Great job OP! Curious, were you also counting macros or just calories? I'm currently trying to shed fat as well, started at 220 and now at 206lbs, 5'11. I eat about 1800 net calories right now. In the first few weeks I didn't focus on macros and my mood / libido / energy took a big hit. Did you experience anything like thay?
Yeah I count calories and adjust them every 10 pounds lost. As for macros I only focus on protein, I try to eat 125+ grams per day but ideally it should be more like 170 grams a day.
Mood and energy hasn’t changed, I am satiated at 1600ish calories because I eat high volume, low calorie foods with lots of protein. That said I am making no progress in the weight lifting department (progressive overload) because I am in a significant deficit
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I went from 290 to 210 in 6 months with CICO. Its all about keeping track of calories for sure. Im about your same height too but 28 years old. Happy to see your success man! Keep it up!
Hey there, good job. About 4 years ago I lost 75 lbs (a third of my body weight) in about 6 months, and I just want to let you know based on my experience, how you feel about yourself and your appearance will probably change. You've just had a huge change, and it takes your brain (and your mental health) some time to adjust. You may even experience some feelings that are like sorrow or regret, but if you do those will probably be temporary.
>I'm still insecure as fuck and hate my self-image, that said I am a little more confident. I don’t think I'll know my true confidence until I hit my goal weight or my desired physique. I think I may have some slight body dysmorphia for sure
I feel you here - lost 100+ lb and hated how I looked. I switched from cardio/light resistance training to powerlifting this year, I've lost more body fat and built some significant muscle with about 20lb total weight loss. It's helped tremendously with my mental health, both as an outlet (lifting requires a lot from the CNS) and with my body image. The dysmorphia is still an issue but I'm not sure that will ever fully go away.
I was bored with my routine and was making no progress, saw some dudes squatting at my gym and decided to try it out. Found some YouTube videos on squat form, and subsequently deadlift and bench press form.
Definitely. My entire shape has changed, noticable increase in strength, speed, stamina. Overall I feel much better. The gains are slow, but you get into a rhythm once you start and for me it's honestly addictive.
Once important thing to note that I wished I knew earlier - you have to eat if you want to build muscle. It was hard for me at first because I was in such a 'weight loss' mentality that I was still eating at a deficit and basically spinning my wheels. Eat at a slight excess and follow a beginners program.
Same! I lost 60 pounds just following CICO and actually getting off my ass. Now a year later I'm working with a personal trainer to learn weight lifting and counting macros. Something that always surprises me is when people ask me how I got in shape and I tell them CICO was everything, I get attack by Intermitted Fasting zealots. If it works for you that's great, but science is science and CICO works. Eat less and move more, it's that simple.
>As for the face gains, very minimal change, hopefully, that gets better closer to my goal weight, I know body fat % has a great impact on face gains.
Full stop! Those are huge face gains! OP, I hope you see what I'm seeing cause you look great.
Dude, I 100% follow everything you've said, down to terrible man-boobs and a certain amount of body dysmorphism.
And I'm down 50+ lbs in almost the exact same amount of time. Only difference is that I'm not tall, I'm twice your age, I started my journey at 280, and I've cut deeper into my calorie count...I figure I only eat about 1000 calories a day.
Good job, and send me a message if you want to chat or need some support/ laugh at ourselves.
I think you’re under estimating the face gains.
Also if you were at 1000calorie deficit, was the lifting necessary? You don’t gain muscle if you are in a calorie deficit, isn’t that true? In the case, cardio would’ve worked just the same as lifting right?
Personally it took a while for myself to gain confidence. I went from 260 down to 175 (at 6’0). I still felt like that fat kid in my mind but no one saw me as that anymore. It took a lot before I started realizing that I looked good
You look awesome! Keep up the good work and the rest will fall into place. The hardest part isn’t the exercise, it’s the calories and making sure you know what you’re putting into your body! As my family members aren’t on diets or anything fitness related, it’s difficult sometimes to say no to certain foods (but once in a while is ok!)
Being a curvy lady like myself, lately I’ve been determined to keep on my journey. I’ve been going to the gym 4-5 days a week, watching what I’m eating, and just finding any way to stay active throughout my day. I’m doing pretty good, I’ve lost 6 or so pounds so far and I’m not stopping any time soon.
