Hello everyone! I'm hoping I can help motivate people while also helping others by explaining what I have done to go from 495 pounds down to 195. I'll post a pic from when I was 27 years old and 430 (I don't have any when I was 495 because I refused to take pictures, even for tracking progress) and for my "after" picture, instead of showing a picture I'll post a video from a few weeks ago (32 years old, been at this weight for about a year now) so you can see what the skin can be like after dropping a large amount of weight since I'm sure that's what some are curious about. I'll break this up into three parts - Diet, exercise, and mindset.
"Diet"
I put that in quotations because when you are doing it right, it doesn't feel like a diet. There are three keys to losing weight when it comes to your food. First is calories, second is sodium, and third is water.
Calories
With so much information out there and dieting being a multi billion dollar industry, there is always a new diet and to be honest, it's confusing. We hear things like we should have low carbs, low fat, only eat fresh fruit, only drink your meals, or that there are super foods you should eat. Well truth be told, none of that really matters and it truly does come down to calories. But the question is, how many calories should you eat? This is where many people go wrong because it all depends on where you are at. We hear things like, "Eat 1500 calories a day and you'll lose weight" but that really only applies to people that like 180 pounds. Did you know that if you weigh 400 pounds and eat 1500 calories you will actually be starving your body and it will stop you from losing weight because your body goes into starvation mode? So what you want to do is calculate how much your body burns a day so you need an equation. Luckily, there is such an equation and it's called the Harris-Benedict Equation.
So use this formula to see how many your body is burning. Once you figure this out, you want to set your calories so that you will lose about 1.5 pounds a week. I know this isn't a get skinny quick amount, but it's actually the best way to go about it or you will feel like you are starving yourself and you are on a diet. This is something you definitely want to avoid. To figure this out, find out your daily calorie amount, multiply it by 7 (7 days in a week), subtract 5,250 from that, and then divide it by 7. This will tell you how much to eat each day.
Anyway, from here you have to decide what to eat. Don't worry about the amount of carbs or fat, just look at the calories. For example, my typical dinner consists of ~1100 calories, ~40g fat, ~120 carbs, and I still manage to lose weight. (Food is typically chicken, brown rice, and veggies. Super easy to cook if you have a rice cooker - just cook up a bunch of chicken then each night when making dinner throw in the rice, frozen veggies, and chicken into the rice cooker and it's done in a bit over an hour).
Basically what I'm getting at, is you can still eat the foods you would normally eat - but you have to control the amount you take in.
One final word on calories. It doesn't matter whether you have a deficit of 3500 in a week, a month, or a year. If there is a deficit of 3500, you'll lose a pound.
Sodium
This is actually a very important aspect to losing weight - almost more important than calories! I want to make this very clear. If you are eating a lot of sodium you WILL NOT lose weight. There were times during my journey when I was doing everything right. I was watching calories, exercising, and all those other things but I just wasn't losing weight. After a couple months of not losing I figured I had plateaud and thought I was going to be stuck at some arbitrary number. What happened though, is my brother asked how much sodium I was eating and I told him it was like 4000 mg/day sometimes more (I never thought about it before that) and he told me to take it down some. So I cut it down to be between 2000-2500 and once I did, the weight started coming off again.
Sodium causes your body to hold onto fluid (notice I'm not just saying water). This fluid gets stored in your tissues and it weighs you down and also promotes the production of fat. That nasty combination prevents you from losing weight. So if you are someone that is doing everything right and not losing weight, take a look at the sodium. Low/no fat foods and low calorie foods like soup are loaded with sodium - so check it out, you may be surprised just how much sodium you are taking in.
Water
We all know this, but I'll say it anyway. You need to drink a lot of water. Water helps get rid of that fluid that I talked about in the sodium section and helps get rid of the bad toxins in your body. Once again, you need to ask how much you need to drink and just like the calories, there is a way to figure that out. The idea of 8 glasses a day is actually wrong, especially if you have excess weight. To calculate it go to
You may find you have a huge amount of water to drink each day. So a big tip I give is make sure you drink a giant cup of water with every meal you eat. I have a 64 oz cup from a gas station that I fill up with every meal I eat. What's good is it not only helps me get my water for the day, but also reduces the amount I eat.
Exercise
Figuring out exercise can be hard and it really comes down to what your body can do. When I started I literally got out of breath from getting off the couch, walking 20 feet to go pee, and then walking back. So obviously there wasn't a whole lot I could do. So I started off with just walking around the apartment building a few times. Then I moved on to walking a certain distance and slowly increased the distance. I tried jogging, but it turns out I hate jogging and running. So to get a better workout I turned to exercise videos. I started with tae-bo basic for a while then moved up the videos. From there I switched to "Insanity" for a while, after that T25, and now I do "Insanity Max 30". Keep in mind, this was over a period of a few years. So when you find what you are doing is getting easy, find a way to make it harder.
