28M, 5'6, 497lb journey, overweight my entire life seeking support where I can.

[want6pack]

Thanks for this information, I should've known this since I've watched it quite a bit but I will stick to that and just try working out more as I only really walk 1 to 3 miles a day with usually is about 30 minutes to an hour and then most "workouts" I do are maybe another 20 minutes or something? Most people I see workout for a good hour to three? So I don't think I'm working out enough let alone doing enough of an actual workout (only one workout maybe two) hope to start routine workouts in the coming week.

"abs are made in the kitchen" Keep that saying in mind. Workouts are great but most weight loss comes from diet. If you are 400 pounds walking 3 miles in a day is very impressive. I'm under 200 pounds. I could not walk 3 miles carrying an extra 75 pounds never mind another 200. I think the key for you is just keep doing what works for you. Keep a detailed log of what you eat. I have used an online log for many years. In fact just yesterday I want back 2 years ago to see how many calories I was eating. I think the fact that you dropped 100 pounds is great. You should be very proud of that but keep going. Like Mike The Situation says, "I didn't come this far just to come this far". Good luck!

[Khrozt]

"abs are made in the kitchen" Keep that saying in mind. Workouts are great but most weight loss comes from diet. If you are 400 pounds walking 3 miles in a day is very impressive. I'm under 200 pounds. I could not walk 3 miles carrying an extra 75 pounds never mind another 200. I think the key for you is just keep doing what works for you. Keep a detailed log of what you eat. I have used an online log for many years. In fact just yesterday I want back 2 years ago to see how many calories I was eating. I think the fact that you dropped 100 pounds is great. You should be very proud of that but keep going. Like Mike The Situation says, "I didn't come this far just to come this far". Good luck!

Appreciate the kind words and yeah my personal best in a day was 10 miles but it took me all day with an hour or so breaks in between. Wasn't worth it but it was a goal of mine I had made to do within the month and did it by day 3 of the goal making lol.

[want6pack]

Appreciate the kind words and yeah my personal best in a day was 10 miles but it took me all day with an hour or so breaks in between. Wasn't worth it but it was a goal of mine I had made to do within the month and did it by day 3 of the goal making lol.

10 miles is amazing at 400 pounds. I do not walk 10 miles. 1 word of caution. I sometimes find when I work out too much I eat too much more to compensate. I'm not saying not to walk or workout. Both are great. I'm just saying over do it to the point that it forces you to eat more than you have allocated for in your diet.

[Khrozt]

10 miles is amazing at 400 pounds. I do not walk 10 miles. 1 word of caution. I sometimes find when I work out too much I eat too much more to compensate. I'm not saying not to walk or workout. Both are great. I'm just saying over do it to the point that it forces you to eat more than you have allocated for in your diet.

I appreciate the concern, for sure! I don't have an issue with eating too much, honestly I have an issue with eating too little now. I also don't go on a walk until after I eat as I read it helps with digestion and metabolism? But I will say technically speaking I was out for nearly a week after that 10 miles so technically I did eat more vs walk that week but yeah since then I have not done anything crazy like that. Consistency over intensity.

[Khrozt]

Update on this, down to 392 pounds eating at 1700 calories. I am mostly just walking and doing basketball about an hour a day 5 to 8 hours a week. Looking to hopefully get a job soon after I get my GED to then look for a place for me to live and have the space to work out and even stream on Twitch as I know it will keep my accountability going, make friends through the community which I've already been doing and will allow it to be more fun since I have no real life friends anyways. As far as diet goes I've not changed much, less salads, less tuna, more meal prepping and home cooked meals of my own, mostly chicken or turkey with veggies and brown rice. Hope you all are doing well, stay active, happy and healthy!

[Slobdiddy]

Well done Khrozt - that’s over 100lbs you have lost and this is an awesome achievement. Keep it going and you are doing so well to manage this much exercise at nearly 400lbs. Once you get down too your target weight you will be an exercise beast.

[Khrozt]

Well done Khrozt - that’s over 100lbs you have lost and this is an awesome achievement. Keep it going and you are doing so well to manage this much exercise at nearly 400lbs. Once you get down too your target weight you will be an exercise beast.

