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

[Khrozt]

TLDR:
Age: 28
Height: 5'5
Current weight: 353lbs (Sept 17th, 2021)
Start weight: 497lbs (Jan, 2021)
Goal weight: 200lbs

Workout routine: Total workout time/day is about 1 hour now that I have a job, slowly working it back up to 2 hours/day. About 4+ miles walking, some basketball and another 3-5 miles with job Mon-Fri. Have recumbent bike but don't use it too often. I don't have a program for weights but plan to start doing that now that I should be working at a gym within the next week or so(Aug 20th) and hope to gain friends, knowledge and maybe even a PT while working there.

Diet: 2000 calories. Try to stick to 50/25/25.

Veggies: Spinach, broccoli, spring mix, veggie mix.
Fruits: Avocado and what comes in Light and Fit yogurt.
Proteins: Chicken > turkey, fish > anything else aka not eaten often, probably less than once a month.

Supplements: Multivitamin, Fiber and Omega 3.

If you have any suggestions on anything be it food, recipes, weights, cardio, programs, vitamins, minerals, health etc. do comment away and ask questions, I will reply when I have the time and hope to motivate, inspire and gain or give any knowledge I can from my experiences or others. Stay happy, stay healthy and stay consistent. Consistency is key baby!

[cmacken]

Hey Man, you are probably not going to get a lot responses from a wall of text like that, but start by reading these links here from this forum and I would recommend asking questions in a new thread. Good luck to you

A good beginner workout routine - https://forum.bodybuilding.com/showt...hp?t=159678631

How to do the core exercises - https://forum.bodybuilding.com/showt...hp?t=118920551

**MOST IMPORTANT** Understanding why we gain and lose weight - https://forum.bodybuilding.com/showt...hp?t=173439001

[snailsrus]

I’d remove the part about the fund raiser... you aren’t allowed to promote personal fund raisers on here

Also condense you’re text text to these things

Current weight:
Start weight:
Goal weight
Height:
Workout routine currently:
Diet currently, your macros and calories:

[Khrozt]

The fundraiser is not a thing if you read that part I specifically said there would be pieces taken off my ******** and is no longer a thing multiple times, I have no need for a fundraiser and am not asking for one nor do I give any information on giving me money to any fundraiser. Can't get the full story if I were to just change it or get rid of important pieces that ultimately came to my decision on this and what I am now doing with my journey. Thank you for the information and suggestions.


Simple text if you don't want to read my wall of text again: I never promoted a fundraiser as I stated it was no longer a thing but I got rid of half my story for you who was just skimming my post anyways, thank you.


Kind regards, Zach.

[Darkius]

If you weight 500 pounds, do pool workouts. Get a gym membership. Do not try to run. Even power walking might damage your knees. Very hard to reach goals once you are injured.

Exercise every muscle in your body. You can do that in a pool.

Do a low fat diet high in protein, and get your calories down. Take HMB. I think you can lose 2 pounds per week. Maybe more if your base metabolism is higher.

[snailsrus]

Editing

Cliffs :
Op did juice diet and lost like 60 lbs

Was told liquid diet is bad added solids back gained all the weight back

Lost 95 lbs in 5 months

30 lbs in the last ~6 weeks

Op is not eating more than 1200 calories a day as low as 590. Sounds right for how fast he’s losing weight

Op does not mention macros

Op walks 1-3 miles a day with a personal record of 10, which is damn impressive imo

Op’s main questions are:

“ last month and half I've lost 30 of that but I worry I've not been treating my body to the right intake of calories and have started tracking my calories just two days ago which has been a challenge... My RMR/BMR is 2766 to 3250 and three days ago I found out I only ate 590 calories that day so the next I tried harder got about 1200, the next 1500. The thing is I worry with going more calories is I won't lose weight, my metabolism sucks is what I think it is but I don't truly know. ”

[serjioc]

You weigh 400 pounds now, you only ate 980 calories one day? What did you eat?

Why do you struggle to eat 3000 calories?

Do you weigh your food?

Subway and stuff aren't really accurate w tracking.

