can't I loose weigh?

[MrM27]

haha, i still get my fair share of ice cream but have tried just about every flavor and it gets tiresome

My first time i deadlifted, my starting weight was 2 plates after many sets of finding where i should be, in about 3 months i was at 320 already and then stalled because i was at a good 1000 calorie deficit, my noob gains happened very fast though. After a year i wasnt too much higher because i made the mistake of following typical advice given at the time which was "eat big to get big" and lost a lot of strength because i had to cut AGAIN for a long time and tried to do it fast to erase the mistake i made. I was only around 360 because of poor programming after a year though.

Nice. Thanks for making me realize how pathetic I am.

I'm now going to go drown my sorrows in one of the 11 pints of ice cream that are in my freezer.

On a serious note, guys that are looking for advice or understanding should take advantage and ask away in here. Serp knows his stuff.

[Kurt909]

Does starving work.

[BradKemp]

How much do you bench press?

[Kraken]

If you lost your entire body weight in fat, then you would have negative body fat?

[Serpentarius]

Why can't I loose weigh?

because you associate food with your emotions as we've discussed

Does starving work.

its theoretically the fastest way to lose weight, its pure deficit

How much do you bench press?

I dont really strive to bench since i am training for a sport, but 215.

If you lost your entire body weight in fat, then you would have negative body fat?

It means that i just lost a total of over my entire bodyweight.

[WaterSnatcher]

Hey Serpentarius, just dropping by to say thanks since I've seen you giving out helpful advice here for ages.

I also figured there is also no better person to ask, would you advise me to keep cutting or to start bulking? I've been cutting for quite some time. Bf% estimate as well?


185lb 6'3

[morninglory81]

How long have you been lean?

How long did it take to see your skin tighten?

Did you take any supliments or use any methods for skin health/recovery?

[abridgel]

It looks like you went from 240 to 180 in 5 mths would you mind telling us what your cut was like? How hard did you push yourself and what was your deficit.

I am cutting now from 230 and have a goal of 32lbs in 32 weeks. I am at 2200 cals a day 150 protein.

What do you think?

[Serpentarius]

Hey Serpentarius, just dropping by to say thanks since I've seen you giving out helpful advice here for ages.

I also figured there is also no better person to ask, would you advise me to keep cutting or to start bulking? I've been cutting for quite some time. Bf% estimate as well?

185lb 6'3

id say you are about 16%, i would continue cutting as summer is approaching and while even if you dont plan to go shirtless, you have a decent base to cut down to and will look considerably better and be in a good place to slowly be in a surplus. If you are mentally tired, i would take a week off with a deload day fitting in your prioritized lifts and then go back to lifting and staying at maintenance for a couple of weeks as it can completely refresh your mind having extra food.

[Serpentarius]

How long have you been lean?

How long did it take to see your skin tighten?

Did you take any supliments or use any methods for skin health/recovery?

I have been "fat free" and 14% and under since 2011 fall i believe, its when i took being in a smaller surplus more serious than going all out.
Although it wasnt "i was 400 lbs" loose skin, about a year and a half after is when it started becoming less elastic and stuck to my body. Honestly i think being very lean visually helps as well. I dont use lotion or anything other than for my hands since i work with cars and oil products but the only supplements ive ever used were:

caffeine
yohimbine hcl
5-HTP
creatine monohydrate
tried a couple of pre workouts since they were given to me
l-dopa
fish oil

i dont count whey as a supplement since its just dried dairy

It looks like you went from 240 to 180 in 5 mths would you mind telling us what your cut was like? How hard did you push yourself and what was your deficit.

I am cutting now from 230 and have a goal of 32lbs in 32 weeks. I am at 2200 cals a day 150 protein.

What do you think?

I was pretty confused at first, i started off by just eating a lot less, i wasnt eating hardly anything out of ignorance until i got a scale and learned how to count because i felt horrible and tired, was only eating like 1500 for the first month on accident.
I was pretty focused because i was seeing fast results, and i mean when you are obese and weight comes off, seeing that number change should keep you going. I was in at least a 1000 calorie deficit, which is fine considering i feel losing 1% bodyweight a week should be your limit and obviously 200 lbs means 2 lbs a week on that. With that said it changes if the person is taller and lean, they cant afford to take the calorie hit but its reasonable for average height and shorter guys.
I worked way too hard, i was doing really really hard cardio 5x a week, and on the weekends id walk for an additional hour because i didnt really grasp that it was about total calorie balance until i lost it all.

You have an extremely realistic goal, it should be pretty easy and with the calories you eat it gives you a lot of flexibility.
i STRONGLY believe now that we absolutely do not need more than 0.8g of protein per lb of lbm, which in the end doesnt matter if you like eating more for satiety, but getting the minimum gives you further flexibility and variety in types of food.

I would say it is reasonable to lose 1.5 lbs a week without any repercussions, but there is nothing wrong with slower as we have all the time in the world for the most part.