Also, remember it's not about how long you exercise during your workout, but instead it's the intensity. Let me give you an example (true story). Despite my disdain for going to gyms, my friend asked me to go with him a few months back. While there we decided to go on the elliptical because I had never used one before. We both did it for 30 minutes and he was using the 2nd level of resistance and I was using max resistance. He was averaging 70 RPM and I was averaging 95. By the end of the 30 mins, according to the machine he had burned 300 calories. I on the other hand burned 675. So it was the same amount of time, but the increased intensity made a huge difference. Always keep that in mind when figuring out your exercise.
Mindset
Mindset actually plays a huge role in losing weight. If you are negative about it, you are going to fail. Always remember this saying - it's something I heard one time and once I heard it, I use this for everything I do, especially if it's hard. "No matter how difficult something is, there has always been someone at some point that was in the same situation I'm in and they completed it. As a result, there is no reason I cannot do the same." It's a good saying because it's basically true. While everyone is unique, chances are there has been someone facing the same thing as you with the same circumstances and they got through the hard times. You can use this as motivation to get through whatever difficult thing you are doing - Nothing is impossible -
Important thing to keep in mind
Chances are, at some point you are going to blow your diet and pig out for an extended time and put on a large amount of weight. When this happens, do NOT let it prevent you from getting back on track. It's a blow your self perception when this happens and destroys your motivation to get back on track. But you have to remember, it doesn't mean you should give up and just starting eating 5000 calories every day.
When I know something is coming up like a vacation or holiday I actually prepare myself because I know for a fact I am going to put on weight. When these things come up I eat anything and everything and eat till I can't move. I also drink a good amount of beer and I literally expect to put on an average of 3 pounds a day. When I am on a one week vacation it's typical for me to put on an average of 15 pounds during that time. While afterwards I feel super fat and feel like crap, I just go back to eating like I was before the vacation and the weight actually comes off within 2-3 weeks. So remember, it's not the end of the world when this happens, just calm yourself - tell yourself you can just do what you doing before and you'll be fine.
Closing
Well that's pretty much it. I hope people can read this and get motivated or use some of the tips to help them lose weight. Losing weight can change many things in your life including not only how others view you, but more important is how you feel about yourself. When you can go outside and play with your kids or do some activity with friends and not be hindered by your weight, it truly amplifies the joy you get out of life. With that said, I wish everyone good luck and hope everyone does well on their journey.
Me at 430 pounds.
Me today. (best if viewed in 720p quality, i think the default is 300)
"Diet"
I put that in quotations because when you are doing it right, it doesn't feel like a diet. There are three keys to losing weight when it comes to your food. First is calories, second is sodium, and third is water.
Calories
With so much information out there and dieting being a multi billion dollar industry, there is always a new diet and to be honest, it's confusing. We hear things like we should have low carbs, low fat, only eat fresh fruit, only drink your meals, or that there are super foods you should eat. Well truth be told, none of that really matters and it truly does come down to calories. But the question is, how many calories should you eat? This is where many people go wrong because it all depends on where you are at. We hear things like, "Eat 1500 calories a day and you'll lose weight" but that really only applies to people that like 180 pounds. Did you know that if you weigh 400 pounds and eat 1500 calories you will actually be starving your body and it will stop you from losing weight because your body goes into starvation mode? So what you want to do is calculate how much your body burns a day so you need an equation. Luckily, there is such an equation and it's called the Harris-Benedict Equation.
So use this formula to see how many your body is burning. Once you figure this out, you want to set your calories so that you will lose about 1.5 pounds a week. I know this isn't a get skinny quick amount, but it's actually the best way to go about it or you will feel like you are starving yourself and you are on a diet. This is something you definitely want to avoid. To figure this out, find out your daily calorie amount, multiply it by 7 (7 days in a week), subtract 5,250 from that, and then divide it by 7. This will tell you how much to eat each day.
Anyway, from here you have to decide what to eat. Don't worry about the amount of carbs or fat, just look at the calories. For example, my typical dinner consists of ~1100 calories, ~40g fat, ~120 carbs, and I still manage to lose weight. (Food is typically chicken, brown rice, and veggies. Super easy to cook if you have a rice cooker - just cook up a bunch of chicken then each night when making dinner throw in the rice, frozen veggies, and chicken into the rice cooker and it's done in a bit over an hour).
Basically what I'm getting at, is you can still eat the foods you would normally eat - but you have to control the amount you take in.
One final word on calories. It doesn't matter whether you have a deficit of 3500 in a week, a month, or a year. If there is a deficit of 3500, you'll lose a pound.
