380 Pounds to 200 pounds, help.

[commi]

I eat subway every lunch from monday to friday and on friday i also eat it for supper, i have lost 55 pounds.

[skuZZitude]

hey bro,

First, awesome on you wanting to make a change. Let me tell you, it isn't easy.

I am 290lbs and struggling to get down to 200, it's tough, but I am doing it. But I wasn't always 290lbs.... I used to be 415lb and that was NOT FUN!

I lost most of my weight doing atkins type diet, or Keto. The subway diet works too, but it's expensive (it gets old paying $15 a day for food) and eventually it gets really boring eating at subway. If that is what works for you then do it, do anything.

First thing first... loosing weight is a long term struggle. I lost my weight so slow. It's been 5 years now and I got down to 250lbs and gained back to 300lbs. You need to lose weight slow, it's the only way. At your weight maybe 3-4lbs a week. That turns into 20lbs a month and 100lbs in 5 months. Still, 5 months is a LONG time to go on a diet. Every day seems to last 5x as long when your'e eating healthy.

Commit to it bro and you will be happy in the end! As far as Taco Bell goes, you can't ever eat it again, ever. When you are 200lbs, and 10% body then.......... YOU STILL CAN'T EAT IT. GOT IT? NEVER. There is no "saying good bye" to taco bell or "Just one last time" or even "when I get skinny I will eat it". It's done, it's over with, there are better things in life. You need to come to terms with this and sign an agreement in blood saying you'll never eat there or at any other fast food place ever again before you can start the diet...

Some will disagree here and obviously at some point you can eat at taco bell b ut the point is, if you go into a diet dreaming about taco bell then by the 3rd day it will overcome you. Craviings don't have to go to work, and they don't sleep. They will haunt you constantly and get you while you are WEAK! You can't beat the cravings by simply ignoring them or being on guard....... the only way to beat cravings is to KILL THEM FOR GOOD. Killing cravings is not easy it takes effort but just not eatng taco bell will help and convincing yourself it's not that good too.

My suggestion to you is this........... if you are going to eat at Taco Bell, you NEED to take a log book with you. Eat whatever you want at taco bell, eat 10 damn burritos. I mean go nuts, who cares, you only do it once in a while. Immediately after eating it, (I mean RIGHT after, while you're still sittin in the parking lot) write in the book how you feel. Tell yourself if it was worth it. Cause you know, I used to be hooked on chinese foood and stuff and I would eat it and then always right afterwards feel like crap and I would also think "it wasn't as good as I thought it would be". Then before you eat at taco bell next time read the book. You have to read it, dont just not read the book and think "I know what the book says, I dont need to read it". Words are powerful to read. After you fill an entire book up you will start realizing:

1) How much you eat there
2) How much money you waste
3) How much depression you cause yourself

I did a logbook like this and I made it to 6-7 pages before I stopped eating chinese food.

[V-240]

Briefly and simply, I'll jump in here. I cut out all fast food and nearly all processed food, including soda pop, started eating only real, whole food and drinking lots of ice water and started regular exercise. It's taking time, but I've lost 35 lbs just doing these things. No fads, no gimmicks, no strange potions or powders, just real food and water.

It is tough sometimes, but it gets easier once you get rolling. Also helps to *accurately* log your food at a place like fitday.com, but you must get a kitchen scale and measure all food. Portion Distortion is a real problem with us big guys! You may find a nice endorphin buzz will result after you quit eating crap food. I did!

[emma10]

at your weight if you just drink nothing but water that will make a big change before you even start adjusting foods. JUST WATER> You will soon learn to love the taste.
I am guessing that fast foods have become a pretty big part of your life, how about instead of trying to change from bad foods to great healthy stuff, just dont eat anything fried. so if a fast food place does a grilled option have that. bake yourself some oven chips at home.. etc
If you cut out all drinks but water (yes most def alcohol out)., And cut out fried food, You will start loosing without really notcing.
Then when that routine starts working well for you can start making over changes like sugar etc...
just KEEP WORKING HARD. You will not believe how much it will be worth it. The feeling of being able to junp off the couch and go run outside a kick a ball around etc is something everyone should feel. Think about what you want to achieve and never stop working for it. Draw progress charts too.
And think of short term rewards (not food treats though!) , like a trip to a sports game or a new shirt.
good luck

[mekan]

I started at 375 or so and am at 354 now. I focus on eating unprocessed foods. I track everything...saying that again...EVERYTHING I eat. A great free food journal can be found at www.fitday.com. I focus on protein and good carbs..ie vegies and fruit. My calorie intake is around 2500 a day.

