340 lbs but 195lbs fat free mass...

[ajjf]

Well, I'm 6' 2.5", around 340 lbs and have a fat-free mass of 195 ish on a big frame. Until a few days ago, I haven't worked out in about 6 years.

Just for fun and out of curiosity, what could I reasonably gain in muscle mass in the course of 1 year? I'm not sure of a reasonable rate of growth expectation and I know I can lose weight, I just am not sure about muscle growth. I don't know what goals to set...

Thanks

[skuZZitude]

Originally Posted by ajjf

Well, I'm 6' 2.5", around 340 lbs and have a fat-free mass of 195 ish on a big frame. Until a few days ago, I haven't worked out in about 6 years.

Just for fun and out of curiosity, what could I reasonably gain in muscle mass in the course of 1 year? I'm not sure of a reasonable rate of growth expectation and I know I can lose weight, I just am not sure about muscle growth. I don't know what goals to set...

Thanks

Hi ajjf,

I am 6' 3.5" and 353lbs and I've got 228lbs LBM on a medium frame. I am 35.6% body fat.

Muscle gaining is incredibily fast for me... when working out at the start I made massive gains literally every day. To give you an idea, 4 years ago I had never touched a weight or exercise machine. I was 336lbs and had just been loosing weight by dieting. I finally decided to join a gym. Well, at 336lbs I came in at 44% body fat or 188lbs of LBM, which is close to you now. I never had a goal of gaining muscle though, I cut down to 250lbs and at 250lbs I was around 23% body fat (193lbs LBM). So from 330lbs to 250lbs, I actually gained lean body mass and essentially lost all fat.

So to answer your question, I wouldn't find it unlikely for you to be able to get to around 250lbs while keeping all of your LBM. However, once you get to around 250lbs, it gets very hard. There is a very very thin line between "wow, I can lose weight so easily" and "holy, I haven't lost any weight in 2 weeks". I hit a huge pleateau and now I'm back to 350. However, I was working out on weights while I went from 250 to 350 and I gained about 30lbs of LBM along with 70lbs of fat, so I am not as bad off as I was before.

Hope this helped... what are you goals?

[ajjf]

Thanks for your input!

Well, my goal is to maybe lose around 100 lbs or so and create a well-defined, well-proportioned physique.

I miss being in shape more then anything but even when I was in shape, i was still a little pudgy. I want to be confident in knowing I look good.

I want every man woman and child to look at me in awe when I take of my shirt! I want women to fantasize about me, I want men to want to look like me, and I want children to want to grow up to be me. LOL Not quite. I just want to be healthy and look good, and honestly be in good shape, not just look like it.

[Chris@UGA]

No offense, but i doubt you have 195lbs of lean mass if you don't even lift weights. I also have a large frame, wide hips and shoulders, and I probably have only 190lbs of lean mass and I can't imagine someone who doesn't even lift having more. I'm not big by any means, but I do carry a respectable amount of muscle on me.

This means you probably have even more fat than you think, but it's no big deal because it's easy enough to lose if you pace yourself and don't try to rush things.

You can expect to gain about 2lbs of lean muscle each month so I'd say you can gain about 24lbs of muscle in a year with an excellent diet and hard training. At your weight, I'd aim to lose 3-4lbs a week for the first 4 months or so and then 2lbs a week after that. Good luck with it.

[skuZZitude]

Originally Posted by Chris@UGA

No offense, but i doubt you have 195lbs of lean mass if you don't even lift weights. I also have a large frame, wide hips and shoulders, and I probably have only 190lbs of lean mass and I can't imagine someone who doesn't even lift having more. I'm not big by any means, but I do carry a respectable amount of muscle on me.

This means you probably have even more fat than you think, but it's no big deal because it's easy enough to lose if you pace yourself and don't try to rush things.

You can expect to gain about 2lbs of lean muscle each month so I'd say you can gain about 24lbs of muscle in a year with an excellent diet and hard training. At your weight, I'd aim to lose 3-4lbs a week for the first 4 months or so and then 2lbs a week after that. Good luck with it.

You realize that at 340lbs, with 195lbs of LBM, that would mean that he has a body fat percentage of 42.7%. Bigger people natually have bigger masses of muscle and he will also be able to gain muscle while loosing fat at the same time (something people on here say is "impossible"). If you read my post above it was the same issue with me... I was 44% body fat at around 336lbs and I had never touched a weight before in my life. What do you expect him to be, 50% body fat? I am not aware of too many men over 50% body fat who still live normal lives. Most of them would probably be on disability due. Would be hard for a 400lb guy to move himself around with less than 200lbs of LBM, he would be injury prone and would have tons of trouble walking up stairs. Most 400lbs guys probably have about 220lbs of LBM on them without ever touching a weight.

[crupiea]

Your 26 and 339 lbs. You should be worried more about losing weight then gaining muscle. Keep in mind, if you are this big now, you are only going to get heavier and that will shorten your lifespan considerably. You might want to set a goal of losing some fat, then work on gaining muscle when you have it under control.

You are running a huge risk for heart disease, high blood pressure and diabetes. Not to mention a stroke. Thats just for starters.

Diet is the place to start. If you just kept the same lbm and lost weight and were at 10% body fat, you would look great. Best of luck to you.

