Lifting for Fat Loss

Bigger Stronger Leaner
1

Hello all,

Quick background: 6 years ago I weighed somewhere over 450lbs at 6’3”. I didn’t look that fat as I have a very large frame and very proportional fat distribution, but I never knew my weight for lack of a scale heavy enough. And lack of wanting to know.

The birth of my first child spurred change. It started with the foods we ate and later on I added intense class based circuit training. You know the current fad type… dumbbells, TRX, lots of plyo, ropes, blah blah blah. I did a couple boot camps including one 8 week one where I dropped 80lbs.

Over the course of 18 months I dropped down to my lowest at 299. I saw that number after completing a 13.5 mile jog by myself. I did a fair amount of dumbbell stuff and a little bit of lifting at PF, but never got serious with the weights.

Anyway, life happened. In one short season of time I did a lot of work travel, stress at home, and a third child all conspired to knock me way off the wagon. I got lazy. I grew back to somewhere over 450 again. Not by as much (I think I was closer to 500 originally judging by pictures).

In Feb 2019 I was moving a water heater and fell through a basement access panel that was open. 9 feet to the concrete below. Minor scratches and a severe hamstring strain, but no tear.

In April I asked my doc for physical therapy as my hammy was still dysfunctional. It just wasn’t working right. He was all for it and off I went.

My first PT session reminded me how much I actually liked exercise, so I decided it was fine to climb back on the wagon and get down to business.

But I discovered I had developed significant knee issues. I think I was WAY to hard on them at the circuit training place. A 300lb guy should not be jogging 13 miles. A 400lb guy should not be doing box jumps. Or any number of other plyometic and dynamic moves, but I did… because I could. That was a mistake I’m paying for now.

So I decided to use my PTA sessions as my spring board. I fixed my food intake. I joined a local family fitness gym with a good weight room.

I eat around 1800-2200 calories a day. I don’t obsess over the numbers because I know that range is well below my current BMR. I aim for 200g protein a day. I try to limit carbs to 80-100, and usually succeed. I eat a lot of fat in the form of meat (beef and chicken thigh and lots of eggs). I cook my food in tallow I made. It’s all good quality food. I do a protein shake after lifting sessions.

Weight is coming off, but much slower this time. I’m ok with that because I think it’s much healthier and more sustainable this way. I did the rapid weight loss once. Look what happened? My knees can’t support the type and intensity of exercise that bought me that rapid weight loss even if I wanted to.

I’m down around 415 at last weigh in, about 3 weeks ago. I don’t weight often because I don’t care about the number, I care about moving in the right direction and I don’t need a scale to measure that.

So now, I’m looking for feedback on my current lifting routine. I “designed” the routine after a few weeks of doing the typical splits 5-6 times a week. You know, chest and tri day, back and bicep day, leg day, blah blah blah. That’s what they did at the circuit boot camp place so its what I did this time. But I remembered reading that those splits were designed with a bodybuilding focus, largely for building a certain physical look.

That ain’t me. lol. Never will be. It’s not my goal.

So I sat there and said “what is my goal?” Weight loss. Fat loss. Pretty simple. So I figured my exercise program should be designed to support THAT. Not to build physically bigger muscles. Not really to even get stronger.

So that led to what helps burn fat? High metabolism, more “afterburn” effect. I figured the best way to do that was to focus on large muscle group, compound lifts. So here is what I do:

Monday: heaviest day, go after PR’s

  • 10 minutes treadmill, 2.8-3.2mph, 15 incline. HR climbs over 155.
  • leg press via plate loaded sled machine
  • standing strict OH press
  • 6-10 minutes on treadmill, same style/effort
  • BB bench press OR smith bench press
  • straight bar deadlift
  • assisted pull-ups
  • 10 minutes treadmill again, same style.

Tuesday:

  • 45-60 minute lap swimming
  • 45-60 minutes low weight stability/ankle strength workout. Lots of BOSU stuff, anti rotational stuff, core stuff.