[EiFit91]

I want to start off by explaining some things I may just end up saying again later but I want to make it obvious and known that I am no longer 500 pounds but the entire reason I'm here is to find more support and more people that can or are willing to talk to me about whatever hurdles, thoughts, ideas, questions, concerns, suggestions, absolutely anything. The reason I am here was after seeing Jesse Shand's video I felt like maybe you too can help me, I'm not asking for anything but more support and more people to cheer me on as there are days I still have times whether it's just a bad day or seeing that weight go up and down like a roller coaster. I've learned SO much in the last 5 months about not only what I'm capable of but things I've learned about food that I never knew before and have learned so much about health and fitness in general in the last 5 months compared to the rest of my life I've lived. I thought the only thing left in me was to get surgery and finally live my life as if I couldn't do it on my own but I'm going to do this journey without it as much as I wanted it I lost my health insurance because of my wife which I can explain real quick she knew about my surgery date and it only being 2 months away and knew that if she changed jobs it would get my health insurance terminated but she did it still because she didn't enjoy the company, thanks Hollister Inc. the reason this may sound silly is that I caught her cheating on me and we are separated and THAT might make it a bit more clear as we were still in the midst of getting the divorce. I had a friend tell me that I should do it without the surgery that I'm more than capable and the journey will be worth it so as much as I'm still sitting here writing this to you wanting that surgery from time to time I've decided to do that journey by hand, naturally and with my own blood, sweat and tears. I have now been away from the wife for 5 months, still not divorced, on my health journey and learning more and more every day. From watching fitness and workout videos all day to listening to music, walking and working out learning what my body can and can't do. I'm getting my vaccine shot this Friday in order to pursue some goals I have in mind from GED/HSE to getting a job and even going to the gym so I can really test my skills at the heavier weight stuff as I see myself becoming an inspiration for others just like Jesse Shand and many many others. I almost feel like as I stand now 5 months into this journey I want to get into health and fitness, my entire life has been about saving the lives of others whether it was a simple smile, 5 bucks that I couldn't afford to give up I still did it from the age of 10 to now I still do it and I've not worked since I was 16 and it only lasted 6 months, Subway of all places lol, being a comedian because we all know entertainment or making someone laugh or smile can seriously brighten someone's day or even saving lives job like criminology. I want to say that anything past this was taken off my ******** as update posts on things going on in my life or explaining my fundraiser I made a couple months ago when I was still on the surgery journey and since then have obviously decided to do it on my own with my own research and communities, like this, to help offer suggestions to me. I hope all of this makes sense at the end of this miserable written post but if you have absolutely any information or questions or anything please reach out to me wherever is best suited would honestly prefer here so if by some chance there are others like me or even in worse condition than myself they can read this post and hopefully get motivation from not only me but you guys as I've seen what's possible already, thank you all for being loving, caring and kind in this world and I hope one day to give back to you guys in a big way.

This is my most recent post from about a week ago (5/4/21) on a Discord community by a YouTuber named ObesetoBeast: So my name is Zach I'm 28, 5'6 and currently 400 pounds. I've been obese my entire life and I think I would've been right where Casey King was if I kept going with my lifestyle but I decided after going to the doctor one day and seeing 497 on that scale that I needed to change and never pass that 500 mark. So I did, I tried many diets and did well but eventually would plateau and blame myself for failure not knowing the plateau part of it at the time. I've been trying to lose weight for a good 10 years or so now I was too depressed and beat up during high school to care. I juiced for a month straight, no solids and lost 54 pounds years ago but eventually stopped that because I was told I was losing too much weight and should add solids back into my life which ultimately f'd me and I gained all the weight back. It took a failed marriage with her cheating for me to realize I need to get my life straight and for the last 5 months I've been trying to figure out more and more about my body, strengths, weaknesses, what I enjoy etc. In those 5 months I've lost 95 pounds and in the last month and half I've lost 30 of that but I worry I've not been treating my body to the right intake of calories and have started tracking my calories just two days ago which has been a challenge finding out my RMR/BMR and realizing how much I'm not fueling my body. My RMR/BMR is 2766 to 3250 and three days ago I found out I only ate 590 calories that day so the next I tried harder got about 1200, the next 1500. The thing is I worry with going more calories is I won't lose weight, my metabolism sucks is what I think it is but I don't truly know. I walk daily anywhere from 1 mile to 10 miles(10 miles is my PR and is not a common thing mostly 1 to 3 miles a day) and I workout doing very simple and small things but try my best to at least get a sweat going. If anybody has any tips, suggestions, thoughts or kind words just send them my way, especially on the calories/day dilemma I'm having.