Appreciate it! Yeah it's been quite the journey especially that month+ long plateau but adding more to my calories actually helped.

[want6pack]

100 plus pounds is great! Keep in mind you did not come this far just to come this far. Keep up the good work. Next stop will be 350! Then 300! Then 250! Then 200!. Keep it up!

[InaMess]

Hi there, just read your situation, I'm in a mess too! I only have about 90 lbs to lose, but I currently have mysterious chronic pain in my hips, back and knees, so I'm bed-ridden for most of the day, which means I have to try to lose weight with diet only, so I'm trying to figure out how best to do this, probably by switching between low and moderate carb days. Have you tried a low or zero carb diet? I lose weight very quickly when I tried it in the past, whilst eating lots of cheese, omelletes and salami! Sounds like you're working your way towards a new life - slowly but surely - a loss of 100 lbs is amazing. As far as I know about dieting, the worst thing you can do in that situation is get your body used to eating too few calories so that it stagnates, because then you have no more reductions to make - maybe a higher calorie, higher carb / low calorie, low carb type diet would be good in your situation, so it's like, switching between metabolism boost, then calorie deficit - never let your metabolism stagnate - keep up the amazing work

I tried to post my thread about my situation here, but i won't let me, so I'll post it in full below...

My doctor gave me an anti-depressant for sleep issues, Mirtazapine (Remeron), also a very powerful antihistamine, which turned out to be an horrendous idea. I was already overweight, 190 lbs at 5'8, not muscular at all, skinny-fat, but this went up to 235 lbs over the next 12 months, and the drug made me indifferent to what was happening. As long as I was sleeping, I didn't seem to care. Finally started to care after needing XXL clothes - tried low-carb, low-calorie, jogging, weight wouldn't budge, increased intensity to running, more dieting, weight wouldn't budge, started running up hills, squatting, curls, presses, weight wouldn't budge, pain started to develop in my joints, lower back muscles became tight, pain in hips, knees, ankles, feet, shoulders, elbows - stopped all dieting, exercise, pain in smaller joints went away over next 6 months, but pain in hips, back and knees slowly got worse over the next 12 months to the point where I couldn't work any more - I've been off work, mostly lying down for 6 months, pain is still there - realized that the Mirtazapine was the cause of weight gain and inability to lose fat, some studies showed it basically induces severe metabolic syndrome, antihistamine effect of the drug has been shown to prevent wound healing, muscle recovery, probably nerve healing and desensitization too (I hope), so I suspect this may be why my smaller joints took 6 months to recover from excessive exercise, and hips, back and knees never recovered as I'm so overweight and keep aggravating them every time I move - mirtazapine also has a pain blocking effect, which could explain how I managed to keep doing excessive exercise without feeling the sensitization and chronic pain I was causing - MRI and Xray were fine - for the last 6 months I've had quite bad suicidal ideation at times, getting many morphine prescriptions and storing them all away for when I might need them - but I want to fight this and I'm starting to strongly suspect it's the medication that's causing the sensitization to remain somehow - I spoke to a physio and they said this is not normal, they tend to see things slowly desensitize the more people move, but mine just gets worse, and the fact that all my joints hurt at one point suggests this is something systemic - I need to come off the drug (easier said than done now I'm in so much pain and struggle to sleep) and start losing weight - any ideas about how to do this when you can barely move to exercise? It's going to have to be mostly diet as I can only walk for about 20 mins every day before the pain gets too much. From the research I've done, switching between moderate and low carb days would be best for this, to stop my metabolism getting used to things. I could also do light upper body stuff with an empty barbell. I'm 39, male, by the way.

Any other suggestions would be highly appreciated. I realise I'm in such ****ing mess and it's mostly my fault. I should have looked after my health to begin with, and I shouldn't have trusted the doctor. I never will again. Thanks for your time.

[Khrozt]

100 plus pounds is great! Keep in mind you did not come this far just to come this far. Keep up the good work. Next stop will be 350! Then 300! Then 250! Then 200!. Keep it up!

Thanks! I don't plan on giving up this time around.