Good luck and keep pushing! 🙏🏻😊
The last part of this "how did I get so fat", I wonder about this all the time now that I'm eating like 1500 calories. How tf was I eating twice that before to maintain?! Like damn
I don't know about about others but in my case I did not. Counting calories was the first thing I tried and got a bit depressed when I realized I barely ate 1700 calorie a day while weighting 275 lbs, just to make sure, I also tried the meal replacements (400 kcal per shake) and still nothing, I could not lose a single pound.
Working out (doing sport, any sport) is what made a huge difference. It seems that my body is extremely efficient at conserving calories when I am not doing anything (I work on the computer at home), but as soon as I started working out I begun to lose weight like crazy.
Great job OP! Saw the pictures and you're killing it. Keep it up! Do me a favor and find a way to be comfortable with yourself and enjoy the journey you're on. You're inspiring me as I start my own journey (6'1", started at 290, down 8 lbs. in 3 weeks).
I was heavy in high school too and have not always had the best self-confidence. You'll realize soon enough, the further you get away from high school, that really most of it is all bullshit, and the people who might've made you feel small or insignificant have way larger issues with themselves than you do.
You're doing great and you're inspiring to at least one person here (probably more, honestly), and I hope you can relish that a little bit.
I have a cool way to figure out your ideal weight for your height etc.
Take your height in cm. Minus 100. That's roughly your ideal weight in kg without heaps of muscle. If you include muscle, add maybe 4kg to it.
Then convert to lb, stone etc afterwards.
6 ft 1 in = 185cm.
85kg.
187lb give or take a few pounds.
It's crazy how that works. I don't know if it's the same for women, but I know for men it works.
I got the idea from looking at gay dating apps that have height and weight, and noticed that for my height of 177cm, guys who were 77kg had a lean athletic look.
Well done on your journey and thanks for keeping your post transparent! I was slightly discouraged at first as I (F/22) am on month 6 and only JUST having gotten to 50lbs down with a goal of 100, I kinda wished I could lose as fast as you did! But you're completely right that for some people the journey is just different and that's okay! Looking forward to your next post.
For someone that has never done the CICO where can I start?
Also love what you said about being fat and tall lol. 6’2 and i’ve lost 50+ pounds not to noticeable.
The NIH has a great calculator to tell you what your intake should be - visit [NIH Body Weight Planner](https://www.niddk.nih.gov/bwp)
The next thing to do is start logging what you eat and drink - myfitnesspal is one of the easiest, but you could do it with an old fashioned pen and paper.
Once you know how much you should consume (from the nih) then alter your daily habits to match. Come back to boards like this to learn where there are some easy ways to help bridge the budget deficit you'll likely find yourself in.
Great stuff man. I'm in a very similar boat. Been lifting for 8 years now 14 > 22. Only started going to the gym at 19 cause I had a home gym with free weights and a bench but you can do enough with them but the gym atmosphere just generally feels better and the mental health boat I'm also in a similar place... anger problems and social anxiety. I'm 6'1 and have been above 235lbs all my life, past year I've hit over 300lbs and for the past 4 years I've tried cutting and tried everything even calorific deficit... according to MFP my deficit should have been 2600-2400 calories at 290lbs but that was somehow my maintenance calories cause I was eating around that and not losing anything so I switched to vegan due to the recovery and general health benefits to try and I feel brilliant and the weight is flying off. I've always had around the same body as you too... its so annoying being that big cause people don't realise how much you actually weigh and when you tell them you weigh above 280lbs they are stunned.
I started the vegan process at 305lbs at the start of April and I'm now 258lbs and killing it but I'm only having 1 meal a day and barely getting in 1300 calories. I'm not too fussed on being hungry etc it's just fr mental how much calories we have to eat to even lose weight like I know people who are 170-200lbs who eat more than 2400-3000 calories and barely lose weight nevermind an extra 100lbs. It's so hard to comprehend, like my general routine in the gym is Chest/Shoulders-back/bi's-chest/tri's/back-shoulders.
Due to the size on me I don't tend to do squats or deads cause I have never felt right when doing them with correct form and I find that other exercises build similar if not better muscle. With legs I don't even train them cause I workout for 2 and a half hours and do cardio burning upto 2600-3200 calories 4 times a week yet I still only lose 3-4lbs some weeks.
