DP, your transformation is incredible and has been a source of inspiration for me. I was just wondering a couple things, if you don't mind me asking. Do you still feel like you're at your heavier weight? By that, I mean, when you look at yourself in the mirror, is it difficult to understand the person looking back is you? I'm just wondering because a lot of people who lose a ton of weight sometimes still imagine themselves being their heavier weight. Even having lost only 53lbs, I find I do things like sit too far away from tables now.
The other thing I wanted to ask is about loose skin. I know it's different for everyone, but have you had much of a problem with it? Did you lean out before you started building muscle? And if you had loose skin and toned it up, how long did it take?
Sorry if I'm being nosy... I've just had these ideas bouncing around in my head and needed to get them out.
Hey JD... I never mind discussing anything about this. Like I said earlier, I am obsessed
As far as the heavy thing goes, yes, I look in the mirror and just see a big old fatty, or assume I won't fit into certain clothes because of how small they look. This was pretty much ALL the time, but lately, I will say things are getting different mentally... around the 75-80 lb mark, it became less and less mentally depressing (just because you want it to happen all so quickly and you want to see progress progress progress and instant change). However, now it's a matter of my arms look too small or my stomach is still flabby (which I am working on currently). But, yeah around 50 lbs I was in a real bad place and thought I was still close to 300 lbs.
As far as the loose skin goes.... this is just a gray area no matter how you slice it. I've gone through the emotional stages of this thing about 7 times over too. So, it all depends on a few things like you already know... first off, age and genetics are the best factors for "snap back", younger you are, more elasticity your skin has, I am 28 and in the "danger" zone of not being able to bounce back better than early 20 year olds (not to say being in your early 20's = snap back either, so now you see why it's such a gray area). Genetics too plays a crucial part in terms of collagen and other cells that help "repair" damaged or stretched skin. Creams like cocoa butter are not proven or effective but people will swear by them. I currently have a decent amount of loose skin... nothing to be disgusted over but nothing to be entirely confident over either. I used to think it was ALL loose skin, but realized, if I can pinch INCHES than there is some FAT sitting in those folds, so the last few weeks I have been focused on losing BF (the topic currently at hand within the thread) and maintaining lean muscle mass. Sure enough, with a clean diet I've managed to shed about 4 lbs in two weeks along with 2% BF which as Ali and Steve can tell you, marked an improvement in my loose skin area. Nowhere near tight now, but the "hang" as I like to call it... has definitely decreased some. There are days when I wake up that I can see my six pack (it feels weird to even type that out). So, I am not currently building muscle, just reshaping what I already have and making sure I don't lose any while on a caloric deficit. After my wedding in July, I plan to go onto a Clean Bulk diet, which actually puts me at more calories than my maintenance level, but I will change my lifting routine to add more muscle than fat (adding fat is pretty much going to happen while in a bulk, but doing it clean via unprocessed foods and avoiding the junk foods will minimize fat gains).
Wow... What a fucking rant! Sorry...
Hope somewhere in there I answered a question... or something.