It sounds like Taco Bell is one of your trigger foods that send you off into a binge. If you are like me you have many trigger foods, emotions, and more. Identify those and avoid the triggers or replace the triggers with a non-trigger item or action. Spaghetti is one of my trigger foods. If I start to eat spag I simply won't stop, and if I force myself to stop I will eventually binge on something else. I avoid spaghetti like it is crack.

I wrote on my blog about a study that found obese people react with a chemical called dopamine released by our system just like a drug addict does. It is worth reading to help understand why you can end up eating uncontrollably even when you are working hard to control.

Exercise consistency is much more important that blowing yourself out with a hard day and then not working out again for a long time because you hurt. Lifting is a big key to your health....don't avoid it. It has been said that a fat man that does a lot of cardio to lose weight becomes a skinny fat man. Build the muscle. Cardio is very good too, but muscle building should be a priority.

Fiber and protein are keys to success. I find it hard to get the percentage of protein I want in a day. This is why I supplement with a protein drink or two. Notice I did not say replace! Keeping your protein up is important to maintain or build your muscle. Protein also satiates me.

For the thigh problem I agree with what others have said here, go for the lycra and/or lubricant. One problem I had was finding a place that sold spandex shorts in 4x and 5x sizes. Here is a site that I found, but there are probably others as well. www.aerotechdesigns.com

Us big guys have spent a good deal of time hiding our weight issue from ourselves. We avoid mirrors, pictures, and anything that reminds us exactly how big we have become. One of the things we do is underestimate what we consume and how many calories are in what we consume. Trust me, it does not take long to get to 2500 calories. Again, measure and journal your food intake. We also have forgotten how to listen to our body's needs. Try to pay attention. Try to wait to eat until you are hungry.

Take it a day at a time and don't beat yourself up when things get a bit out of control. Good luck, and God Bless

Dave

[bigpopa71]

I started at 412 pounds and I have taken in on avg 2500 calories a day, and have lost an avg of 10 pounds a month. You should take the goal weight or ideal weight then use the calculator on it.

Thank you toobigfred,

Your right on the money, You should be taking in no more than 2500 cals a day. Your diet should be designed around your target weight not your present weight. Like Fred I too started in the 400s. I was eating 1800 cals a day with no exercise and droped 65 pounds. I then felt comfortable with exercise and started to work out 3 to 4 times a week. on work out days I bumped my cals up to 2500. I work out seven days a week now and I weigh 255 pounds and I still eat around 2500 cals a day. I also do three 50 gram protien shakes that add another 700 cals to my diet. I have never felt weak, I build plenty of muscle and my weight loss has been steady over the past 26 months. Alot of guys swear by 500 cals below maintenance. But you will see very little results from that method at your size. If you want to try the subway diet than give it a try. Just stay away from the chips and the mayo. My whole thing with losing weight for life threatening situations is do what you need to do to get out of the red zone. Then you can focus on proper nutrition later. If you can effectively lose weight with subway then do it, but at some point you will have to learn how to eat correctly.

[J1987]

Dude eat breakfast, lunch and dinner...

1000 cals each and you will loose the majoirty ... thats like a large value meal with diet drink for every meal or a subway footlong with drink thats diet.

just try to stick to healthy'er things while your out.

[SaraLove]

You might want to try Alli. It is not for everyone, but if you are committed it might be for you. You have to eat healthy with this or there are some bad side effects. This new diet pill is flying off the shelves. If you are losing 2-3 pound it will make you lose 5. Alli is the only true fat blocker. It was a prescription and now it is over the counter. It blocks 25% of the fat you eat. FACT

http://www.drugstore.com/templates/b...64&aparam=alli

[kombatnt]

I'd like to throw my 2 cents into this discussion regarding fast food. I subscribe to the belief that any diet which tries to tell you that you can "never" have certain foods again is doomed to failure. What's the point of life if you permanently deny yourself things you enjoy? One taco every now and then isn't going to kill you. The key is to have a plan to prevent yourself from overdoing it.

When I decided to clean up my diet, I noticed some funny things during the first couple of weeks.

#1 - Cheat day. I gave myself 1 day a week during which I could eat whatever I wanted, guilt-free. This actually helped me eat much healthier the rest of the week and defeat cravings. Whenever I wanted to eat a bag of Ruffles, or down a dozen McNuggets, I'd just say to myself, "If you still want it by Saturday, you can have it." Having that safety-valve made it much easier to stick to my diet. Over time, "cheat day" became "cheat meal," and nowadays it's not even really planned. I eat healthy all the time, and if I find myself out at lunch with co-workers celebrating an achievement, I let myself enjoy the meal guilt-free, knowing that I can't even recall the previous time I ate a "bad" meal.

