FFBs!

Alright, since I’m fairly new to the boards, I figure I might as well give you a short synopsis of me. My whole life, I was fat. Last year, I changed it, and from January '07 to January ‘08 I lost about 110 lbs. I weighed in (at the heaviest) at about 350 lbs. I’d done some lifting for a year or so before I changed my weight, but mostly benching and other bullshit like that. Now I’m sitting at about 5’11", maybe close to 6’ at about 240 lbs. and 17% BF. I lost a shit load of strength off my bench in the last year and still haven’t gotten it back up to where it use to be, and my squats and deads have been making some improvements.

Anyway, is anyone else on here a former fat boy? If so, what does your diet look like, how many carbs, how much protein, calories, fats, etc. Also, when is a good cut-off point in the day for carbs, (aside from post-workout.) I’ve been trying to get around 3,000 cals with anywhere from 350-400 g of protein, and I’ve been trying to cut carbs out, but I’m trying to eat fruits as well so it’s tough. It also seems like sometimes I’m getting too much fats with eggs, red meats, and things like that.

Secondly, do any of the afforementioned FFBs have any sort of problems with dips or pull-ups? I can do some dips if they’re first in the workout, (which they’re not,) but can’t do any sort of pull-ups whatsoever.

Anyway, any sort of constructive input is appreciated.

I am a FFB, down about 10lbs from the avatar pic and over 60 total. Right now I am trying to read single digit bodyfat, so I am only consuming 1800-2000 cals a day right now. I am shooting for the 1.6-1.8g of protein/kg weight, so just under 1g per lb. I am eating carbs now, I just make sure that it is is control and try to get them in earlier in the day and around workout times. I have gotten pretty lean so carbs really aren’t the enemy for me any more. As for body weight exercises I kick ass now. Even when I was my biggest I was able to do some pull up/chin ups and a good amount of dips. Now I am able to load up the weight belt with 90lbs and hit like 3-4 chin ups.

Are you sure that you are 17% body fat, how was it tested. It would mean that you would have like 199 lbs of lean mass at 5’11. If that were true I would expect you to not have too much difficulty with the body weight exercises.

Oh, and good job on the weight loss.

I am an FFB and my best advice is…once you lose the weight, then go right into putting on a good amount of muscle and EAT. Don’t be afraid of food once the muscle starts to show up or you’ll be in a perpetual cycle of gaining and dieting and you’ll never change the overall physique very much.

[quote]Zagman wrote:
Are you sure that you are 17% body fat, how was it tested. It would mean that you would have like 199 lbs of lean mass at 5’11. If that were true I would expect you to not have too much difficulty with the body weight exercises.[/quote]

Well, I’m definitely not where I want to be in terms in leanness yet, that’s for sure. I wanted to try and put some strength back on and gain mass because I lost a lot of strength (and mass) over the year that I lost weight.

The BF% was taken by skin calipers by a girl who supposedly knew what she was doing, so I’m just not sure. It’s probably a bit low, because I still have flubber on my belly and legs. Before I lost the weight I could bench 235ish, but now I can barely get up 225. My squat numbers are 265 X 4 A2G, and I can dead 365 X 4.

Pullups have always been a problem, because I have lame excuses for arms. I’m trying to get them stronger, but they’re not close to being even above-average strength, so I think this may have something to do with them.

Again, it’s hard to get a good gauge of my BF I think because it’s a little unclear what’s fat and what’s just extra skin, so I’m not sure if that would make a difference.

I too was a FFB. I got up to 280lbs of man cow. For your bodyweight exercises give it time. I remeber I used to damn near use half the stack on machine assited dips because I was such a pussy but now I gots me a 1/4 dangling from my waist for a pump set and a plate for my last working set. Congrats man! don’t forget where you came from so be very nit picky with your diet. my two centavos.

Congrats on the weight loss and keep it up! At my heaviest I weighed in at 295 lbs. I’m about 215 now and can say that I have a similar problem with pull-ups. I can do dips no problem but I find it really hard to do good body-weight pull-ups. I’m 6’2", which makes it a little more difficult because of my long arms, but I can still get a few decent reps in because I have been really working hard at it.

I would recommend that you start by doing as many body-weight reps as you can followed by more machine assisted reps. It’s a method that been really helping me. As far as diet goes, I am taking in about 3000 cals a day with a 1.5 g/lb of protein, around 100 grams of carbs, and good fats like peanut-butter, almonds, etc. I too would recommend that you get most of your carbs in at the beginning of the day and post-workout.

Don’t fear fat!! If you are eating clean than you should not be afraid of the fats that you are getting from your eggs, red meat, etc. I eat 7 eggs a day, 3 whole and 4 white, it seems to be a good balance and is not making me put on any more weight. I would recommend that you read about some diets like the T-Dawg diet, it’s what I’m following right now and it is working really well.

you’re 240 at 17% bf? in january I weighed in at 252 with 33% bf using a composition chamber. Good job on the weight loss btw, but your saying you have ~200 pounds of lean body mass. I was benching around 365 in january also… right now I would have to say im est 28% body fat at 249 and benching 390.

for the diet, make sure to do your carbs earlier in the day, and make sure to get enough protein in every meal. It’s also ok to get carbs 30-45 minutes after your workout…but do go crazy. About an hour after working out, make a solid protein shake.

dips…imo these are the best tricep workout. pull ups and chin ups are difficult…but they are well worth putting in your routine. Use an assist if you have to.

To increase arm strenth…or bench press try these:

bench 8x3 @ 80% of your 1rpm
overhead press: 3x10
pullups, chinups, dips on assist machine
upright rows 3x8
forward and reverse grip preacher curls
shrugs 3x10
pushups

… these will all help, but you have to progress steadily. The number one killer of muscle progression is nutrition and recovery. Think about it, you might lift for 6-8 hours per week. The other 160 hours in the week you should do everything in your power to recover. Get your nutrition right. Get enough sleep. Stretch. Drink enough water. And I dont know about you, but Biotest’s creatine and BETA-7 are working wonders for me so you might want to try those.