Sodium
This is actually a very important aspect to losing weight - almost more important than calories! I want to make this very clear. If you are eating a lot of sodium you WILL NOT lose weight. There were times during my journey when I was doing everything right. I was watching calories, exercising, and all those other things but I just wasn't losing weight. After a couple months of not losing I figured I had plateaud and thought I was going to be stuck at some arbitrary number. What happened though, is my brother asked how much sodium I was eating and I told him it was like 4000 mg/day sometimes more (I never thought about it before that) and he told me to take it down some. So I cut it down to be between 2000-2500 and once I did, the weight started coming off again.
Sodium causes your body to hold onto fluid (notice I'm not just saying water). This fluid gets stored in your tissues and it weighs you down and also promotes the production of fat. That nasty combination prevents you from losing weight. So if you are someone that is doing everything right and not losing weight, take a look at the sodium. Low/no fat foods and low calorie foods like soup are loaded with sodium - so check it out, you may be surprised just how much sodium you are taking in.
Water
We all know this, but I'll say it anyway. You need to drink a lot of water. Water helps get rid of that fluid that I talked about in the sodium section and helps get rid of the bad toxins in your body. Once again, you need to ask how much you need to drink and just like the calories, there is a way to figure that out. The idea of 8 glasses a day is actually wrong, especially if you have excess weight. To calculate it go to
You may find you have a huge amount of water to drink each day. So a big tip I give is make sure you drink a giant cup of water with every meal you eat. I have a 64 oz cup from a gas station that I fill up with every meal I eat. What's good is it not only helps me get my water for the day, but also reduces the amount I eat.
Exercise
Figuring out exercise can be hard and it really comes down to what your body can do. When I started I literally got out of breath from getting off the couch, walking 20 feet to go pee, and then walking back. So obviously there wasn't a whole lot I could do. So I started off with just walking around the apartment building a few times. Then I moved on to walking a certain distance and slowly increased the distance. I tried jogging, but it turns out I hate jogging and running. So to get a better workout I turned to exercise videos. I started with tae-bo basic for a while then moved up the videos. From there I switched to "Insanity" for a while, after that T25, and now I do "Insanity Max 30". Keep in mind, this was over a period of a few years. So when you find what you are doing is getting easy, find a way to make it harder.
Also, remember it's not about how long you exercise during your workout, but instead it's the intensity. Let me give you an example (true story). Despite my disdain for going to gyms, my friend asked me to go with him a few months back. While there we decided to go on the elliptical because I had never used one before. We both did it for 30 minutes and he was using the 2nd level of resistance and I was using max resistance. He was averaging 70 RPM and I was averaging 95. By the end of the 30 mins, according to the machine he had burned 300 calories. I on the other hand burned 675. So it was the same amount of time, but the increased intensity made a huge difference. Always keep that in mind when figuring out your exercise.
Mindset
Mindset actually plays a huge role in losing weight. If you are negative about it, you are going to fail. Always remember this saying - it's something I heard one time and once I heard it, I use this for everything I do, especially if it's hard. "No matter how difficult something is, there has always been someone at some point that was in the same situation I'm in and they completed it. As a result, there is no reason I cannot do the same." It's a good saying because it's basically true. While everyone is unique, chances are there has been someone facing the same thing as you with the same circumstances and they got through the hard times. You can use this as motivation to get through whatever difficult thing you are doing - Nothing is impossible -
Important thing to keep in mind
Chances are, at some point you are going to blow your diet and pig out for an extended time and put on a large amount of weight. When this happens, do NOT let it prevent you from getting back on track. It's a blow your self perception when this happens and destroys your motivation to get back on track. But you have to remember, it doesn't mean you should give up and just starting eating 5000 calories every day.
When I know something is coming up like a vacation or holiday I actually prepare myself because I know for a fact I am going to put on weight. When these things come up I eat anything and everything and eat till I can't move. I also drink a good amount of beer and I literally expect to put on an average of 3 pounds a day. When I am on a one week vacation it's typical for me to put on an average of 15 pounds during that time. While afterwards I feel super fat and feel like crap, I just go back to eating like I was before the vacation and the weight actually comes off within 2-3 weeks. So remember, it's not the end of the world when this happens, just calm yourself - tell yourself you can just do what you doing before and you'll be fine.
Closing
Well that's pretty much it. I hope people can read this and get motivated or use some of the tips to help them lose weight. Losing weight can change many things in your life including not only how others view you, but more important is how you feel about yourself. When you can go outside and play with your kids or do some activity with friends and not be hindered by your weight, it truly amplifies the joy you get out of life. With that said, I wish everyone good luck and hope everyone does well on their journey.
Me at 430 pounds.
Me today. (best if viewed in 720p quality, i think the default is 300)
