Reader Tyler started 344pounds.com to document his weight loss journey. We’ve checked in with him before when he lost 32 and then 54.6 pounds. Now that he’s hit the hundred-pound-loss mark, Tyler wrote this feature for us to share his methods.
On January 15th, I weighed 344.2 pounds. As of July 8th, I weigh 243.8 pounds. I’ve lost 100.4 pounds in the last 6 months by eating moderately (portion control) and exercising. I’ve gone from a 4XLT shirt and size 48 pants to wearing XL and size 38 pants. I no longer have high blood pressure, sleep apnea, or back problems. Here’s how I did it.
Counting Calories
You need to use more calories than you bring in to lose weight – this creates a calorie deficit. Once you have created a deficit of 3,500 calories, you’ll lose 1 pound. Most “experts” advise that you should only lose a pound or so a week, which would require you to have a daily calorie deficit of 500 pounds.
I obviously didn’t heed this advice; I thought it was more dangerous to weigh 344 pounds than to lose an extra few pounds a month, but however much weight and how quickly you’d like to lose it is up to you.
To calculate a calorie deficit, you can find out how many calories you’re consuming by reading the nutritional labels found on all food packaging. Most restaurants also post nutritional information, but please know that these figures are believed to be drastically underestimated.
It’s a little bit harder to estimate the calories you’re using in your various daily activities. To get an idea on how many calories you’re burning, take a look at one of the many “calorie calculators” available on the web. It is said that the numbers presented by these calorie calculators are skewed a little, but you should still be able to use them as a rough guide as you start your weight loss program.
Physical Activity
I go to the gym at least 5 days a week. Not only do I go to the gym, but I also incorporate a lot of other physical activity into my life like basketball. It’s hard some days forcing myself to go to the gym, but it’s absolutely mandatory if you’re otherwise sedentary all day at an office job.
With that being said, the gym isn’t the only or even ideal option for physical activity. If you can burn calories on a daily basis by doing something that’s fun and social, like basketball, swimming, walking with the family, etc., you’ll be more likely to stick to it.
Any physical activity is good; just make sure you do it every single day. You can take days off of the gym, just don’t take days off from being active. Do something to elevate your heart rate daily.
Food & Diet
The thing I hated about past diets is that they’re all or nothing thing. Diets give you one cheat meal a week and the rest of the time it’s “no sugar” or “no carbs” or some other nonsense. I don’t want to pass up going out for pizza with the family on Friday nights for the rest of my life because of a diet. Diets are designed to restrict your life, which is why I didn’t lose 100 pounds on a diet. In fact, it was lost by eating cheeseburgers, fries, and bacon on a weekly basis – albeit in moderation. I do certainly try to eat more fruits, vegetables, and other healthy foods, but I know that it’s fine to eat what I want when I feel like it as long as I limit the portions and make sure I’m not gluttonous. If I do really want to loosen the belt so to speak one day, I’ll make sure I play a little longer on the basketball court or stay at the gym that night a few extra minutes to burn more calories than usual.
This plan worked for me and hopefully it’ll work to some extent for you!
- Tyler, 344pounds.com
PREVIOUSLY: Blogger Loses 54.6 Pounds In 10 Weeks
Losing 32lbs In 6 Weeks. Just 68 To Go
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In college I lost 110lbs in a year. Went from 275 to 165. I’m 180 now but thats cause I have an office job
The guy is right, think about stuff before you do it. You can be perfectly happy and lose weight. Go out to eat once or twice, but dont supersize and then get right back on the horse.
People who say I love food, or beer or whatever. I got totally hammered in college, once a week. When my friends went to get burritos, I went, once or twice. Just dont do it all the time.
congratulations to him. Losing 100 lbs in 24 weeks is actually on the OK side of the spectrum (most experts will say that up to 2.5 lbs a week is healthy weight loss), and he’s lucky he was young when he attempted this. The young male body when more than 100 lbs overweight is actually really READY to lose weight, so it should peel off fairly quickly. What’s going to suck is this next 100 lbs, because his fat is converting into muscle and his body is going to want to hang onto this bit because it feel safe.