[Khrozt]

Hi there, just read your situation, I'm in a mess too! I only have about 90 lbs to lose, but I currently have mysterious chronic pain in my hips, back and knees, so I'm bed-ridden for most of the day, which means I have to try to lose weight with diet only, so I'm trying to figure out how best to do this, probably by switching between low and moderate carb days. Have you tried a low or zero carb diet? I lose weight very quickly when I tried it in the past, whilst eating lots of cheese, omelletes and salami! Sounds like you're working your way towards a new life - slowly but surely - a loss of 100 lbs is amazing. As far as I know about dieting, the worst thing you can do in that situation is get your body used to eating too few calories so that it stagnates, because then you have no more reductions to make - maybe a higher calorie, higher carb / low calorie, low carb type diet would be good in your situation, so it's like, switching between metabolism boost, then calorie deficit - never let your metabolism stagnate - keep up the amazing work

I tried to post my thread about my situation here, but i won't let me, so I'll post it in full below...

My doctor gave me an anti-depressant for sleep issues, Mirtazapine (Remeron), also a very powerful antihistamine, which turned out to be an horrendous idea. I was already overweight, 190 lbs at 5'8, not muscular at all, skinny-fat, but this went up to 235 lbs over the next 12 months, and the drug made me indifferent to what was happening. As long as I was sleeping, I didn't seem to care. Finally started to care after needing XXL clothes - tried low-carb, low-calorie, jogging, weight wouldn't budge, increased intensity to running, more dieting, weight wouldn't budge, started running up hills, squatting, curls, presses, weight wouldn't budge, pain started to develop in my joints, lower back muscles became tight, pain in hips, knees, ankles, feet, shoulders, elbows - stopped all dieting, exercise, pain in smaller joints went away over next 6 months, but pain in hips, back and knees slowly got worse over the next 12 months to the point where I couldn't work any more - I've been off work, mostly lying down for 6 months, pain is still there - realized that the Mirtazapine was the cause of weight gain and inability to lose fat, some studies showed it basically induces severe metabolic syndrome, antihistamine effect of the drug has been shown to prevent wound healing, muscle recovery, probably nerve healing and desensitization too (I hope), so I suspect this may be why my smaller joints took 6 months to recover from excessive exercise, and hips, back and knees never recovered as I'm so overweight and keep aggravating them every time I move - mirtazapine also has a pain blocking effect, which could explain how I managed to keep doing excessive exercise without feeling the sensitization and chronic pain I was causing - MRI and Xray were fine - for the last 6 months I've had quite bad suicidal ideation at times, getting many morphine prescriptions and storing them all away for when I might need them - but I want to fight this and I'm starting to strongly suspect it's the medication that's causing the sensitization to remain somehow - I spoke to a physio and they said this is not normal, they tend to see things slowly desensitize the more people move, but mine just gets worse, and the fact that all my joints hurt at one point suggests this is something systemic - I need to come off the drug (easier said than done now I'm in so much pain and struggle to sleep) and start losing weight - any ideas about how to do this when you can barely move to exercise? It's going to have to be mostly diet as I can only walk for about 20 mins every day before the pain gets too much. From the research I've done, switching between moderate and low carb days would be best for this, to stop my metabolism getting used to things. I could also do light upper body stuff with an empty barbell. I'm 39, male, by the way.

Any other suggestions would be highly appreciated. I realise I'm in such ****ing mess and it's mostly my fault. I should have looked after my health to begin with, and I shouldn't have trusted the doctor. I never will again. Thanks for your time.

Any movement is better than no movement and just keep an eye on your diet. I track my calories with MyFitnessPal and try eating mainly whole foods is about all I can suggest with dieting, I do not follow keto or anything of the sort I just keep to what my macros/calories are. I don't eat more than 25g of sugar a day and try to get around 40g of fiber a day. If you want something sweet I've found that the OUTSHINE no sugar added brand of fruit bars is a really great treat for when I'm feeling like having something cold and sweet but it's a very rare occasion for me, might be different for you though, AND it's only 30 calories a bar. This is about all the information I can really give from my own experience and knowledge as I've only been doing this for the last 6 months now and I am still personally learning myself but I do hope you can figure something out that works for you and your body, our bodies can be very picky.