[JTR616]

How important is cardio while on a cut? I find myself slacking on doing any cardio the last few weeks but have kept my calories in check and continue to make all my lifting days.

[Serpentarius]

How important is cardio while on a cut? I find myself slacking on doing any cardio the last few weeks but have kept my calories in check and continue to make all my lifting days.

I have mixed feelings on it. As someone with a higher base RMR than most, i can just sit around and melt fat without any effort. I do however do cardio for just 20 mins after lifting so i can eat candy because i have a massive sweet tooth, but spend that time playing my PS VITA so its not like im bored.
I definitely feel females should absolutely do it because they have a much smaller RMR, and even for guys, doing half an hour as long as you dont screw up your calories can make a dent in speeding things up as eating 50 calories less every day, 7 days a week equates to 1/10 lb faster fat loss. It should be used sparingly so a person doesnt get in the habit of not being able to control their loss based off of excessive activity.
As far as real HIIT, i absolutely feel it us useless unless you are training specifically for a sport that requires sport specific conditioning, and that a lifting program should be tailored to a trainees goals.

As far as health reasons, as long as one is lifting they dont need to do any LISS, but if they want to get better at something like running, they need to run because specific types of cardio dont really carry over the adaptations even though they may have increased vo2 max.

[WaterSnatcher]

id say you are about 16%, i would continue cutting as summer is approaching and while even if you dont plan to go shirtless, you have a decent base to cut down to and will look considerably better and be in a good place to slowly be in a surplus. If you are mentally tired, i would take a week off with a deload day fitting in your prioritized lifts and then go back to lifting and staying at maintenance for a couple of weeks as it can completely refresh your mind having extra food.

Thanks man I really do appreciate the input.
I'll just continue the cut as I'm having no problem staying in a deficit.

[accounts]

At your current weight what are your macros? do you do that kind of thing? What are your tips

[Serpentarius]

At your current weight what are your macros? do you do that kind of thing? What are your tips

I only count protein and calories because i dont really eat meat unless its cooked but average 120g protein. Maintained all lifts except 1-2 reps throughout cutting 13 weeks and feel more is not necessary. I dont count fat because i typically get 100 on average and a lot of the foods i eat are full fat dairy and such, so when i have counted it, its nearly double requirement. Only count it during carb refeed when it needs to mathematically be as small as possible.

The best thing i can say about food is just exercise common sense, and realize that even a lot of "processed" foods still have a lot of micronutrients when you look at the actual information, and never to restrict certain foods (hydrogenated oil in peanut butter, MSG in extreme trace amounts in doritos for example) and learn how to cook is ultimately your best friend.
I feel its not even about "relationship" with food, but not letting food take over one's life and not be too restrictive at the same time.

[Merial20]

How many stalls did you have during your long term cut? What bodyfat percentage do you feel was the most difficult to push through (ex. 15-10%). Did you keep the same number if calories for the duration of the cut?

[KramericaInd]

What does your name mean?

Do you dance?

[Serpentarius]

How many stalls did you have during your long term cut? What bodyfat percentage do you feel was the most difficult to push through (ex. 15-10%). Did you keep the same number if calories for the duration of the cut?

During the first 1-2 weeks i would still make progress after going right into a deficit and then everything would come to a halt, on certain things like calf raises i would still be able to add weight here and there but thats the extent.

What does your name mean?

Do you dance?

its the 13th sign of the zodiac, i am really into astronomy and it is the same month as my birthdate

I have no coordination when it comes to dancing lol

[Jnewman011]

with your high metabolism, how did you get fat in the first place? not trying to be a douchebag, srs question. were you an emotional eater? were you dealing with depression?

[Wood973]

I don't have a question but wanted to say good job. I've enjoyed reading your posts over the years, (I was an observer of the forum for a while before joining), always helpful and informative.

[Serpentarius]

with your high metabolism, how did you get fat in the first place? not trying to be a douchebag, srs question. were you an emotional eater? were you dealing with depression?

its more to deal with the neurotransmitter response, the ones responsible for happiness, dopamine and serotonin,the same ones addicts get the "high" from. The feeling you get from feeling full, the satiety, its a natural feeling and completely normal from a survival point of view as we are meant to store fat for times of famine, which now never comes because the overabundance of food. A "snack" would be clearing out a row of 20 oreos lol, and each one of those is 70 calories so...1400 in a snack alone.
In the morning i would eat 3-4 LARGE bagels with the small container of philly creme cheese, the only thing i would drink was soda and kool-aid, i always had fast food once a day and for other meals it was constant snacking or really high calorie stuff like entire pizzas.

I don't have a question but wanted to say good job. I've enjoyed reading your posts over the years, (I was an observer of the forum for a while before joining), always helpful and informative.

thanks, much appreciated

[GrantKevin]

Is there anyway to cut away more fat from my upper legs and not my upper body?
I'm eating enough protein and working out BLSS (3x a week at least) but still losing muscle mass and not a lot of fat, why?