1) Tyler’s site says he weighs 264 now – Tyler must be tall or carry weight well b/c I look more “overweight” and am only 230 – he looks like he is not that out of shape anymore at 264
2) Did anyone else notice that he looks really happy in all of his “fat” pictures and REALLY unhappy in his “skinny” pictures? Hmm…
@Dan W: He does look rather studly for someone who still has an extra 60 – 100 lbs to go. But SUPER-srsly in his after pics. On the other hand, the numbers we assign to “attractive” and “unattractive” are completely arbitrarily understood by the majority of society. Proof? Listen to college-age guys talk about the boobs on various celebrities. “Wow! Look! Those must be DD’s!” “Um…those are like, B’s…”
Great job. I’m essentially doing the same thing, but replace going to the gym with training for a marathon.
I will say, using a calorie counting app for the iphone is huge.
I’m trying to gain weight. If I don’t workout I lose weight. =( I’m 5’10” and I’m 155 pounds.
He looks so sad.
@Conrad: Yeah, it’s funny – I truly applaud the guy, and hope to have similar results in a few months, but the first thing I thought when I read the headline and saw the pics was, “Dude looked happier when he was fat.”
I was never “overweight”, but I had significant extra baggage and wasn’t happy with how I looked. I’ve lost 30 lbs in a year and have gained muscle. And I did the exact same thing. And while at my co-op I eat fast food every day! I just make sure to pick up a side salad and a smaller burger instead of a giant one with fries and coke. Portion control and exercise are magic.
I’m more energetic, feel better, more fit, and less like crap overall. It’s not hard and I didn’t spend any extra money on it, except for the iFitness application for my touch. Infact, from spending less on food due to portion control I’ve saved money! I spend no more than $3 at lunch now than the over $5 back when you ordered “value meals.”
“…which would require you to have a daily calorie deficit of 500 pounds.”
500 pounds? Per day? Really?
All joking aside, guys, pay me one of your teeny stipends and I will gladly be your new copy editor. This is getting ridiculous.
Good for him, Tyler is definitely an inspiration for me to keep losing weight. I am a full time college student that also works part time. I find it really hard to make time to exercise. I found that if I stop eating at fast food places and spending a little more time at home cooking healthy (not necessarily expensive) meals, I feel alot better.
My goal is to drop from 220 to 145, and now I feel a little more inspired and motivated to do it.
My stepfather is seriously wanting to lose weight, but he has knee problems that prevent him from running/biking. What activities can he do? This is important to me.
@Fist-oâ„¢: Swimming could be an option.
@Fist-oâ„¢: cross-trainers provide the walking movement without the stress to the knees from the constant stepping. Some places have a speed-skate machine, which is neat and changes up the pace a bit. Swimming and a Rowing machine are also possible options.
I lost 45 pounds over a similar time period (~6 months) without the exercise part. I cut out soda and just started eating less.
Then, the soda companies caught on…and started releasing crazy new things (e.g. Pepsi Throwback) that I had to try.
25 of those 45 pounds are back…but sometimes you have to do that for the cane. Cane sugar, that is.
Nice work bro! Keep it up!
Congrats to him. If I were a dude, I could probably do the same thing. As it is, I’ve been working out with a personal trainer for 2 months doing cardio and strength training, eating 1,500 calories a day and I haven’t lost an ounce. Not one. It’s so much easier for men.
@kimmer939: Don’t get discouraged. Women can do it. I’m doing it. In 5 weeks I’ve lost nearly 12lbs. I am working out with a personal trainer 3 times a week for an hour. I also go and do cardio the other 4 days a week, the eliptical for 35 mins. Not only have I lost weight but my body fat percentage is down nearly 6 percent. I actually eat less than calories. I’m eating about 1200 a day with a high quantity of good quality, lean protein. I take in very, very little fat, sugar (natural only), and carbs. And I love the food I eat! You can eat all sorts of flavorful, interesting foods still. I cook everything myself staying away from anything processed. Plus I have a health condition that makes it really hard for me to lose weight. Are you jumping rope during your training, doing steps? I find that weight training is not enough, you need to do polymetrics too. Good luck and don’t give up hope, we women can do it.