[Khrozt]

115 down! 384.9 from 500. Going to up my calories to 2k and see if I stay on losing steadily. Hope all are well, happy and healthy!

[dmatsinger]

115 down! 384.9 from 500. Going to up my calories to 2k and see if I stay on losing steadily. Hope all are well, happy and healthy!

Congrats and keep going. Based on your height and current weight your BMR (basal metabolic rate) is approximately 3100 calories to maintain your weight each day. Your TDEE (total daily energy expenditure) would be higher depending on what you do. So if bumping to 2000 calories keeps you on track better than a 1700 and helps you maintain this journey, you would still be on pace to lose 2 lbs a week just based on your BMR not to mention any movement you do within the day. As you drop your weight your BMR will also drop (you can get estimates from calculators online) so keep that in mind but the more you drop the more you can move around and offset the loss in BMR with active calories spent. Keep updating on here and as you drop people will give you more ideas on ways to expand on what your doing, when it comes to macros, programs if you are interested in working out etc, but most important right now is get to a good spot where these life style changes are maintainable. Good luck!

[Khrozt]

Thank you dmatsinger for the reply and information, I hope to see you around some more with my journey and gain more information from you. Again, much appreciated.

Didn't lose as much as the past few weeks but down to 383. I did up my calories to 2k which I'm wondering if it's possible my BMR is lower than normal because of health reasons? Is that possible? Can hypothyroid cause it to be wonky? It runs in the family and I don't have the money to go see a specialist so I don't know for sure if I do or don't have it, It's kind of out of the question until I get a job. Speaking about job, I applied to YMCA to try and hit two birds with one stone, get a job and free gym membership. New PR with walking in a day, 11 miles!(25k steps) Hoping to keep the journey going steady and hopefully get a bike soon so I can start adventuring further out. No new updates besides what I've thrown out as far as I can think of.

[Khrozt]

Todays weigh in: 376 lbs.

YMCA emailed me saying they'd like to do an interview, hope it'll be for good reason and I get a job in due time. Make friends with gym folks and free gym membership! Hope all are well and have a great weekend.

[Pennywisest]

Todays weigh in: 376 lbs.

YMCA emailed me saying they'd like to do an interview, hope it'll be for good reason and I get a job in due time. Make friends with gym folks and free gym membership! Hope all are well and have a great weekend.

Good luck on the interview

[CBRIT89]

Smashing it. Great story so far!

[CommitmentRulz]

Todays weigh in: 376 lbs.

YMCA emailed me saying they'd like to do an interview, hope it'll be for good reason and I get a job in due time. Make friends with gym folks and free gym membership! Hope all are well and have a great weekend.

That's fantastic. Congrats!

[Khrozt]

Hello again @Pennywisest! Good seeing you and thank you for that. Still awaiting a call but I don't see why they wouldn't take me but I should definitely keep an open mind as something might come up or position be taken so. Thank you @Cbrit89, If those are events that have happened to you in life you too have one hell of a story. Last but not least, @CommitmentRulz, I appreciate it very much and thank you! Hope the addition to lifting here pretty soon will be not only a blast but I enjoy it enough to maybe look into Powerlifting? Would be great to get into something like that and maybe fill out some of this flabby skin but ultimately I would just like to see me succeed and motivate and inspire others of all shapes and sizes that they too can do it just have to be consistent. Oh and one small "cool" update: I did 70k steps last week and managed 84k steps this week, pretty awesome.

[RandyMcFlab]

amazing progress, well done!

[Khrozt]

amazing progress, well done!

Thank you, how is your progress?

[RandyMcFlab]

as of today im down 89lbs since march 2020, had a slow period of loss but eating clean and sticking to calories so hopefully will start losing more again soon!

[Khrozt]

as of today im down 89lbs since march 2020, had a slow period of loss but eating clean and sticking to calories so hopefully will start losing more again soon!

Good to hear, consistency is key.