P.S. Got rid of half my story since apparently, even though I mention it's no longer a thing, I can't post about the past events of a fundraiser. I am not by any means perfect and I'm not saying this will all go through but I'm striving and pushing myself every day to do the simple things in life and know that those simple things are big and will eventually lead me to success. I used to think I was a failure and I'm only just now starting to believe that I'm not and I'm capable of still doing the things I want to do in life and each day I walk and workout is adding so many more days back into my life knowing I will live longer, happier and save lives in the near future. Failure is not the opposite of success it is part of success.

I'd recommend that first of all you talk to your doctor about possible options.

[Khrozt]

I didn't have any knee issues, and still haven't, when I started walking I was always actively walking just not as a workout just day to day I want to get a gym membership but am waiting to get my vaccine shot out of the way before going to any gyms as I already have anxiety problems going out in public areas before COVID it has only made it worse and worried about getting sick so I'm waiting on that. Also, I'm no longer 500 pounds I'm about 5 pounds from reaching 100 pounds lost in 5 months. My calorie intake is about 1500-1600 on average. Unsure what HMB is but I will look into that after I reply, thank you.

[Khrozt]

I never said I ate Subway, I don't eat out at all actually. I struggle to eat 3000 calories because I feel that is too much as for the last week even increasing my calories (roughly having 1500-1600 calories a day) as much as I have I've gained weight actually so increasing it more I would only assume means I gain even more weight, correct to assume that no? Again, I've only just started doing anything health, fitness or even nutrition based in the last 5 months, nothing prior to that it was all just small stuff before that and that was it. As far as what I ate it was usually salads with chicken. Spring Mix greens with less than a handful of spinach, 8 oz of homemade chicken, some sort of fruit like blackberries and some sort of nut like almonds. Sometimes my breakfast would be two slices of bread with avocado or oatmeal with a tbsp of peanut butter or some sort of fruit like blackberries other than that the dinner was either another salad, tuna, salmon, chicken or some sort of beef all of which seasoned with a very light amount of salt and pepper.

another edit: I just use distilled vinegar as my "dressing" for my salads in case anybody was curious, just a little splash.

By gained weight I do mean that I've pretty much fluctuated up and down from 405 to 408 for the last...week, week and half? Haven't been tracking my weight as much so I don't stress myself out not that I eat more because of it or anything I just don't want it to discourage myself.

[Khrozt]

I don't have health insurance and I have no income, I can't speak to a doctor because that's money I don't have. I don't have a doctor and haven't ever really had one my entire life actually.

[snailsrus]

I don't have health insurance and I have no income, I can't speak to a doctor because that's money I don't have. I don't have a doctor and haven't ever really had one my entire life actually.

are you in the USA?

[Khrozt]

Google wetbreasts bodybuilding.com

I made this post purely because of "Wetbreasts"

[Khrozt]

are you in the USA?

Yes, I am. I just applied for Health Insurance two weeks ago and was denied, told me the only thing I could do is Marketplace which wanted me to spend a minimum of 287$ a month for Health Insurance.

[snailsrus]

Yes, I am. I just applied for Health Insurance two weeks ago and was denied, told me the only thing I could do is Marketplace which wanted me to spend a minimum of 287$ a month for Health Insurance.

you can get medicaid unless you make over 16,500 a year

[Khrozt]

you can get medicaid unless you make over 16,500 a year

I did medicaid as I was told that's what I should apply for. Thank you, I will try again.

[Khrozt]

Editing

Cliffs :
Op did juice diet and lost like 60 lbs

Was told liquid diet is bad added solids back gained all the weight back

Lost 95 lbs in 5 months

30 lbs in the last ~6 weeks

Op is not eating more than 1200 calories a day as low as 590. Sounds right for how fast he’s losing weight

Op does not mention macros

Op walks 1-3 miles a day with a personal record of 10, which is damn impressive imo

Op’s main questions are:

“ last month and half I've lost 30 of that but I worry I've not been treating my body to the right intake of calories and have started tracking my calories just two days ago which has been a challenge... My RMR/BMR is 2766 to 3250 and three days ago I found out I only ate 590 calories that day so the next I tried harder got about 1200, the next 1500. The thing is I worry with going more calories is I won't lose weight, my metabolism sucks is what I think it is but I don't truly know. ”

Thank you for this, I hope the post is a bit easier on the eyes now.

[Khrozt]

Just been doing the same as I have been, trying to add in more squats and push ups along with walking after every meal. Played a bit of basketball today which was nice really got the heart pumping, nothing special other than that. Have some gym stuff coming in this weekend I guess as the only real new/special thing.

[Y2G023]

Keep up the good work.