Wednesday - same as Monday but only go to about 75-80% PR weight

Thursday-

  • typically an off day due to work. Maybe 40 min cardio on a treadmill or in the pool

Friday

  • 40 min swimming

Saturday

  • 10 min treadmill
  • light smith high bar squats (can only do half range at best due to knee, but no leg press where I workout on Saturdays. Smith because it hurts the knee less than a normal squat
  • strict OH press standing
  • smith bench
  • deadlifts
  • assisted pull-ups

Sunday - nothing

So, that’s my plan. I am dropping weight, slowly. Clothes are fitting better. PR’s are improving. I had never dead lifted before when I did my first at a physical therapy session about 10 weeks ago. I couldn’t really do 225 due to grip issues. That’s come a long way really fast.
Current PR 1RM

  • leg press: 868
  • standing strict OH: 185
  • smith bench: 280 plus whatever the bar is
  • flat bench: 255 today… I had more but nobody to spot me so I chickened out
  • DL: 445
  • assisted PU: 200lb counter, 3 reps full motion. When I started I had zero upward motion, so stoked about this one. Long way to go though

Hoping this thread can help me stay motivated and provide feedback on the lifting routine relative to my goal.

Thanks for reading all that malarkey!

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Bro… what? You’re 415 pounds right now and eating enough for a 160-pound woman. Bodyweight x 10 is generally the basement for how low to drop calories to avoid messing with hormones and negatively affecting metabolism. You’re outside of the normal bell curve, 1800-2200 is still super-crazy low for someone your size, especially if you’re training 4-5 days a week.

I obviously get the idea of needing to cut calories for fat loss, but that drastic drop going to cause little, if any, fat loss because the body’s flirting with legit starvation mode. Also, if you’re having 200g and around 100g carbs, there’s really not much room in your diet for “a lot” of fat if you’re really sticking to that calorie range. So I’m further confused.

What, exactly, did you eat yesterday?

Your training is still pretty wonky. Like on Monday, it’s inefficient to do the treadmill, then some weights, then the treadmill, then some weights, then the treadmill.

I didn’t quite follow, but are you still doing rehab work for the knee/hamstring that requires the ankle weight/BOSU stuff on Tuesday?

Overall, sounds like you’re doing a lot of cardio and little dedicated strength training. Flip that ratio. A good lifting plan 3-4 days a week with 3-4 cardio sessions is a solid template to build/preserve muscle and drop fat.

Something like this is a general way to set up a more effective lifting plan. Just plug in the exercises you can handle that fit each type of movement (press, pull, etc.).

Check out these drills and consider fitting them into your routine, if not use the full plan once or twice a week.

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Agree with the @Chris_Colucci, you’re eating way to few calories. I’m a former obese man myself and dropping calories crazy low, while it doesn’t feel like it, is a bad idea in the long run. Minimize the cardio. 3-4 times a week is enough and focus on lifting the weights.

You didn’t mention veggies. Make sure you’re getting plenty. They help fill you up when you’re feeling hungry.

Keep up the good work.

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I appreciate you fellas “weighing in”, so go speak. All input is appreciated. I’ll speak to my “diet” a bit more to start…

200 protein plus 100 carbs and about 100 fat is right near (just over) the 2000 calorie mark. This is my current general guideline. The realities vary day to day because I don’t live by the scale, whether it be the one in the bathroom or the one in the pantry. I can go over a typical days worth of food if anyone is interested in a later post. However, I should have mentioned I only count the “majors” in my calculation which invariably leads my totals to be a bit low on paper.

For instance: I don’t count the giant handful of spinach in every protein shake. I don’t bother counting the large amounts of broccoli, zucchini, and bell peppers. Those all add carbs and a few calories that aren’t counted. I don’t count the bit of olive oil I toss my roasted potatoes in before cooking or the roughly 2 tsp of tallow I cook my big pile of eggs in, but I’m sure as heck eating it as it’s not in the pan when the eggs are done. It’s not super uncommon to have a “100 calorie” bar of dove chocolate once or twice a week at work… once a week we have a pizza and movie night with the kiddos. Calories are way up on that day.

Am I in starvation mode? It’s possible I suppose, but I don’t think so. Here is why:

My body is getting leaner. Muscles are getting noticeably larger. For instance, biceps and triceps are now plainly evident beneath the flab yet I don’t do any isolation lifts for either muscle. The weights of the 4 lifts I do plus the assisted pull-ups have and continue to increase on a regular basis. I’m not light enough to use my fancy body composition scale yet but it patently obvious that I’m loosing fat while building muscle. Clothing is the tell-all. I’ve dropped from a 54 to a 50 in the waist since March. From a 6x shirt to 4x.

At last weigh in I was averaging a couple pounds a week on the scale… take muscle gains into account and we are talking several pounds of fat per week.

