423lbs and two brothers lost...please help

[randoval]

Hello,


I am 31 years old and weigh 423lbs. Yes 423lbs. Three weeks ago I lost my second brother. He weighed 370lbs. I lost two brothers in 3 years. I do not want to be next. I do not want to put my family through this again.

It kills me that losing a second brother is part of my motivation to change my life, but it is not my ultimate motivation. I never done anything for myself. I always took care of everybody else. I am missing out on life and if I do not change I will miss out completely. Please help me?

Last week I started the bodybugg program. The armband thing they use on the Biggest Loser. I did not use there meal plan and went with one of my own that I made up from reading the stickes in this forum. I only use the bodybugg as a tool to watch my calories burned and physical activity. I am not too sure how accurate it is. According to my bugg I am burning anywhere from 5000-7000 calories one the days I workout which is weight training in the morning before work. I am on my feet, walking all day long so I do not do any cardio at the gym. When I get home from work I hit the heavy bag and mits for about 30 mins. Its all I can do right now. At the end of the day my calorie burn is between 5000-7000 calories burned with anywhere from 15000-18000 steps taken. I lost 11lbs my first week which I am bet is mostly water weight. I know some of you may read this and be like how can a 423lb man even do that much? Well I do and I can and if your gonna be neagative and think I'm BS'n then do not take the time to respond. I do not need to get into cyber bi**h fight. I move very well for someone 423lbs. I am athletic for the size and I am as strong as a bull.

As I mentioned before my calorie burn is between 5000-7000. Closer to 7000 on the days I workout. My calorie intake is right around 2400-2600 consisting of talapia, chicken breast, brown rice, oats, egg white, protien shake. I use olive oil in my cooking and take a multi vitamin and fish oil pills. I know it needs some work, but it beats fast food for every meal like I did before.

My question is do you think it is possible for me to really have that high of calorie burn? Do you think my calorie intake is too low? I want to keep as much muscle as possible, but drop the fat. This is where I need your help. I want to do this as healthy as possible. Im not looking to do it Biggest Loser style and drop double digit pounds a week, but then again being as big as I am maybe it is something that is possible. I just want to do it safe and healthy.

Any advice is so greatly appreciated. I thank everyone who takes the time to read this and respond with ANY advice. Thank you from the bottom of my heart. I look forward to getting to know you and I am looking forward living and not just being alive.

[musclestack]

First, post up your typical daily diet with macros (pro, carb, and fat) for each meal. It's hard for me to believe you burn that many calories in a day, but I can't really say for sure; maybe if your heart rate is constantly elevated throughout the day? I burn roughly 3,500 calories a WEEK when I'm cutting, and that's doing about an hour and 15 min of cardio every day. I'll let someone else chime in on that question though. I can say this much for sure though: If you're burning 7,000 calories in a day, and eating 2,600 calories a day, you can forget about keeping your muscle. Please start by posting your stats. We know your weight, but do you know your exact body fat %? It would help in figuring out how much lean body mass you have, then giving advice on how many calories you should be eating based on that. Then, we can help you out in detail with the actual diet.

[randoval]

I am 6'3" 423. I do not know my body fat%. How would I go about finding out? When I get home I will post diet up with macros. I apologize for not posting in my original post

[gbrice75]

First, i'm sorry to hear about your brothers. My condolences to you and your family.

Honestly bro, at 400+ lbs, you don't really need to worry about a 'dialed in' diet IMO. Just eat sensibly - lean proteins, a bit of complex carbs, some healthy fats, lots of green veggies, drink tons of water, and do a bunch of cardio - and you will lose bodyfat. You're morbidly obese (no offense) and anything you do right now is a step in the right direction. At your weight, you'd probably be fine eating at 2500 - 3000 calories/day right now. Use the scale weekly and make caloric adjustments until you're dropping around 2lbs/week - that would be a great number for you given your size and the fact that you don't want to lose too much LBM.

[Damienm05]

First, i'm sorry to hear about your brothers. My condolences to you and your family.

