500lb+

[rjj1984]

Hello all. I am seeking advice on the best course of action in quickly losing weight. I am in my mid 30s, 6"2' and weigh about 510lbs. I have always been big but it really got away from me sitting at home all year this year. It is like I've been on autopilot and just realized what happened to me.

My blood work is normal, no diabetes, kidneys are fine, the only negatives were slightly high cholesterol and slightly low good cholesterol. I am also on blood pressure medication.

Since the start of December I've been doing intermittent fasting. I eat every two-three days, resulting in a calorie deficit of 12k-16k per week. I also plan to do keto along with the fasting but havent started yet. I chose fasting because it's easier for me to eat nothing than it is to eat less. I have lost about 15lbs this month.

I need to lose as much as I can as quickly as I can because I am finding it difficult to do normal every day tasks now and I wont be able to hold a job the way things currently are. I have considered just doing a water fast for weeks or even months.

I talked to my doctor and she just told me to eat chicken breast, really helpful.

Any suggestions or strategies are welcome.

[willybrokeback]

Intermittent fasting is great if it works for you and puts you in a deficit. That is a good start. I would add in walks for now. Walk as long as you can and attempt to prolong the walks. After some loss, I would add in some bodyweight exercises like pushups (start on your knees), BW squats and things like that. There are literally hundreds of free workouts on youtube. A little discomfort is ok, but you don't need to go nuts. At some point you will want to add in weight training, but you can do the other suggestions now. 90% of it is diet. Do not go on a water diet for months, that is just not healthy. On the days you do eat, make sure its a good amount of lean meat and veggies and start tracking your food. Get a scale and weigh everything. Download MyFittnessPal or some other tracker and start using it religiously. Good luck, don't quit, and remember that it is going to take time, you can't do this in a month.

[rjj1984]

Intermittent fasting is great if it works for you and puts you in a deficit. That is a good start. I would add in walks for now. Walk as long as you can and attempt to prolong the walks. After some loss, I would add in some bodyweight exercises like pushups (start on your knees), BW squats and things like that. There are literally hundreds of free workouts on youtube. A little discomfort is ok, but you don't need to go nuts. At some point you will want to add in weight training, but you can do the other suggestions now. 90% of it is diet. Do not go on a water diet for months, that is just not healthy. On the days you do eat, make sure its a good amount of lean meat and veggies and start tracking your food. Get a scale and weigh everything. Download MyFittnessPal or some other tracker and start using it religiously. Good luck, don't quit, and remember that it is going to take time, you can't do this in a month.

Thank you for the reply. I am glad to know the fasting route is a realistic way to do this.I know it didnt happen over night and it wont go away over night. I will look in to getting that App. Thanks.

[faithbrah]

I chose fasting because it's easier for me to eat nothing than it is to eat less. I have lost about 15lbs this month.

great job! the only thing i'd like to point out is that with your stats, you can eat a ton of healthy food every day without having to necessarily eat less

but if fasting is the only thing that works for you and you can sustain it, keep doing it

[BJoe]

Sounds like you’re heading in the right direction, keep up on what you can on food, plus making better choices helps (I’m still working on that myself). If you’re stuck at home most of the time definitely try moving around the house as much as you can handle and do the same if you go to the store. I’ve been nearly as heavy as you (+/-500lbs and down to 436 now) as well as have some leg swelling issues, so I can’t always get on the floor and back up without a chair to hand on to to getting to steps for a lower floor to make it easier, but if you have something sturdy like a solid counter or steps that you can use for push ups, that would at least be a start. If you do have stairs available, start at as close to the floor your standing on and be able to do the push-ups then gradually and work your way to the floor as you get stronger. If you have hobbies that you enjoy that can involve exercise, try and integrate that too. I used to work in a hobby shop and still gave a number of radio control vehicles and have taken those out and run them, while following them around for exercise. If you do try something like that, look at a crawler type R/C, they aren’t necessarily fast, work well for walks in parks or wooded areas. I planned on doing that more in 2020 when I could, but I’ve mainly just run my go fast stuff around the yard instead.