Last time I lost weight when I hit a plateau I’d increase food for a couple weeks. That always broke through it. I hear what you’re saying about too little calories but, as of now, the objective results indicate things are ok, for now. As muscle mass continues to grow I likely will have to adjust. That’s fine, I know what to watch for. If I am hungry, I eat extra eggs or chicken thighs. And extra water.

Regarding the workouts, I understand your point about efficiency. I think. Here is why I hop back and forth to the treadmill: to keep average heart rate up. I track my HR for all workouts via a Scosche Rythm24 and if all else is the same my average HR remains higher for the workout as a whole by doing it that way. On Thursday-Saturday I don’t gave the time to do that (I have 40-50 min max), so I don’t. But Monday and Wednesday I do.

Yes, I’m still rehabbing knee issues. The hamstring is fine, though it lags a bit, strength wise, compared to the other. The meniscus issues are long term, and will continue to be. The best thing I can do for them, for now, is drop weight and build stabilizer muscle strength. My therapist ID’d very weak ankles (lots of sprains and rolls as a youngster) and the bosu work has done wonders in the month I’ve been focusing on it. My stability is increased tremendously.

Dedicated weights is indeed only 3 days a week. Monday I go heavy and push maxes. Wednesday and Friday I stay around 80% if max weights and work reps. As my lifting routine is really a full body routine, I don’t do any substantial lifting the following day. For instance, I lifted heavy yesterday so for today the only lifting I did was some lightish deadlifts while on the bosu and some light kettlebell goblet squats and overhead presses, all on the bosu as well. I did some farmers carrying. Everything else was on the bosu with resistance bands doing anti-rotational moves and bodyweight core stuff. My HR today, on average, was higher than yesterday. Less rest time and stability on the bosu kicks my butt still once fatigued.

I just reread both of your posts and see you did ask what a typical day of food looks like. I’ll post that up later as I need to toss lunch together for the family now.

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Here is today’s food. This is utterly typical for me.

Breakfast:

  • 5 large eggs
  • 1 slice of toast

Lunch

  • 5oz chicken hatch Chile sausage
  • 2oz grilled chicken thigh meat
  • 4.5 oz russet potato, baked
  • Pile of steamed broccoli

Dinner

  • 6 oz grilled chicken thigh meat
  • Fresh peach
  • Grilled zucchini

Snacks

  • protein shake (includes large amount of raw spinach)
  • 6 oz grilled chicken thigh meat

Water:

  • 4500 ml throughout the day, minimum

Totals:

  • protein: 212
  • Carbs: 85
  • Fat: 86
  • Calories: 1977

Not counted in the above:

  • butter on toast, about half a tablespoon
  • Ketchup on eggs (just a splash)
  • Butter on the potato
  • Seasoning on the chicken and zucchini (Meat Church, so some carbs there but not much)

Yesterday was our pizza night so dinner instead of something similar to above was 2 pieces of a Papa Johns XL bacon and mushroom, extra sauce plus one of their sent straight from heaven brownies. And some leftover crust from my kids. That’s our typical “cheat” meal, though I don’t consider it cheating… it’s just life.

All in all, I don’t typically feel abnormally hungry most days. If I do my first response is water. 2nd response is a protein w/fat like eggs or chicken thigh. If those all fail I’ll eat some carbs.

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Yeah not to be a dick but 415 is still wayy into the medically obese zone -I would cut out the choc and brownies etc completely until like only 280lbs
If eating the clean foods like you mentioned otherwise, and training hard then the weight should be flying off you until you close in on 300

Also I would swap one of the the swimming sessions with some metabolic work like below…

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I’m a little torn here, because on the one hand, your system seems to be working for you, but there’s also a lot of advice here that I agree with in general. You might want to earmark this thread for when your progress stalls out and you want to revamp your program.

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Thanks for taking the time to post. I appreciate it… let me give you my thoughts on what you stated…

I’ve done it that way before. It didn’t last. It wasn’t a sustainable lifestyle. I was strict for 2 years. The weight DID fly off. I lost more than 150lbs in less than 18 months. I had weeks that saw more than 10Lbs lost.

And no worries, you’re not being a dick at all. I work in an environment where thick skins and blunt talk are the norm. You’re not going to offend me. I know I’m fat. Lol.