[MyNamuhNick]

You got this man! You're not in this alone!

[Khrozt]

Keep up the good work.

Appreciate it!

[Khrozt]

You got this man! You're not in this alone!

Thanks man! I try every day either push that little bit more or try something new. Did calf raises for the first time the other day which I honestly thought would be a piece of cake with all that weight I've been holding around but nope within the last 20 reps I could really feel my calves going into cramp mode so I space them out a bit more, did 40 squats in one set which was pretty good pump but can probably get away with doing 20 or 25 and end up doing more sets with that in mind instead of just doing a burst of so many. Figure consistency over intensity, right? Oh and I also did 192 20lb bicep curls in total it was 19 sets in total ranging from 8 to 15 reps as I was still trying to find my "sweet spot" for it. I realize I should do more workouts rather than just one but I'm still learning workouts so I don't know what workouts to do aka make a routine? That'll be what I work on this week with my portable gym coming in.

[Khrozt]

I up'd my calories to 2500 from 1500 as I was told that's probably where I should be at. I've been plateauing for the last three weeks(404 to 406) for the most part so maybe trying to reset my body and do more workouts with the portable gym I have coming soon will help get my mind and body on the same track and move from there when the time is right. I won't lie to you, I don't like the idea of upping my calories as I think, well technically speaking, more calories should mean I'm going to gain weight, right? I guess we'll see. Yes, I'll probably gain weight but I hope in the long run it resets my body to some extent and with my portable gym and making routines and actually doing real workouts I'll be able to get back to losing weight in no time. Again, if anybody has any suggestions, ideas, agree or disagree, literally anything and everything I'd appreciate it. I'd also like to mention that you don't need to sugar coat stuff tell me what you think I need to do, I'm a grown ass man and I will take your information and do research on it if and when possible. I don't plan to give up or fail and in all honesty if it takes me 1 year, awesome. If it takes me 4 years, that's fine too. It won't matter so long as I finally get to live a real, true and pure life full of happiness and goals I never got to do as a kid or now as an adult. Much love guys, stay happy and stay healthy.

[want6pack]

I didn't have any knee issues, and still haven't, when I started walking I was always actively walking just not as a workout just day to day I want to get a gym membership but am waiting to get my vaccine shot out of the way before going to any gyms as I already have anxiety problems going out in public areas before COVID it has only made it worse and worried about getting sick so I'm waiting on that. Also, I'm no longer 500 pounds I'm about 5 pounds from reaching 100 pounds lost in 5 months. My calorie intake is about 1500-1600 on average. Unsure what HMB is but I will look into that after I reply, thank you.

If you are really staying around 1500 calories it sounds like you should keep losing at a good rate. You are 100 pounds down so what you are doing is working well. You can tweak things as you educate yourself but stick with what is working so well for you. You are doing very well!

[want6pack]

I up'd my calories to 2500 from 1500 as I was told that's probably where I should be at. I've been plateauing for the last three weeks(404 to 406) for the most part so maybe trying to reset my body and do more workouts with the portable gym I have coming soon will help get my mind and body on the same track and move from there when the time is right. I won't lie to you, I don't like the idea of upping my calories as I think, well technically speaking, more calories should mean I'm going to gain weight, right? I guess we'll see. Yes, I'll probably gain weight but I hope in the long run it resets my body to some extent and with my portable gym and making routines and actually doing real workouts I'll be able to get back to losing weight in no time. Again, if anybody has any suggestions, ideas, agree or disagree, literally anything and everything I'd appreciate it. I'd also like to mention that you don't need to sugar coat stuff tell me what you think I need to do, I'm a grown ass man and I will take your information and do research on it if and when possible. I don't plan to give up or fail and in all honesty if it takes me 1 year, awesome. If it takes me 4 years, that's fine too. It won't matter so long as I finally get to live a real, true and pure life full of happiness and goals I never got to do as a kid or now as an adult. Much love guys, stay happy and stay healthy.

Dr. Now recommends 1200 calories a day for his patients till they get to a more manageable weight. I'm not suggesting you do 1200 but I think you should consider sticking in the 1500-1800 range that was working so well for you.

[Khrozt]

Dr. Now recommends 1200 calories a day for his patients till they get to a more manageable weight. I'm not suggesting you do 1200 but I think you should consider sticking in the 1500-1800 range that was working so well for you.

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.