[Khrozt]

So I did my weigh in yesterday(every Friday) and didn't lose any weight, still unsure how this is possible but it's happened plenty even when I was eating half the calories I am now and I'm unsure if it means I should up my calories even more or something else entirely like some sort of health problem. Luckily next month I have a Dr. appointment that can hopefully tell me something that may explain why sooner rather than later. I eat 2000 calories a day and for a few weeks I was eating at 1200, 1500, 1700 for a couple weeks for each of those. It's odd because when I went from 1200 to 1500/1700 I actually started losing weight again and eventually up'd it to 2000 which got me to lose 26 lbs from June 25th to July 30th, I see so many people on here say well if you aren't losing weight you need to drop your calories or you aren't tracking your calories correctly but I'm already doing both of those to the T or however it's said. Do any of you have information that might explain why I'm not losing weight even at a low calorie intake? I had little longer than a month long plateau at 1200 calories and am worried if this ends up being another month long plateau at 2000 calories I'm unsure on whether to drop the calories or up it again like last time. It's silly because it's like going against what everyone says and what I've read with the whole "lower your calories if you want to lose weight" also, no I don't lift weights I'm mostly playing basketball and walking until I can get a gym membership. Some body weight stuff from time to time but not daily or every other day, maybe once or twice a week on average sometimes more sometimes less.

[Pennywisest]

1) What exactly are you eating? 2) Are you weighing your food or measuring by volume? 3) Is your water intake consistent? 4) Do you have edema? 5) Are you counting calories burned from your walking towards your calorie balance?

1) If your diet is varying a lot, than you could have some water retention causing more extreme differences week to week, especially if you have other health problems. Tracking salt in addition to Macros would be useful to rule this out.
2) Gotta ask this because labels have to be honest about macros per gram, but can still lie about the number of grams per typical serving by volume.
3) again, this should clue you into water retention issues. Chart your daily water intake along with weight and you may see an association
4) The three immediate health problems that come to my mind as causing scale weirdness in a hospital-based weight loss treatment (environment where calories are most reliably controlled) are: a wonky thyroid, edema, and CHF. When you see your doctor I would ask them about these.
5) If you're counting calories burned from exercise towards your deficit and letting yourself eat back those calories you'll have diminishing returns as your body adjusts to those activities. It is CRITICAL that you do some kind of weight-bearing exercise more regularly (3-4x/week). Manic levels of cardio are not sustainable and will hurt your metabolism over time. There are weight lifting variations that you don't need equipment for online, just be sure to check other sources to make sure they are bariatric-safe (ex: traditional push ups/squats likely would not be an appropriate place to start).

Tracking Salt and water intake leading up to your doctor's appointment in addition to macros may help them pin-point medical reasons for issues with weight loss, assuming your calories are correct.

[faithbrah]

So I did my weigh in yesterday(every Friday) and didn't lose any weight, still unsure how this is possible but it's happened plenty even when I was eating half the calories I am now and I'm unsure if it means I should up my calories even more or something else entirely like some sort of health problem. Luckily next month I have a Dr. appointment that can hopefully tell me something that may explain why sooner rather than later. I eat 2000 calories a day and for a few weeks I was eating at 1200, 1500, 1700 for a couple weeks for each of those. It's odd because when I went from 1200 to 1500/1700 I actually started losing weight again and eventually up'd it to 2000 which got me to lose 26 lbs from June 25th to July 30th, I see so many people on here say well if you aren't losing weight you need to drop your calories or you aren't tracking your calories correctly but I'm already doing both of those to the T or however it's said. Do any of you have information that might explain why I'm not losing weight even at a low calorie intake? I had little longer than a month long plateau at 1200 calories and am worried if this ends up being another month long plateau at 2000 calories I'm unsure on whether to drop the calories or up it again like last time. It's silly because it's like going against what everyone says and what I've read with the whole "lower your calories if you want to lose weight" also, no I don't lift weights I'm mostly playing basketball and walking until I can get a gym membership. Some body weight stuff from time to time but not daily or every other day, maybe once or twice a week on average sometimes more sometimes less.

are you absolutely sure you're counting your calories correctly? it's physically impossible for someone your size to not lose weight on 1200 calories

[CommitmentRulz]

are you absolutely sure you're counting your calories correctly? it's physically impossible for someone your size to not lose weight on 1200 calories

This ^^^^.