As far as 280… I don’t know that I will ever be that low. Maybe. But at my lightest adult weight, which was 299, I had more than 220lbs lean mass according to my Tanita body composition monitor. I’m not entirely sure how accurate they are, but it WAS very consistent. I’d have to find my records but I think BF% in that general time frame was around 19%. Down from higher than 45%. I will say this, I think I’m a natural athlete type… I seem to put on muscle easily. My body seems to respond well to heavy training. I went from never having done a BB deadlift to 405 with solid form in a month. And that’s largely without other lifting prior. I jogged 13.5 miles at 300 lbs. I was doing 30” box jumps, with ease, at 350lbs. I just need to strip this fat off.

Again, I’ve been there. Done that. It wasn’t sustainable for me. Certainly wouldn’t be any easier with my current life situation which has only grown more challenging.

I will certainly check out your suggestion on swapping some swimming for metabolic workouts. The swimming works well for me because 40 minutes on a treadmill is boring sweaty mess. 40 minutes of lap swimming will burn more than 1000 cals and I don’t sweat and it is less boring. It works well before work on Thursdays. Also, it doesn’t cause knee flare ups. But I’m open to other options.

EDIT: just read both articles you linked. Probably not going for the rower, at this point. I’ve used them a fair amount and while I actually buy do like them, the foot pads are too narrow for my frame at this point. It causes some odd stressing on my knees that trigger flare-ups.

That being said, the Complex thing sounds stellar. I’ll do that on Thursday before I do some stability/core/anti-rotation work. I’ll probabky try the Ferruggia one. I’ll need to learn what a couple of the moves on the list are, but that’s why God gave us YouTube

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Thank you, paules.

I know it seems a little odd compared to what you fellas seem to have experienced, but maybe it comes down to we are all different a bit. I’m sure I could see faster results if I was a bit stricter on diet or changed my workouts some, but at least for now I AM heading in the right direction. I’m ok with the pace, too. Initially I was frustrated at 1-3lbs a week but then I thought about it and realized I wanted to do it differently then last time. Last time didn’t last. Last time caused meniscus degradation that I’ll never fully recover from. Last time caused significant stress at home because I spent too much time working out before and after work. And jogging. And bike riding. True, I probably burned in excess of 4000 calories a day, but the cost was too high.

I’m trying to be smarter this time. Today’s workout burned over 2,000 calories. That’s PLENTY.

Anyway, I know progress will stall. I’ve been there, I know it’ll be a thing again. That’ll be the time to change things up. I get that. I’ve been doing this specific routine for about 6 weeks now, I think. I’d like to transition to actual squats as soon as I can. If I’m careful I can do deep goblet type squats with a kettlebell, but in order to do it I have to flare my knees out pretty wide (think of a baseball catcher) but it doesn’t hurt. I was able to do them while standing on the flat side of the bosu.

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@RampantBadger

I did a complex today. It kicked my arse hard.

I looked at the ones in the links and swapped out a few movements based upon the knee issues, so this is where I landed:

  • deadlift
  • bent over overhand row
  • clean
  • bent over underhand row
  • bicep curl
  • back squat
  • good mornings
  • strict OH press

I started with a standard bar and a 10lb “bumper” plate on each side. I made it until the bicep curls on round 5 before stripping those off and finishing with a naked bar. They just couldn’t hack it anymore.

Each movement for 8 reps, for 8 rounds. I took 60-90 seconds in between rounds. Killer workout. Loved it. Dripping sweat like the old days of the circuit training class without the harsh work on my joints.

I started the workout with 5 minutes incline walking treadmill just to loosen up and ended with 15 minutes on the bosu doing stability and anti-rotational work. All told just over an hour and per my HR monitor I burned a comparable amount of calories compared to my normal Tuesday workout that lasts about 40 minutes longer. That’s great! (About 1750 cal, btw)

Thanks for the advice!

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it may very well have been consistent, but it was far from accurate. I can tell you this simply from knowing what a frame carrying that sort of lean mass will be capable of lifting. I’m 5’11, and around 200 lbs. Let’s say 10% bodyfat for a nice round number. That would mean 180 ‘lean’ weight. At this weight, I’ve squatted 550, deadlifted 600+, benched 395, etc. So accounting for our height difference, 220 lean lbs should put you at a similar strength level, if not stronger. Were you in that ballpark where you 300 lbs bodyweight? If not, it’s safe to assume your monitor was incorrect.

Anyway, I’m saying all this for, hopefully, your own benefit, so you can more accurately understand how much bodyfat you actually have available to lose. I don’t know why you say you can’t be lower than 300 lbs at 6’3. If you truly believe that’s the lowest you can get your bodyweight, it should at least be a strong 300. 300 lbs coupled with your best lifts tells me you can do a lot better, if you want it.