Honestly bro, at 400+ lbs, you don't really need to worry about a 'dialed in' diet IMO. Just eat sensibly - lean proteins, a bit of complex carbs, some healthy fats, lots of green veggies, drink tons of water, and do a bunch of cardio - and you will lose bodyfat. You're morbidly obese (no offense) and anything you do right now is a step in the right direction. At your weight, you'd probably be fine eating at 2500 - 3000 calories/day right now. Use the scale weekly and make caloric adjustments until you're dropping around 2lbs/week - that would be a great number for you given your size and the fact that you don't want to lose too much LBM.

Excellent advice. There's a lot of good info here but you'll just be overwhelmed by it at this point. Just remove all empty calories and replace them with real food.

Examples:

- No white carbs, go to whole wheat. Just limiting insulin response via this small change will yield massive weight loss initially.
- No empty calorie snack foods like potato chips. Rather, snack on natural things like nuts. Honestly, I'd rather eat whole grain baked tortilla chips with salsa and guacomole or roasted cashews than potato chipss anyway. It's a small adjustment that will make a big difference
- Cut sugar in beverages. Go to diet drinks/water only. Again, this change alone will yield results.
-Protein centralize! You don't have to eat tiny meals to lose weight, just fill up on chicken breast and lean steaks and keep portions of side-dishes moderate
-Count calories. They don't have to be super low to lose weight fast at 400 lbs - just get in the habit of tracking what you eat.
-Try to cut out table sugar. Sweeten with splenda, stevia, and fruit.
- Cut saturated fat via non-protein sources. Some cheese and dark meat chicken won't kill you but whole milk, butter, cream, and such offer nothing. Using the above tip coupled with this one - let's use an example of eating cookies. Use stevia and raisins to sweeten the batch, use a healthy fat source like coconut oil to lubricate instead of butter and there you have it: you can still lose weight and have a dessert.

Now doing all of the above will have you substantially smaller in a few short months. At that point, we can talk about going more in-depth and dialing in a bodybuilder's diet.

-

[baseline_9]

Well ur in good hands m8

One thing i would say tho is that at ur weight you will be looking to loose more than 2 lbs a week

From watching the biggest loose those big guys are loosing 8-15 lbs a week at the begining..... And they still keep loosing at a much higher rate than 2lbs a week

I would not worry about the weight too much tho, just make the right lifestyle changes to allow constant progress over a LONG period of time

Its take yourself 31 years to become this fat and your not going to loose it in a month or even a year

U need to make the right moves now and stay focused on this for a long time

Or u know where u will be........dead

Truth hurts but so does loosing 200lbs

The choice is yours

[SlimmerMe]

Welcome Randoval!

You are in the best hands possible with the guys here in this forum.
They love sharing their knowledge with a passion.

Baby steps. One foot in front of the other. One step at a time.

You will be amazed at how much your body will change just by tweaking here and there to start out with and once you start to see the fat melt off, you will then want to keep going and going.

Give yourself credit for coming here and asking for help.

And I will add one suggestion: if you could simply take a walk first thing in the morning. A 20 minute walk. Just 10 minutes one way and then turn around and come back to where you started out, you will boost your metabolism for the entire day. I am talking about walking before you do anything else. Just throw on some clothes and go out the door. Does not have to be fast. A normal walk.

I wish you to succeed. And if you want to start a log here in this forum to keep track of everything you are doing then please do. At this point you could simply state what changes you have made like: switching from regular drinks to diet. Or taking the walk. This will help you stay focused plus the members here will certainly give you the support you need.

HERE'S TO YOU!

[gbrice75]

I suggested around 2lbs because the op was concerned with maintaining LBM. Those people on the biggest loser are only concerned with numbers and try to lose as much weight as possible. They aren't concerned with the composition of that weight. Nobody wanting to maintain LBM should ever train that way or expect those numbers weekly IMO.