OP, what are you NOT weighing that goes into your mouth? Sauces, oil, colas, coffee with cream and sugar? WEIGHING not measuring... (And DO NOT eat back calories "burned" via exercise!)

[Khrozt]

Yep, positive. I put everything on MFP and weigh everything and when I do eat out which is MAYBE once a month, sometimes NONE, if it's not something that's actually on MFP I find a higher than average calorie count to ensure I'm eating at or around my calories but, again, I don't eat out often and if when I do it's still responsibly it is no longer like the old me. It's funny you mention the "it's impossible to not lose weight at 1200 calories" and yet my body was doing exactly that. I had a personal trainer friend I talk to often who isn't exactly a dietitian yet but he mentioned this "It almost seems like your body is craving more calories to feed the extra exercise you are doing, if that makes sense." He also asked a question "Ok, so you’ve upped your calories but you also didn’t put weight on?" does that not make you wonder the same thing? How could I go back to losing weight by upping my calories? Again, I'm putting this here to gain knowledge on if others have had this issue before too. Could it be a health thing? Hypothyroidism? Something else? That's why I'm posting this not only to update everyone on my weight loss but also to give knowledge to others who have had this happen or is happening to someone else that may be able to get an answer here too besides the same old "You aren't measuring your **** and not being honest with yourself" (No I'm not saying that's what you said I've just seen it plenty on here) Also, I've not had liquid calories in over 7 months besides like 4 Powerade drinks in those 7 months. Trust me, I'm not beating around the bush when I put my mind to it I strive to be and do the best I can. I have hundreds if not thousands watching what I do and watching my progress, I wouldn't lie, I'm in it to win it. On average I'm burning 14 to 18 calories per minute with my exercises averaging 14 hours of exercise a week, seems to be 2k calories burned a day on average. Small update in case I didn't mention it already, just up'd my steps to 10k a day just last week which has been making me feel a lot more "active" since I'm going out even more throughout the day but sucks slightly due to weather not being good all day.

[Pennywisest]

Wasn't sure if you saw my post or not, but I know you tend to reply to most posts from people. I had some ideas for things that might be worth looking into included in my last post I would encourage you to think about.

[Khrozt]

Wasn't sure if you saw my post or not, but I know you tend to reply to most posts from people. I had some ideas for things that might be worth looking into included in my last post I would encourage you to think about.

Sorry, no I did not see your post.

1.) I'm eating mostly chicken for protein, turkey from time to time, tuna, salmon and cod but not often maybe once every two weeks. veggies are mixed spring, baby spinach, broccoli. Fats are avocado, cheese, what comes from meat, the occasional meal out which is very rare and from protein bars (Quest and Pure). Carbs come from rice, whole wheat tortilla, rarely quinoa, the occasional croutons on salad but not often, 100% whole wheat sliced bread and not as often anymore but oatmeal. Pretty much no fruits besides avocado and what may come in the light and fit yogurt which I try to have a couple a week, one maybe every other day?
2.) Weighing with food scale.
3.) Water is 128-160oz of water daily.
4.) Haven't had a Dr. pretty much my entire life so unsure on Edema, actually got lucky and my appointment got pushed to tomorrow instead of end of Sept. I do believe I was told I might as I had sores on my legs that I could push in and it would leave an imprint of whatever I was pressing down on it with(would turn my skin white for a couple seconds before changing back to normal color), otherwise not sure.
5.) For example on MFP, I only eat 2k calories. The "remaining" is usually what I burnt which is usually 1600-2k+

and as for the exercise I was doing some simple things like bicep curls, squats, calf raises, assisted pushups etc. but eventually just started doing only basketball and walking but have heard from three people now, including you, that say I should definitely look into weights of some sort one of which said that could be why as my metabolism is slowing down and with doing weights it should help it? Something along those lines.

Thank you Pennywisest for your post as it was asking the right questions instead of assuming/blaming, I appreciate what you do on here and what information you can bring.