[faithbrah]

I up'd my calories to 2500 from 1500 as I was told that's probably where I should be at. I've been plateauing for the last three weeks(404 to 406) for the most part so maybe trying to reset my body and do more workouts with the portable gym I have coming soon will help get my mind and body on the same track and move from there when the time is right. I won't lie to you, I don't like the idea of upping my calories as I think, well technically speaking, more calories should mean I'm going to gain weight, right? I guess we'll see. Yes, I'll probably gain weight but I hope in the long run it resets my body to some extent and with my portable gym and making routines and actually doing real workouts I'll be able to get back to losing weight in no time. Again, if anybody has any suggestions, ideas, agree or disagree, literally anything and everything I'd appreciate it. I'd also like to mention that you don't need to sugar coat stuff tell me what you think I need to do, I'm a grown ass man and I will take your information and do research on it if and when possible. I don't plan to give up or fail and in all honesty if it takes me 1 year, awesome. If it takes me 4 years, that's fine too. It won't matter so long as I finally get to live a real, true and pure life full of happiness and goals I never got to do as a kid or now as an adult. Much love guys, stay happy and stay healthy.

if you're 400 lbs, there's no way the weight won't melt off on 2500 calories. just eat 2500, it's more sustainable anyway. also, you can do a program like Fierce 5, and try not to do 19 sets of bicep curls

[EiFit91]

I up'd my calories to 2500 from 1500 as I was told that's probably where I should be at. I've been plateauing for the last three weeks(404 to 406) for the most part so maybe trying to reset my body and do more workouts with the portable gym I have coming soon will help get my mind and body on the same track and move from there when the time is right. I won't lie to you, I don't like the idea of upping my calories as I think, well technically speaking, more calories should mean I'm going to gain weight, right? I guess we'll see. Yes, I'll probably gain weight but I hope in the long run it resets my body to some extent and with my portable gym and making routines and actually doing real workouts I'll be able to get back to losing weight in no time. Again, if anybody has any suggestions, ideas, agree or disagree, literally anything and everything I'd appreciate it. I'd also like to mention that you don't need to sugar coat stuff tell me what you think I need to do, I'm a grown ass man and I will take your information and do research on it if and when possible. I don't plan to give up or fail and in all honesty if it takes me 1 year, awesome. If it takes me 4 years, that's fine too. It won't matter so long as I finally get to live a real, true and pure life full of happiness and goals I never got to do as a kid or now as an adult. Much love guys, stay happy and stay healthy.

I think you should run as big a deficit as you can sustain over a long period of time. Otherwise you will be dieting forever. At your weight it’s advisable to lose weight fast. What you think is 1500/2500 may be much more so just use scale movements to determine how much to eat. If the scale is dropping fast keep doing what you are doing, if the scale moves slowly drop your calories.

[Khrozt]

if you're 400 lbs, there's no way the weight won't melt off on 2500 calories. just eat 2500, it's more sustainable anyway. also, you can do a program like Fierce 5, and try not to do 19 sets of bicep curls

Thanks for replying, yeah I'm unsure as to why I'm not losing weight at 1200-1500 calories a day it's honestly odd to me. I even thought maybe I'm not using the restroom enough aka not getting enough fiber which of course I'm not so I started taking fiber and aiming for more fiber in my diet adding nuts or peanut butter where I can. It's definitely still a learning process and I'm trying to figure out what or where I'm going wrong. I started counting my calories not long ago and I make sure every bit of it is real and as detailed as possible on MyFitnessPal. I don't cook many meals but when I do I make sure I count everything from oil to black pepper.

[Khrozt]

I think you should run as big a deficit as you can sustain over a long period of time. Otherwise you will be dieting forever. At your weight it’s advisable to lose weight fast. What you think is 1500/2500 may be much more so just use scale movements to determine how much to eat. If the scale is dropping fast keep doing what you are doing, if the scale moves slowly drop your calories.

It's not that I think it's 1500 or 2500 I use MyFitnessPal and I know exactly what I'm taking in vs putting out and most days I wasn't even hitting 1500 as I was only eating 3 times a day. Anywhere from 12 to 1 was first meal, 3 to 4 was second and 6-7:30 was third meal. I get hunger cues very rarely so I just started eating every 3 hours or so to ensure I'm trying to get enough meals in. I was told I should start trying to snack in between those meals but, again, I just feel as if I'm "forcing" myself to overeat and it almost feels like I'm going backwards at that point stuffing my face again as if I was nearly 500 pounds again. Hopefully that makes sense but...yeah.