[skuZZitude]

Originally Posted by crupiea

Your 26 and 339 lbs. You should be worried more about losing weight then gaining muscle. Keep in mind, if you are this big now, you are only going to get heavier and that will shorten your lifespan considerably. You might want to set a goal of losing some fat, then work on gaining muscle when you have it under control.

You are running a huge risk for heart disease, high blood pressure and diabetes. Not to mention a stroke. Thats just for starters.

Diet is the place to start. If you just kept the same lbm and lost weight and were at 10% body fat, you would look great. Best of luck to you.

Just wanted to say good job to you on going from 310 to 170. That is impressive sir. Repped

[Chris@UGA]

Originally Posted by skuZZitude

You realize that at 340lbs, with 195lbs of LBM, that would mean that he has a body fat percentage of 42.7%. Bigger people natually have bigger masses of muscle and he will also be able to gain muscle while loosing fat at the same time (something people on here say is "impossible"). If you read my post above it was the same issue with me... I was 44% body fat at around 336lbs and I had never touched a weight before in my life. What do you expect him to be, 50% body fat? I am not aware of too many men over 50% body fat who still live normal lives. Most of them would probably be on disability due. Would be hard for a 400lb guy to move himself around with less than 200lbs of LBM, he would be injury prone and would have tons of trouble walking up stairs. Most 400lbs guys probably have about 220lbs of LBM on them without ever touching a weight.

That's true. The original poster probably does have impressive leg strength and development. I knew a guy once who never touched a weight, but weighed about 400lbs. I tried to get him into the gym and teach him how to live a healthier lifestyle and on his first day he was easily leg pressing 495lbs. He could barely bench 135lbs and couldn't squat down very far at all, but put him on a leg press where he's not having to move his own weight and he was a beast.

[ajjf]

Yes, I am fully aware of all health risks related to being an obese person. I'm fat, not stupid. That aside, I am not, as many may think, in terrible physical condition. I'm not someone who just sits on his can all day watching TV and shoving twinkies into his mouth. I haven't seriously worked out in years, that doesn't mean I'm not relatively active and a stranger to the weight room. In fact, other then being fat, I'm not in that bad of shape. I'm just carrying more baggage.

I do not come from the school of thought that is of the opinion that individuals either have to gain muscle mass or lose fat but cannot do both, especially regarding individual who have a larger percentage of bodyfat to work with.

I "worry" about the addition of lean muscle mass to my body because I want to make my workouts as efficient and effective as possible. I also believe that individuals trying to lose a larger amount of weight by just diet and cardio are missing an extremely effective and efficient method of fat loss, weight training. While I'm losing weight and working out, I may as well let the fat work with me and gain lean muscle mass while I'm putting hours into the gym. Kind of a physical multi-tasking approach.

My question was specifically regarding the addition of lean muscle mass and what a reasonable goal would be so I can have a realistic expectation.

Yes, my Fat Free Mass is 195, that was confirmed by an electric resistance test.

Thanks Chris, I didn't know that 2lbs/mo was a reasonable expectation for lean muscle growth.

[Chris@UGA]

Yeah, sadly 2lbs per month is about the best you can hope for unless you're messing with pro hormones/steroids.

Lord knows I've tried to up my calories by more than I should and ended up gaining 20lbs in 2 months...and then having to diet for 2 more months to get rid of all the fat I gained.

My next bulk will include daily cardio all the way through to ensure I get nice, slow lean muscle gains.

[ajjf]

Thanks for the info Chris, I really appreciate it. Actually, 2lbs per month is just fine, about as much as I was hoping for actually.

When I get into a solid routine, I melt for the first two months. About six years ago, before I knew much of anything about fitness, I created a workout/nutrition plan for myself and ended up losing about 70 lbs in 3 months then kept the weight off, and added bulk to my upper body, which is still there thankfully. Not long after that I ended up doing a LOT of traveling and my fitness and nutrition routine fell by the wayside and I just didn't pick it back up. Occasionally I'd get into a mood for a few weeks where I was running or biking or in the gym but...just didn't keep at it. This time I'm a lot more dedicated than I have ever been and I'm really looking forward to turning my appearance into what I feel I am on the inside.

Also, I have a lot more tools at my disposal now then ever before, a full Division I collegiate sporting/wellness complex. I know an awful lot about nutrition and fitness and I'm really just filling in the gaps. I don't have a lot of educated personal experience with muscle growth and the science of supplements so that's pretty much what I'm looking for. The rate of lean muscle mass growth was a foundation question I just didn't know the answer to. LOL, long-winded thank you it is but... Thanks!

[lisekpl]

As someone said earlier, at your weight dropping 50 - 100 lbs is going to be fairly easy, assuming your diet and training are in check, but let me recommend, once you get pass that and hit a plateau then look into a EC (Ephedrine + Caffeine) stack to jump start the fat loss once again. I'm on it right now and already dropped 20 lbs in 3 weeks. My diet and training and lots of cardio were 100% dialed in, and I only noticed drastic changes with EC, before that I barely lost 1 - 2 lbs a week. Well, just a thought. Good luck man.

[ajjf]

Thanks for the info.

Question, I love ephedra and ephedrine, I'm just a little leary about taking it now that they've banned the sale in the united states. I don't exactly want to order something that's going to go into by body from Mexico...

[Chris@UGA]

You can still buy it legally if you know where to look. You have a pm.