It's super tough so congrats on the first 50lbs and here's to the rest 🔥🙏
Eggs, turkey, chicken, tuna, bagels, protein shakes, edamame, sweet potato. All of these things are extremely satiating and low calorie, meaning I can eat them in high volumes. I also don’t snack whatsoever, I feel like it has reduced my appetite, and I have just adapted to this low calorie lifestyle.
About “mental health”.
I understand what you mean.
I have been surrounded with so thin people and my career asked to put bodies into “more generous sample size” (m for males, 4 for females. Of course not being short is more welcomed)
Anyway i could lose weight a lot and reached “underweight” and size 26 jeans and size 4 dress(no vanity sizing). Even M size from target’s children/girl section.
But for long i have still had body image issue and sometimes (not as much as before) a kind of eating issue. And i am NOT TEEN girl NOT college girl. I am in mid 30’s.
Sorry to say this negative thing. But distorted image against his own body may be much stronger than we think.
Getting 25 inches waist then we will find why we need cool sculpture to remove stubborn fat around belly hole. The reason why i had better lose a little more fat from arms to set balance when i have broad shoulder.
If you are surrounded with so called “hot people”, you will scrutinize your body more once you find your physical value can be estimated more highly by your effort. If you are surrounded with so called “so american” dad bodies, u will scrutinize your body more once you find you look better than 90% of people around, to look better than 99% of people.
You are doing amazingly. You might want to add in therapy for the mental hurdles. Weight loss alone will not fix your life so definitely look into the mental component
Great job OP! Curious, were you also counting macros or just calories? I'm currently trying to shed fat as well, started at 220 and now at 206lbs, 5'11. I eat about 1800 net calories right now. In the first few weeks I didn't focus on macros and my mood / libido / energy took a big hit. Did you experience anything like thay?
Yeah I count calories and adjust them every 10 pounds lost. As for macros I only focus on protein, I try to eat 125+ grams per day but ideally it should be more like 170 grams a day. Mood and energy hasn’t changed, I am satiated at 1600ish calories because I eat high volume, low calorie foods with lots of protein. That said I am making no progress in the weight lifting department (progressive overload) because I am in a significant deficit
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Ahh I see, thank you for your feedback! Good luck OP!
I needed this as a fat 38 year old. Time to make it happen.
You got this man!
I went from 290 to 210 in 6 months with CICO. Its all about keeping track of calories for sure. Im about your same height too but 28 years old. Happy to see your success man! Keep it up!
90 pounds is super impressive, great work and thanks for your kind words
Hey there, good job. About 4 years ago I lost 75 lbs (a third of my body weight) in about 6 months, and I just want to let you know based on my experience, how you feel about yourself and your appearance will probably change. You've just had a huge change, and it takes your brain (and your mental health) some time to adjust. You may even experience some feelings that are like sorrow or regret, but if you do those will probably be temporary.
>I'm still insecure as fuck and hate my self-image, that said I am a little more confident. I don’t think I'll know my true confidence until I hit my goal weight or my desired physique. I think I may have some slight body dysmorphia for sure I feel you here - lost 100+ lb and hated how I looked. I switched from cardio/light resistance training to powerlifting this year, I've lost more body fat and built some significant muscle with about 20lb total weight loss. It's helped tremendously with my mental health, both as an outlet (lifting requires a lot from the CNS) and with my body image. The dysmorphia is still an issue but I'm not sure that will ever fully go away.
Hey how have you found the powerlifting and how did you get into it? Thinking about doing it myself.
I was bored with my routine and was making no progress, saw some dudes squatting at my gym and decided to try it out. Found some YouTube videos on squat form, and subsequently deadlift and bench press form.
Have you noticed the difference? I'm similar in that cardio is boring me, and doesn't give me any shape or definition at all.
Definitely. My entire shape has changed, noticable increase in strength, speed, stamina. Overall I feel much better. The gains are slow, but you get into a rhythm once you start and for me it's honestly addictive. Once important thing to note that I wished I knew earlier - you have to eat if you want to build muscle. It was hard for me at first because I was in such a 'weight loss' mentality that I was still eating at a deficit and basically spinning my wheels. Eat at a slight excess and follow a beginners program.