[smokinal]

Intermittent fasting is great if it works for you and puts you in a deficit. That is a good start. I would add in walks for now. Walk as long as you can and attempt to prolong the walks. After some loss, I would add in some bodyweight exercises like pushups (start on your knees), BW squats and things like that. There are literally hundreds of free workouts on youtube. A little discomfort is ok, but you don't need to go nuts. At some point you will want to add in weight training, but you can do the other suggestions now. 90% of it is diet. Do not go on a water diet for months, that is just not healthy. On the days you do eat, make sure its a good amount of lean meat and veggies and start tracking your food. Get a scale and weigh everything. Download MyFittnessPal or some other tracker and start using it religiously. Good luck, don't quit, and remember that it is going to take time, you can't do this in a month.

This is all good info^^

It sounds like you have the knowledge to do it; it's all willpower from here man

[Hope2k20]

1) Identify why you want to eat. For me, I often eat because I'm bored, anxious, or depressed. Being aware of these feelings can help turn your attention to the actual problem rather than to using food as a pick me up. Meditation can help with this. Chances are the reason you overeat has nothing to do with you being hungry. You are likely using food as a crutch to manage the feelings that you have from the **** that is going on in your life. These feelings include, anxiety, depression, boredom, low self esteem, lack of goals and purpose in life. Identify the problems and work to fix it.

2) For your weight and height, I would start off eating around 2800 calories per day and adjust from there depending on how you're body is feeling. I would check the nutrition section of this forums for help with counting macros. The amount of calories you burn will drop as you lose weight so you'll end up needing to lower your caloric intake as you go through the process. It will likely take you 2 - 3 years to get to a healthy weight.

3) If you feel the urge to consume calories outside your meal plan, I would try waiting 15 minutes before doing so. I find my cravings usually pass within 15 minutes.

4) Have low calorie density food on hand to help alleviate cravings. I use pickled peppers for my cravings.

5) Try to avoid having extra food around the house. If there isn't anything extra to eat, then it will be harder to overeat.

6) Focus on what you can do today (i.e. sticking with your meal plan) rather than focusing on how much weight you have left to lose. This will help prevent you from getting overwhelmed.

7) Weight fluctuates daily so don't worry too much about individual scale readings. The key thing is that overtime the trend in your weight is downwards.

8) There will be stretches of weeks in which your weight will not change. This is normal, and within a few weeks you will find that you lost like 5 pounds overnight. Stick with the calorie budget, and don't get discouraged.

9) Don't borrow calories from tomorrow's calorie budget. If you overeat today then you overeat. Take the L and move on to tomorrow.

10) Get motivated. Google weight loss transformations. Go to the motivation section of this forum. Watch some motivational speech videos on youtube. Do whatever you got to do to become excited about working on your goal.

11) The first day is the hardest day and the first week is the hardest week. Once you get past these, it's all downhill from there. Eventually your behavior will become habit, which means you won't have to use as much willpower to stick with it.

12) Exercise is good to do for your health. Strength training will help you retain muscle mass as you drop weight (or build some muscle if you're new to lifting). Cardio helps improve cardiovascular health. There are some good programs on this forums. Though, at your weight, I would definitely talk to your doctor before starting an exercise routine.

[Hope2k20]

Can't edit my post anymore.

Here's a few thoughts:

13) Track your calories, and stop eating when you reach your calorie limit. This includes calories from drinks. Know how much you are consuming.

14) You don't have to eat stuff you don't like. Check out If It Fits Your Macros.

15) Consider joining a weight loss support group if you find you need some accountability.

edit for #2) The usual recommendation for weight loss speed is 1 - 2 lbs per week. However, I would just shoot to lose 0.7% - 0.8% of your bodyweight per week.

[XinXom]

So don't worry about speed you wont keep off any weight that is not a result of a change in habits, currently your habits have you at 500. This means you are probably eating 5000+ calories on average a day whiteout much movement. When I was pushing 400 i was eating close to 6000 a day on average once you factored in epic binges fueled by heavy drinking on weekends. When i first started the easiest guaranteed way to eliminate empty calories so something like pop > diet pop is a painless super easy change that if your drinking enough pop could represent eventually going 500 > 400 all on its own. Cut your intake in half and start walking daily and now your body is set to go to 250 instead of 500 the pounds will fly off. So phase one I would try and walk as much as possible a day nothing intense just move at that size you burn tons just walking. Also remove obvious bad food choice for more lean ones Cut the pizza ice cream sugar pop and that stuff and Then after you do that a few months/ a year you will be ready to start exercising and really calorie counting to move that 250 set point even lower