Maybe I missed where you addressed this, but why? Is it just that you’re not mentally up for the task?

As for your knee problems… Losing weight won’t cause your knees to be worse. That makes zero sense to me. You can lose fat and not destroy your knees. Fat loss is mostly a diet thing. Those boot camps and stuff are fine, but honestly I don’t believe they’re ideal. I would much rather see you lifting weights and avoiding running and jumping until you’re a much lower bodyweight.

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I didn’t do that kind of lifting last time around… I’d never deadlifted at all until a couple months ago. I’d only benched a handful of times over the course of my life.

What I did do was dumbbell chest presses as it was a regular exercise at the boot camp. The heaviest they had was 90’s and I could press those, for reps, with ease. I don’t know what that translates to. I’m not doing dumbbell reps this time around, yet.

I’m sure that monitor is not totally accurate, was just used as a tool to gauge progress mostly. But we’ll see as time marches on and progress is made. I expect to hit a 500 DL before September. Hopefully.

Bench press is finally climbing… it didn’t increase much for the first month. I don’t expect I’ll have trouble hitting 3 plates in the same time frame and 2 plates on the strict overhead probably even sooner.

All that barring any plateaus, which is always possible.

The lifestyle needed to make the old way work in a sustainable way would require too much sacrifice from my family, at this point, when combined with the way my work schedule is currently. Family first, always. If I was alone, things could and would look for different. But that’s just not reality with a wife who needs attention and 3 small children. Gotta fit it all in, brother.

Lastly, if I said losing weight was bad for me knees, then I mistyped. What I meant was dropping weight is the best thing for my knees. We all know that’s true. No question about it.

I’m with you on the boot camp style thing… they certainly can be effective but it is my contention that it also did a lot of harm, long term, to my joints. I think the problem lies in their general outlook on everybody as the same, and that’s just not true. They don’t say that, mind you, but after have lived that for a few years and now doing something different, I can see it. They simply don’t tailor their program to clients in different situations enough to totally meet the needs of some in the extremes, which I clearly am. I don’t think I’d argue for one minute that I’m better off doing weights predominantly then I was in the circuit training. It’s not solely about losing weight, it’s about doing it smartly this time.

With the focus on resistance training I’m curious to see how things progress compared to last time. I suspect I’m far stronger now then was at a similar size the first time. That seems logical given the different styles of exercise. The trade-off is probably endurance at this point. I took a lot of progress photos back then. I don’t have them for the whole journey, but rather for a couple periods of the journey.

Thanks for the feedback!

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Got any pictures of yourself?

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Current? Previous before/after comparisons?

I can certainly post whatever. I have a video of my first time hitting 4 plates DL a while back, let me figure out how to blur the face and I’ll post that. Good form check too.

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@wanna_be

Here is a video of my first time lifting 425. This was several weeks back, so I was probably 417-420 at the time of filming.

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you know what else takes away from time with your family? Dying 30 years too young because your obesity caused a heart attack/stroke/diabetic complications/etc.

My family comes first too. I have a 4 year old son. I have a family. I own and run a manufacturing company. I compete as an extremely high level amateur strongman and powerlifter. And I’ve somehow managed not to weigh 300+ lbs while doing that. Turns out, most people don’t. You’re making excuses. I just can’t understand how your reasoning has led you to believe that getting under 300 lbs requires some sort of obscene time commitment or sacrifice. Getting yourself to a reasonable bodyweight (250 or less) will be of great benefit to your own health, and what you can provide in terms of time and energy to your family. There is no downside to becoming healthier. None.

So, with all that being said, what, specifically, is the issue you’re having with being healthier that takes away from family time? There are very efficient ways to meal prep if that’s part of your issue with losing weight. I do most of my cooking for the week on a day where I set aside about an hour to get everything done. If you’re smart about it, it should take less time than eating poorly. My own time commitment in the gym is less than 5 hours per week. I have to believe you have that much time available. Your family, specifically your wife, should understand that adding years to your life makes such a minimal time commitment worthwhile, don’t ya think?

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@flipcollar

I’m curious if you missed the part where I’m already losing weight while adding muscle? It seems you have.

I apologize if an overall body weight drop of 1.5-2lbs a week, after muscle building, isn’t enough for you. I apologize if the 7+ hours of gym time at more than 8000 calories extra burned per week isn’t enough for you.

Hopefully you’ll get past the disappointment.