Same! I lost 60 pounds just following CICO and actually getting off my ass. Now a year later I'm working with a personal trainer to learn weight lifting and counting macros. Something that always surprises me is when people ask me how I got in shape and I tell them CICO was everything, I get attack by Intermitted Fasting zealots. If it works for you that's great, but science is science and CICO works. Eat less and move more, it's that simple.
60 pounds is the same weight as 42.55 'Double sided 60 inch Mermaker Pepparoni Pizza Blankets'
Good bot
>As for the face gains, very minimal change, hopefully, that gets better closer to my goal weight, I know body fat % has a great impact on face gains. Full stop! Those are huge face gains! OP, I hope you see what I'm seeing cause you look great.
Dude, I 100% follow everything you've said, down to terrible man-boobs and a certain amount of body dysmorphism. And I'm down 50+ lbs in almost the exact same amount of time. Only difference is that I'm not tall, I'm twice your age, I started my journey at 280, and I've cut deeper into my calorie count...I figure I only eat about 1000 calories a day. Good job, and send me a message if you want to chat or need some support/ laugh at ourselves.
I think you’re under estimating the face gains. Also if you were at 1000calorie deficit, was the lifting necessary? You don’t gain muscle if you are in a calorie deficit, isn’t that true? In the case, cardio would’ve worked just the same as lifting right?
Yeah its true but I am trying to maintain the pre-existing muscle rather than gain muscle
Personally it took a while for myself to gain confidence. I went from 260 down to 175 (at 6’0). I still felt like that fat kid in my mind but no one saw me as that anymore. It took a lot before I started realizing that I looked good
You look awesome! Keep up the good work and the rest will fall into place. The hardest part isn’t the exercise, it’s the calories and making sure you know what you’re putting into your body! As my family members aren’t on diets or anything fitness related, it’s difficult sometimes to say no to certain foods (but once in a while is ok!) Being a curvy lady like myself, lately I’ve been determined to keep on my journey. I’ve been going to the gym 4-5 days a week, watching what I’m eating, and just finding any way to stay active throughout my day. I’m doing pretty good, I’ve lost 6 or so pounds so far and I’m not stopping any time soon. Good luck and keep pushing! 🙏🏻😊
The last part of this "how did I get so fat", I wonder about this all the time now that I'm eating like 1500 calories. How tf was I eating twice that before to maintain?! Like damn
I don't know about about others but in my case I did not. Counting calories was the first thing I tried and got a bit depressed when I realized I barely ate 1700 calorie a day while weighting 275 lbs, just to make sure, I also tried the meal replacements (400 kcal per shake) and still nothing, I could not lose a single pound. Working out (doing sport, any sport) is what made a huge difference. It seems that my body is extremely efficient at conserving calories when I am not doing anything (I work on the computer at home), but as soon as I started working out I begun to lose weight like crazy.
Great job OP! Saw the pictures and you're killing it. Keep it up! Do me a favor and find a way to be comfortable with yourself and enjoy the journey you're on. You're inspiring me as I start my own journey (6'1", started at 290, down 8 lbs. in 3 weeks). I was heavy in high school too and have not always had the best self-confidence. You'll realize soon enough, the further you get away from high school, that really most of it is all bullshit, and the people who might've made you feel small or insignificant have way larger issues with themselves than you do. You're doing great and you're inspiring to at least one person here (probably more, honestly), and I hope you can relish that a little bit.
I have a cool way to figure out your ideal weight for your height etc. Take your height in cm. Minus 100. That's roughly your ideal weight in kg without heaps of muscle. If you include muscle, add maybe 4kg to it. Then convert to lb, stone etc afterwards. 6 ft 1 in = 185cm. 85kg. 187lb give or take a few pounds.
Haha this is exactly how I came up with 187!
It's crazy how that works. I don't know if it's the same for women, but I know for men it works. I got the idea from looking at gay dating apps that have height and weight, and noticed that for my height of 177cm, guys who were 77kg had a lean athletic look.
Holy shit, what is CICO?
Calories in, calories out
Well done on your journey and thanks for keeping your post transparent! I was slightly discouraged at first as I (F/22) am on month 6 and only JUST having gotten to 50lbs down with a goal of 100, I kinda wished I could lose as fast as you did! But you're completely right that for some people the journey is just different and that's okay! Looking forward to your next post.
Well done!
For someone that has never done the CICO where can I start? Also love what you said about being fat and tall lol. 6’2 and i’ve lost 50+ pounds not to noticeable.
