Advice for a Former Fat Boy 420lbs Now 215lbs

Long story short tired of being weak and wondering if I can add some muscle to help with skin issues before a possible surgery wanting to find out if I should attempt a leaner bulk this winter season. I was a former fat boy and by that I mean I was massive 420 lbs about two years ago currently I hover around 215 lbs I stand 6’2 and from what I understand from measuring of wrist, neck, chest, and legs I have a “larger” frame. Trying to get down to 200lbs before I would attempt to lean bulk a goal that his been rather evasive as of late.

Most of the advice I have read talks about the skinny guy that can’t gain one ounce after eating 6000 calories or the guy that dropped 50lbs and is now ready to bulk up. Do to skin issues and old fat cells that won’t go away getting a proper BF% is somewhat difficult but if I was to guess I would say between 12-15%.

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Think you’ve got the award for most weight loss on this forum man lel.

Skinny dude who can’t gain mass on 6000cal is missing one thing: Consistency. One day on one day off gets you nowhere except stuck in the same place.

In the end it’s calories in vs out day after day after day. Everyday you have that deficit is a step in a right direction everyday you overeat is a step backwards. As long as you are moving forward its only a matter of time.

If your question is should you lean bulk… Yes no sense trying to drive up the scale up it’s loads of fat. Muscle only gets put on so fast extra calories and weight gain beyond this rate will be fat.

If you have a decent amount of adipose tissue on you and are relatively inexperienced in terms of lifting, returning from a lengthy break from training or using PEDs I think it’s entirely possible to gain muscle and strength even while losing weight. Train like you want to make gains even if the amount of gains will be less while you’re losing weight no sense it waiting.

Congratulations on the weight loss, unbelievable figures!

're a “clean bulk”, personally i would focus more on learning movements (I took it that you’re a relative been in terms of weight training, forgive me if i misread!), building some strength/confidence and eating good clean food consistently. You’re likely to make gains in muscle as a if you’re a newb but given your past size, I’d be hesitant to push much above maintenance for the time being until the skin issue is sorted.

I’m sure those with more insight / knowledge than me will be able to chime in too. Good luck!

I’d Forget about the term “bulking” and instead think of adding muscle. Building new muscle doesn’t require a ton of calories and the best thing you can do is learn how to give your body what it needs to support your goals rather than just blindly using an outdated approach that always left BBers having to lose most of their “gains” because it was just fat anyway.

Congrats on the big loss and continuing forward!

S

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I was probably to vague in my first post for that I apologize. I guess i was able to stay some what decently strong and keep muscle mass as I dropped weight. The big compound lifts that most articles I read is what I did for lifting with some extra back work because I had a bad slouch forward I would guess do to my 400 pound plus gut. At my current weight my best x5 lifts are Squat 315, Deadlift 425, over head press 140, and bench 225. As you can tell my upper body is really lagging behind my lower so I was trying to figure out if it would even be a smart idea to try and add some muscle and strength once I hit my goal of weighting 200lbs. I’ve just read some information that once you’re fat like I was the body is more likely to gain fat over muscle do to it having empty fat cells just waiting to be filled back up and that no one wants.

Dude, congratulations on the transformation! So, you’re not new to training and you’re not new to nutrition, but you ARE new to gaining clean and lean weight. That makes things a bit simpler, in some regards.

When you do get down to your goal weight (always hit a goal if you have it and are able to hit it!), you don’t need to ‘bulk’ (aka eat a shit ton of extra calories). Think about it like this: You’ve been in a caloric deficit for a long time now (I’m assuming). Thus, any increase in calories will help to add weight because your body is used to a certain amount of intake.

My opinion is to do a reverse dieting schema. When you’re ready to add size, just add 100-200 calories a day for 7-10 days. After you’ve been in that increase for a week or so, add another bump, and so on and so forth. In such a fashion, your body should be able to adjust and process rather than hoard all the excess. I’m not sure how long you can continue that caloric increase process, but your body should tell you when it has had enough and stops processing what you give it…and that’s your cue to pull back on the food again.

Good luck, brother!

where would you suggest the calories come from as I look into this reverse diet? Currently I am doing a a style of Keto where on Sundays for me I eat higher carbs usually around 200g then the the other 6 days only 50g. The rest is protein around 150g and fat around 130g comes out to 2000-2100 Cals a day.

If reverse dieting, and I’m sure you’ll get some conflicting opinions, but because you’ve been Keto for a while, you might wanna tAke some time reintroducing carbs (maybe add in 50g each week until you’ve got a stable “bseline” amount) while keeping Total calories similar. After a few weeks you can maybe bump cals a bit on training days and see how you respond.

S

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I know carbs will add some instant weight to the scale do to water and glycogen what would be an acceptable initial gain in weight 5-10 lbs?

Weigh yourself everyday, pay attention to your lowest reading each week, and I’d pretty much ignore whtevrr odd figures you get that first week…

Acceptable water? A few pounds, not ten.

S

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@The_Mighty_Stu is so much more knowledgeable about this than I am. I would simply advise you exactly the same way Stu did: Add carbs back in slowly and watch the mirror and your scale weight to see how your body reacts to the change in diet.

I was going to suggest introducing 10-25g of carbs per day (and then keep that daily total the same for 7-10 days) without increasing your total calories (so maybe decrease fat). However, I like Stu’s more cautionary advice a bit better than my own:

Sorry for the delay I never saw a reply. I added some photos to show what where I am at body comp wise and maybe it could help with more information or to see if I should still be trying reduce my body fat. Warning fat guy photos… As for the the carbs would you suggest just adding in more vegetables or maybe adding in a more dense carb source such as oats or potatoes?

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Staggering weight loss. Just astonishing.

Very well done to you.

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Epic transformation, great job!

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Unbelievable transformation, well done sir!

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Thanks for the encouragement do you all believe I am good to go for a lean building muscle phase this winter or should I try to cut some more first?

Train for muscle gains, and eat to support them (while not eating excess!) and you’ll be fine!

S

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Excellent transformation! I’m a bit biased towards keto so my suggestion would be to stick with that approach, after all you’ve achieved a shit load of progress using it. I would move to a targeted keto diet in order to get the ‘best of both worlds’ outcome. As a former ffb myself, I will say you need to be mindful of carbs long term. There is also some research showing folks on keto diets can regain fat back extremely quickly when even moderate carbs are reintroduced. Not trying to put you off mate, just my own views on a subject I believe I have well-researched.

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Absolutely amazing transformation. Well done!

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I’ve read that about carbs and regain of fat also and that once your body is fat it will easily get fat again do to the old fat cells still being in the body just waiting to filled back up. When it comes to carbs I would guess it would be best to do the majority of them during the time frame prior to and right after working out? Also with the TKD I am a little confused is it higher carbs only on lifting days or only 2 or 3 days a week I ask because I try to lift 4 times a week currently.