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you’re welcome to get bent out of shape. But that’s not the part I was talking about. The part that concerns me is where you said this:

It’s self defeating, for no reason. My criticism in my post is specifically directed at the notion that you believe there’s something about getting your bodyweight lower than 280 that is somehow not sustainable, and would interrupt your family life in some meaningful way.

I refrained from criticizing your diet previously, but I think I need to address that at this point. Your body will adapt to whatever you do with it, whatever you feed it. That’s going to become a huge problem if you’re legitimately eating less than 2500 calories per day at 400 lbs. Progress always stalls. What are you going to do when it does? Eat even less? What happens when you’re down to 320 lbs, at 1700 calories a day? Gonna drop it to 1400? Are you gonna dedicate even MORE time to the gym?

If you want to make real, sustainable progress this time around, I highly recommend adjusting your diet significantly. You HAVE to make room to lower calories for when progress stalls. What you’re doing now is going to absolutely tank your metabolic rate, and you will regret it. I promise I’m trying to help.

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I don’t get bent out of shape, I promise. Grew out of that phase long ago, thankfully. I can tell your goal is helpful, so no worries.

Regarding weighing less than 280, you could very well be right. My intent was to express my skepticism based upon previous experience. When I was 300 my body fat was in the health range, for what it is worth. Ultimately, healthy is my goal. Could it have bee. Better? Sure! 15 is better than 18. So perhaps you’re right. I’m certainly no self-defeatist, so if that came across than I’ll take the blame and chalk it up to poor communication.

In any event, that specific reality is over 120 pounds in the future and not of bear immediate concern. We can debate that, with more relevance, next summer.

As far as refraining to criticize, please don’t refrain. That’s the reason I posted. Not specifically regarding diet, but I’m here for help and I value all opinions. I read and consider everything and take offense to nothing. So please, don’t hold back.

Your contention is plateaus will come. I agree. I’ve suffered, and broken them, before. The last time it happened I believe the largest factor in breaking it was increasing intake for a spell. I won’t drop below 1800 calories, so no worries there. A change in workout style and increase in calories is what I’ve done, on a “season” basis. It’s worked before and will try it again as needed.

Further, you think my metabolic rate is down, or soon will be. I absolutely accept that possibility. No head in the sand. However, at this time, there is no objective sign that this has occurred. It’s easy enough to familiarize oneself with the common symptoms of adaptive thermogenesis and to watch for them. We are talking stalled weight loss, lethargy, constipation, degraded mood, hair loss, feeling cold (apparently), and persistent lack of hunger to name the quickly found ones from my previous reading. I’m not currently experiencing any of these.

Further, research shows some things that help fight the onslaught of “starvation thermogenesis”, such as adequate protein intake and regular, metabolically challenging resistance training. I was already lifting at moderate to heavy levels 3 times a week. Additionally, the “complex” style workout I did yesterday is mentioned in the same breath as warding off adaptive thermogenesis. That’s great news as I loved yesterday’s ass kicker and I am MORE than happy to replace treadmill or pool time with a complex.

In any event, it’s not a mysterious process, it is something that I can watch out for and respond to. However, as long as weight continues to fall, BF% continues to fall, and strength continues to increase, I don’t see need to change.

Yet. I’m sure the time will come. Hopefully that makes sense.

20

yes there is. the fact that you’re eating 2000 calories at 400 lbs, you’re very active, and you’re only losing 1-2 lbs a week tells me your metabolism is extremely slow. I weigh 200 lbs, I’m probably not as active as you, and I require about 3500 calories a day just to maintain my weight. I could lose 1-2 lbs a week at over 2500 calories a day. So to summarize, you’re double my weight, and yet I can lose the same amount of weight per week at a HIGHER caloric intake.

For another reference, I have a friend who is currently dieting down from 400 lbs as well. He’s losing weight at a similar rate to you at about 4000 calories per day. Which is awesome, because once he stalls in his weight loss, he can just decrease his caloric intake by 200-250 calories a day, and get back on track. He’ll be able to do this over and over again, rather than having to just increase cardio and activity indefinitely.

I’m telling you man, that’s a problem. I’m honestly hoping you’re just vastly underestimating the calories you’re consuming.

I believe I’ve conveyed my message adequately. I hope you check back in and let us know how the process goes for you. I’m very interested to see how effective your strategy will be, and for how long. If you remember to, I’d appreciate you tagging me in future weight loss updates :slight_smile: If your strategy does end up being successful in the longterm, I’d like to know.

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