@kimmer939: don’t get discouraged (and don’t belittle his achievement)– stick with it!
I lost 35 pounds a few years ago using similar methods. Better yet, I have managed to keep it off without too much trouble. I took about 10 months to lose the weight. Not as dramatic as 100 pounds in 6 months, but I did go from a BMI of 33 to about 27 today and I feel much, much better.
Like Tyler, I knew a “diet” wouldn’t work. I still eat the same things I always did. I mostly just played around with portion sizes (I do a lot of cooking, so that was no problem). I might make myself a decadent burger, but it’s a 2oz patty served on a dinner roll, not a 1/3 pounder served on a bulkie. If we go out, I order something that will make good leftovers and eat half (literally pushing half the meal to the side of the plate). If we eat fast food, I order a kid’s meal. At no point in time did I feel deprived. I adopted a “I’ll have that next time” philosophy. If I had the big entree I’d skip dessert, telling myself that next time I can have dessert after a lighter entree or salad. I’ve got decades of eating multiple times per day ahead of me. If there’s something I want to eat, I’ll get to it – it’s just not a good idea to have it all today.
A funny thing happened after eating this way for a while: standard portion sizes for just about anyting look positively enormous to me – especially restaurant food. I don’t order burgers in a restaurant anymore – they don’t keep well and I am unable to finish them in one sitting.
My weight loss method, while similar to Tyler’s has a few differences, namely a little less exercise and a little more math. I have never been able to get my act together to the point where I’m exercising every day. About 3-4 times a week was the best I could ever do. The math part came from how I tracked my weight. I weighed myself every day and recorded it in a spreadsheet. Because your weight can bounce around, I used a 10-day moving average to smooth things out and allow me to see the weight coming off (or not) on a daily basis. My “true weight” on any given day was not what the scale told me that morning, but the average of what the scale told me for the last 10 weigh-ins. If you track it this way and your daily calorie deficit is about 500 calories, you will actually see your average weight drop by .14 pounds a day while your actual weigh-ins appear to be bouncing around like crazy.
Tracking daily really teaches you about your weaknesses. Mine were weekends and vacations (not a big surprise). Knowing this, I could make allowances (don’t eat out twice in the same weekend, plan vacation meals, figure out dinner plans before lunch in case you want to take it easy). After a while all this becomes second nature – I haven’t done the weight tracking thing for two years and my weight has been very stable.
This is what worked for me. I don’t expect it to work for everyone. Figure out your strengths and weaknesses, then come up with a way to eat less and exercise that uses your strengths while trying to avoid or at least acknowledging your weaknesses.
Good luck Tyler. This was a major accomplishment. I’d like nothing more than to hear a year from now that the weight is still off. Best of luck.
Good job Tyler. I haven’t lost as much weight as him, but I’m doing the same thing, increase my physical activity and decrease how much I eat. I’ve gone from my heaviest at 380lbs down to 290 in less than a year. Hopefully by my 26th Birthday I’ll be back to my highschool weight of 270.
What’s weird is EVERYBODY has noticed how much weight I’ve lost, my sister and mother were most shocked (since they don’t see me often). My best friend’s mom even made a comment when I was the best man at my friend’s wedding. She asked me when I was going to stop growing because I get taller everytime she sees me. I haven’t gotten any taller, just a little narrower.
I am going to write the worlds shortest heath/diet book and make millions as apparently not too many people know about this miracle weight loss system. It will just have a single page and in the center will say “Eat less, move more”.
Congrats on losing, just hope more people actually try this rather than sitting on the sofa while choking down a hundred HoHo’s for a “light snack.”
This is a great story! But is he, can he possibly, does he dare, imply that he gained weight by simply eating a lot? Nice to see someone sticking to the common-sense approach of eating less and exercising.
I started at 384. Down to 250 now, and I hope to take that down to 180.
I eat *everything*. And drink beer. But I also burn a million bajillion calories a week by riding my bike and going to the gym and swimming.