I agree that the numbers will be higher in the beginning and at 400 plus, may very well stay above 2lbs and be perfectly healthy. I just wouldnt aim for or expect double digits. My .02

[Damienm05]

Your body doesn't sacrifice muscle with 100s of lbs. of stored energy available. Of course, nothing wrong with suggesting a healthy, sustainable pace for losing.

[randoval]

Thank you all very much for taking the time to respond with great info and support. Here is what my diet is going to be. It may not be the best diet, but it is a HUGE improvement from what I would usually eat. I am very new to this so any other suggestions or advice will be greatly appreciated.

I'm not gonna get my hopes up high and think I am gonna have these huge weight loss numbers like the biggest loser contestants. I'm not here to win $250,000. I'm here to win my life back. Money cant buy that.


I am gonna take member SlimmerMe advice(I will be using everyones great advice) and do some sort of cardio first thing in morning before weight training and meal #1


Walk 20-30 min

P/C/F

Meal#1 liquid egg whites blended with oats and a bit of cinnamon for flavor. (i just blend it all together and slam it down. saves me time in morning)
57g/49g/4g =460

Weight training

Meal#2 Protein Shake immediately after weight training.
50g/0g/1 =209


Meal#3 Tilapia with brown rice
50g/45g/6g =434

Meal#4 Chicken Breast and brown rice
60g/45g/8g =492

30min cardio/boxing

Meal#5 Same as meal #3 or meal #4 (will add new foods in as I learn more)
60g/45g/8g =492

Meal#6 same as meal #3 or meal #4 (will add new foods in as I learn more)

Meal#7 casein shake before bed

[Damienm05]

I don't want to go too deep because like I said, anything is gonna give you nice results for now. That said, I'd remove the carbs from meal 5 and 6 and just do protein/veggies/olive oil. You'll optimize fat burning this way. The diet is good though - you'll be very happy with the results.

Here, if you want to absorb more info:

http://forums.steroid.com/showthread...ead&highlight=

[SlimmerMe]

Here is a recipe I just have to share with you and it is SO simple and tasty and I got the idea from baseline and tweaked it:

PANCAKES

1 cup rolled oats really ground up a lot like powder in the blender ( no water just the oats)
1 cup egg whites ( about 6-7 eggs)
1 cup 1 or 2% cottage cheese
splash of skim milk
as much splenda as you want
nutmeg
dash of vanilla

MIX up the oats first to powder...then add all the rest in no particular order

Get the griddle real hot with some Pam

pour some pancakes on like you would normally and flip

WHEN ready.....then top with some fresh blueberries or raspberries and a bit of sugar free syrup

ENJOY!!! this makes 3 big pancakes

I had a batch today~

[baseline_9]

I suggested around 2lbs because the op was concerned with maintaining LBM. Those people on the biggest loser are only concerned with numbers and try to lose as much weight as possible. They aren't concerned with the composition of that weight. Nobody wanting to maintain LBM should ever train that way or expect those numbers weekly IMO.

I agree that the numbers will be higher in the beginning and at 400 plus, may very well stay above 2lbs and be perfectly healthy. I just wouldnt aim for or expect double digits. My .02

Maintaing LBM!

How about we focus on maintaining your life OP

[gbrice75]

lol, I can't argue with that! ^ ^ ^

[GirlyGymRat]

Randoval...welcome to the diet forum and to the diet dudes (that is what I affectionately call my buds Damien and GB). Today is the first day of your NEW LIFE. I couldn't be more happy for you. You are making a decision to be healthier so kudos, kudos, kudos. I was OVERWELHED initially, but don't let it drive you nuts. Do what you can, make improvements everyday and you will see results...pounds will falll off ya. Stay focused on your goal! Welcome and you got members rooting for ya.

[Ishallnocheatmyself]

welcome! sorry to hear about your loss, everyone is behind you here so do everything you can to give the diet pros as much info as possible so they can help you as much as possible. GOOD luck hopefully you keep a log of the losses if you have time so every one can follow you on your lifestyle change. good luck again!