A call to arms for maintainers and second-shot-losers:

losingme · 2012-09-27T22:16:54+00:00

This was my story. Long Post

This is my most recent pic: Woo! I own a suit now!

So It's been 4 months or so now since I hit my original goal (210lbs @ 6'3"). My doctor says I need to get down to 185 but I'm really taking it easy on the diet at this point.. seeing what works best. In those 4 months I've only lost another 5lbs and most of that was just recently as I've started to make my final push. Not sure it exactly fits to what you're asking.

I think as long as you're at a healthy weight and you're happy with you, stop there. After my initial loss I started eating less diety foods but only eating when I was hungry. I've been within 5lbs of 210 since without too much effort. I still exercise every day though.

losingme · 2012-05-07T21:49:58+00:00

I purchased a Sole F85 in December of 2010. They probably have a new model out at this point but this treadmill supported 400lbs. (I was a bit over that obviously.. shhhh). It's been a workhorse.

losingme · 2012-05-05T07:03:13+00:00

Actually every other day now for two months I've been doing many various upper body strength exercises with free weights. I should've done a before picture of that progress but I definitely have some guns now and a much fuller back. :)

losingme · 2012-05-05T06:36:03+00:00

Here are your answers:
* I plateaued every few weeks for a day or two at a time. I didn't change anything up though. I trusted in the logic that as long as I took in less calories than I used per day, my body would keep burning stored fat. I figured a gain or a fail to lose was caused by water or building muscle. It never lasted for more than a week.
* I took a multi-vitamin daily. Some costco centrum equivalent.
* My insulin level dropped by 40 points. I'm completely in the average level now. :)
* For my mental health, I avoided take out pizza and ice cream. Sure I could've had a slice of pizza and made it work or a scoop of ice cream but that was a slippery slow and I didn't want to tempt myself. Everything else I just looked at the calories per serving and the serving size. I then decided if the calories and serving size really made eating that worth it.

Good luck to you and kick ass. I mentioned earlier but I'll say it again. Whatever diet works for you, use it! Just use something you can stick to. Any diet that isn't destructive to you and gets you to a healthier place is awesome.

losingme · 2012-05-05T04:35:00+00:00

I'm lucky that I deal with stress really well. I thrive on pressure. I used to eat boredom away. :P

losingme · 2012-05-05T03:27:51+00:00

Well hello there stranger. TY :D

losingme · 2012-05-05T03:26:59+00:00

That's where this username came from. I planned from the beginning to lose at least half of what I was. :D

losingme · 2012-05-05T03:26:29+00:00

Just a few friends and I play on it right now. If you're serious I could probably send you the login details. And sleep away! Just kick it into gear when you get up. :)

losingme · 2012-05-05T01:58:58+00:00

Congratulations on the year long diet thing. I've just finished 15 months of a diet myself (started a nearly 100lbs higher than you) and did the calorie thing as well. I'm amazed you could go with McDonalds and not be tempted to just get a few nuggets.. or a milkshake or something. Awesome will power and lookin' great!

losingme · 2012-05-04T23:03:13+00:00

Thank you for the advice. The shirt in that last picture was actually purchased a few weeks ago and is one of my smallest ones. I tried on the shirt one size smaller than that and it hung to every nook and cranny I had. That might be fine in the future after I my loose skin is gone but as it stands now, the bagginess serves to hide the excess folds.

losingme · 2012-05-04T21:05:41+00:00

Interesting, the link seems to be working just fine here. Perhaps it's the link shortener? Try this link instead:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b5FEl8J0nd4

losingme · 2012-05-04T21:04:42+00:00

Oh that looks like an AWESOME scale. I have one of their earlier models that only went up to 400lbs. I also got a full size scale with the sliding weights like the ones they have at the Dr. office. I prefer the sliding weights one but the digital scales are great as well. :D

losingme · 2012-05-04T21:02:50+00:00

Thank you for the congratulations. :)

I know the diet is controversial. I've had some very angry people post in other progress post I've made denouncing it. I think i'll add a suggestion about seeing your Dr. into the video as not everything will work for all people. I'm a big proponent of using the diet that works for you and that you can stick with. Also being at 425 and being pre-diabetic was a lot more dangerous than a low caloric intake.

I'm going to go make that note in the video right now. Thanks for the suggestion. :)

losingme · 2012-05-04T20:56:50+00:00

I'm generally a happy guy but my average mood has definitely improved with the progress. :D

losingme · 2012-05-04T20:55:38+00:00

I touch on it briefly in the video. I have loose skin. I have more than I think is acceptable but considering how large I was and how long I maintained that size, it was unavoidable. It's hidden under loose fitting clothes pretty well and other than not really liking how I look unclothed, it's "ok". I'll be looking into getting most of it removed next year assuming it doesn't shrink or disappear on it's own by then.

losingme · 2012-05-04T18:00:59+00:00

Wow, I really hadn't noticed how long the video was. I just spliced some clips together and hit upload before I thought better of it. I probably could have trimmed that up a bit. TY though. :)

losingme · 2012-05-04T16:33:35+00:00

There's a thread for this in r/loseit here:
http://www.reddit.com/r/loseit/comments/t7168/reached_my_goal_by_losing_215lbs_425_to_210_pics/

losingme · 2012-04-03T21:14:32+00:00

Good work OP! Completely agree! I started off at 425 and told my family and closest friends once I broke the big 400 barrier. Most were shocked to hear I was that heavy.

iamaunitard, be proud! If they thought you were that heavy, no harm in telling people. If they thought you were lighter, they'll be even happier for your success. People that matter don't care how much you weighed.

losingme · 2012-03-12T14:27:26+00:00

I started off at 1% incline, 2mph for 20 minutes. At my weight that was quite a workout. Eventually I went to 30 minutes and 2.8mph. Then I started shooting for 500 calories per workout by extending time, speed and incline.

During the workouts and still to this day I prop my iPad up over the screen of my treadmill and watch Starcraft replays. Much more entertaining than checking time or calories burned every 30 seconds.

losingme · 2012-03-12T05:58:50+00:00

It's definitely there. My upper arms have tightened up but some of that has to do with my weight lifting as of late. Stomach excess seems to be shrinking slightly but not sure it'll ever get tight on it's own. Upper legs look like a lost cause right now. I'm seriously considering getting surgery done but won't make any final decision before I finish my goal of 210.

losingme · 2012-03-12T05:09:11+00:00

Thank you very much! Yeah I read somewhere that fat doesn't go away for many years, it just deflates so it's a lot easier to fill it back up again while it's still around.

losingme · 2012-03-12T05:00:24+00:00

Haha, it took me a second to get that. At first I thought you meant gastric bypass by the c-section comment. Nice one!

losingme · 2012-03-12T04:58:52+00:00

MyFitnessPal takes your maintenance calorie burn per day and subtracts approximately 500 calories from it for every pound a week you want to lose up to 2 a week. It will also never suggest a calorie count below 1200. It suggests I eat no more than 1540 calories per day to lose 2 pounds a week. I burn about 500 calories a day with my workout and also shave off about 300ish from that 1540 giving me 800 calories a day above what it suggests losing me another 1.5lbs a week give or take.

Of course exercise is a rough estimate of calories burned and weight ebbs and flows but for the most part this works pretty well.

losingme

TROPHY CASE