#2 - Decreased desire for junk. This one surprised me. After eating healthy for a few weeks, I noticed fast food didn't seem nearly as appetizing to me as it used to. It just looked shiny, slimy, greasy, and gross. My cravings for fast food dropped off dramatically. I found the thought of a bar-b-qued chicken breast, seasoned with mesquite sauce and paired with some steamed broccoli and carrots much more mouth-watering.

#3 - Exercise actually helps you stick to your diet. Whenever I have a craving for some junk food, I just think about how much I'd have to exercise to burn it off. If I found myself in a donut shop with some friends and they'd ask, "aren't you getting anything?" I'd say to myself, "sure, you could eat that chocolate-glazed donut, but it would mean you wasted your time this morning when you ran that 5K. Do you really want to negate all that hard work? Remember how tired you were? Is giving that up worth 5 minutes of sugar?" Exercising earlier in the day helps with this too, because you can still feel the muscles aching, begging you not to eat that donut and make it all for nothing.

I'm curious if others have had similar experiences, or noticed the same motivational factors.

And to the original poster - don't despair. Falling down once is no reason not to try again. You've got the rest of your life to get this right, and the feeling of being healthy is worth it. Don't look at it as a single challenge with one goal at the end - think of it as a lifelong journey.

[dzasta]

I'd like to update this thread of mine.

Progress was very slow in the beginning, but as of August 2, 2008, I weighed 341lbs.

I then motivated myself to continue further, with a combination of 80% cardio and 20% weight lifting, I have lost another 50lbs from my previously mentioned weight, for a total of 89lbs. I now as of March 22nd, I weigh 291lbs and am now focusing on a 20% cardio 80% weight lifting scheme to further lose more fat.

The road was very bumpy in the beginning, but it has been repaved and the journey so far is smooth.

I've hit so many plateaus that have halted my fat loss, but through trial and error I have found that I just need to switch workout schemes every now and then from cardio to weight lifting and so on.

Fast food has exited my life, except for an occasional Wendys for their grilled chicken (Can't help myself lol) and I frequent Subway however for the past couple of months Subway have been absent from my daily routine. I reguarly eat lean Chicken breast, turkey breast, rice, anything green besides brussel sprouts, wheat bread, skim milk, low fat cheeses, and so on. Soda is non existant and water enters its place. Salt is heavily regulated as well.

I am so glad I have made it this far, and I can't see myself stopping now.
My final goal is still 200lbs. I suspect perhaps that I could potentially meet this goal by the end of the year if I try hard enough.

Attached is a word document with my progression since 341lbs.

[Lewisboss77]

Congrats on weight loss so far!

I've hit so many plateaus that have halted my fat loss, but through trial and error I have found that I just need to switch workout schemes every now and then from cardio to weight lifting and so on.

I thought when plateaus are reached a change in diet works?

[dzasta]

Congrats on weight loss so far!

Thanks

I thought when plateaus are reached a change in diet works?

Apparently, however no matter how strict I was on my diet, or changed things around, nothing allowed me to continue losing fat than changing my workout. I assume (we all know what happens when you assume though lol) that my body had just gotten used to the cardio over time, as well as weight lifting as well. I just change it up and I continue losing and cut right through my plateau that I was experiencing. This has worked a few times and I'm sticking with it

[member67]

regarding chaffing:

I started wearing Jockey cotton/spandex underwear in the "Midway" cut...it almost goes down to your knees...i got them because i liked how they looked but I never realized they would do so much to protect against Chaffing..and they DONT ride up your leg!!...look for this type of underwear (i think you can buy from their website and they have Big/Tall sizes too)..

just a suggestion...and keep at it...i started around 384 and am already down to 297 in about 8 months...putting on lots of lean muscle is helping me to displace the fat and the cardio helps to burn it off....I could do NOTHING when I first started, and had no idea what nutritious food was...everything occurs Gradually...you have to walk before you can run..that goes for everything

this website is basically like a free personal trainer, nutritionist and life coach all in one!

EDIT: after reading your update, looks like your on the right track! good luck!

[wimberlyt]

I cannot imagine what running would do.

I'm about your size (6ft 385 lbs.) and I talked to my doctor about wanting to start jogging, he told me ABSOLUTELY NOT! He said that I was WAY too heavy to run. I would more harm to my body than good. He said two things would happen, I would blow out my knees or splinter my shins or BOTH!

[justmightbecraz]

I used to be 340 lbs. I ate my bodyweight x 10 and started out with just an hour of Low Impact Steady State cardio 3x a week for a few weeks until I was used to being active again. Then I incorporated full body weights 3x a week as well, like Starting Strength or All Pro Beginners Routine. After a year of dropping weight, at 215 I started bulking, partially to take a break from cutting, and partially because as I got lower and lower I started realizing how little muscle mass I actually have. It takes time and effort, and willpower. Support from people on here helps tremendously too.