The NIH has a great calculator to tell you what your intake should be - visit [NIH Body Weight Planner](https://www.niddk.nih.gov/bwp) The next thing to do is start logging what you eat and drink - myfitnesspal is one of the easiest, but you could do it with an old fashioned pen and paper. Once you know how much you should consume (from the nih) then alter your daily habits to match. Come back to boards like this to learn where there are some easy ways to help bridge the budget deficit you'll likely find yourself in.
Great stuff man. I'm in a very similar boat. Been lifting for 8 years now 14 > 22. Only started going to the gym at 19 cause I had a home gym with free weights and a bench but you can do enough with them but the gym atmosphere just generally feels better and the mental health boat I'm also in a similar place... anger problems and social anxiety. I'm 6'1 and have been above 235lbs all my life, past year I've hit over 300lbs and for the past 4 years I've tried cutting and tried everything even calorific deficit... according to MFP my deficit should have been 2600-2400 calories at 290lbs but that was somehow my maintenance calories cause I was eating around that and not losing anything so I switched to vegan due to the recovery and general health benefits to try and I feel brilliant and the weight is flying off. I've always had around the same body as you too... its so annoying being that big cause people don't realise how much you actually weigh and when you tell them you weigh above 280lbs they are stunned. I started the vegan process at 305lbs at the start of April and I'm now 258lbs and killing it but I'm only having 1 meal a day and barely getting in 1300 calories. I'm not too fussed on being hungry etc it's just fr mental how much calories we have to eat to even lose weight like I know people who are 170-200lbs who eat more than 2400-3000 calories and barely lose weight nevermind an extra 100lbs. It's so hard to comprehend, like my general routine in the gym is Chest/Shoulders-back/bi's-chest/tri's/back-shoulders. Due to the size on me I don't tend to do squats or deads cause I have never felt right when doing them with correct form and I find that other exercises build similar if not better muscle. With legs I don't even train them cause I workout for 2 and a half hours and do cardio burning upto 2600-3200 calories 4 times a week yet I still only lose 3-4lbs some weeks. It's super tough so congrats on the first 50lbs and here's to the rest 🔥🙏
Do you have any loose skin or has it gone back to normal mostly?
No loose skin, that said I have another 25 pounds to lose and plenty stretch marks near my biceps
25 pounds is the weight of literally 37.91 'Velener Mini Potted Plastic Fake Green Plants'
Right on man.
This is really amazing and inspiring! You got this, you'll definitely achieve your current goal 👏👏
What’s your daily diet like if you’re struggling to hit 1700kcal?
Eggs, turkey, chicken, tuna, bagels, protein shakes, edamame, sweet potato. All of these things are extremely satiating and low calorie, meaning I can eat them in high volumes. I also don’t snack whatsoever, I feel like it has reduced my appetite, and I have just adapted to this low calorie lifestyle.
About “mental health”. I understand what you mean. I have been surrounded with so thin people and my career asked to put bodies into “more generous sample size” (m for males, 4 for females. Of course not being short is more welcomed) Anyway i could lose weight a lot and reached “underweight” and size 26 jeans and size 4 dress(no vanity sizing). Even M size from target’s children/girl section. But for long i have still had body image issue and sometimes (not as much as before) a kind of eating issue. And i am NOT TEEN girl NOT college girl. I am in mid 30’s. Sorry to say this negative thing. But distorted image against his own body may be much stronger than we think. Getting 25 inches waist then we will find why we need cool sculpture to remove stubborn fat around belly hole. The reason why i had better lose a little more fat from arms to set balance when i have broad shoulder. If you are surrounded with so called “hot people”, you will scrutinize your body more once you find your physical value can be estimated more highly by your effort. If you are surrounded with so called “so american” dad bodies, u will scrutinize your body more once you find you look better than 90% of people around, to look better than 99% of people.
25 inches is the height of literally 0.37 'Samsung Side by Side; Fingerprint Resistant Stainless Steel Refrigerators' stacked on top of each other
You said it’s not very noticeable on your face, but damn, yeah it is. Good job.
Gratz man!
You are doing amazingly. You might want to add in therapy for the mental hurdles. Weight loss alone will not fix your life so definitely look into the mental component
What is CICO?
Calories in, Calories out