Eat less than you burn. It’s a simple, easy formula that requires people to take responsibility and actually get off the couch. No wonder people don’t want to hear it.
As soon as he stops working out the weight will start to return. As he ages it will quicken till he will be back to where he was in January or even larger. I mean, how long does he think he can do this?
@savdavid: Uhh, forever? That’s the point, isn’t it? You make exercise a permanent part of your life, you reap the benefits. Certainly you’re right that if he were to stop working out, he’d gain weight. But my guess is that he realizes this.
I admittedly did not read any of the site. I did do a quick search and found no mention of McDonalds. Hear that fat people?
@icantreplyright: Troll harder. I’m fat, yet haven’t been to McDonald’s in at least five years.
I lost 28 lbs in two weeks-but I was in ICU. Not much chance of marketing that diet either…
You’re right, Tyler! Keep it up!
That’s all I’ve been doing for the last 6 weeks. Results? I’ve lost about 15 pounds. I’m at 210 going for 190. My cholesterol fell from the low 200′s with drugs to the middle range of normal.
I go to the gym 5 days a week on a “two days on/one day off” schedule, one hour per session using lots of treadmill and elliptical time with occasional strength exercising on the machines. I read books while on the machines where practical.
I eat plenty of vegetables, fruit and salads. Normal, measured portion sizes otherwise. I drink flavored waters (diet) instead of sodas. Luckily for me, I don’t have much of a sweet tooth. I eat some carbs, but not like I used to. I’m finding that the more I turn down the “daily donut,” the easier it gets for me. I also have found that keeping myself active and busy helps take my mind off the diet. JP has a good idea, providing you make sure your arms and wrists are straight to prevent RSI’s.
For many of us, dieting and watching our calorie intake is a permanent lifestyle change. The benefits are undeniable. I hate exercising, but I hate being overweight and feeling vaguely ill more. Change is always hard – but if you don’t change, you don’t live and grow.
See you in the gym!
P.S. If your dog is fat, you more than likely are, too!
Good for you, Tyler – for doing it, and for sharing your story. Keep up the good work!
One nitpicky point: At the end of the second paragraph, the post says “which would require you to have a daily calorie deficit of 500 pounds”. That should probably be “calories” instead of “pounds,” I’m thinking. Or you’ve got *really* high goals!
A year ago almost to the day, I was tipping the scales at 200 lbs. On my (diminutive) 5′ 4″ male frame, I was a certifiable fatass. I was active (ice hockey 1-2x a week, 120-minute tennis sessions 1x a week), but I estimate now that I was taking in almost 5000 calories a day. At the age of 21, I was developing chest pains and had bloody noses almost daily from the sharp increase in blood pressure.
After waking up to reality, I knew it was time for a change. I started small, substituting meal replacement bars for 1-2 meals per day, which cut my caloric intake to around 1700. Walking to classes during my senior year of college, more hockey, and discovering beach volleyball gave me a good boost of daily physical activity.
I started building upper-body muscle using the Iron Gym (because pull-up bars are a pain in the ass…this substitutes nicely…ignore stupid weekly claims about weight loss, the Iron Gym is perfect for what it is…a pull-up bar)
9 months later, I weighed in at 135 lbs, a total loss of 65 lbs. Ive gone up to 138 steady since then (April…it now being July)by virtue of keeping up with and occasionally intensifying my lifting regimen and laying off the calories. I’m STILL losing fat and gaining muscle. I’m buying all small and extra-small shirts. I’m a 29 waist down from 36.
It’s amazing what losing 33% of your body mass will do for your health. No more nosebleeds…BP is a steady 115/75. Resting heartrate is 55-60 bpm. Stamina in endurance sports (hockey, tennis) has increased more than I ever could have imagined. Attitude and self-confidence have completely turned around.
Good on ya, Tyler. The strategy more than works. It’s not just for weight loss, it’s the way to live well. “Nothing tastes as good as being fit and healthy feels.”
and it will lighten your hair and cut it, too!!
This story has absolutely nothing to do with consumerism.
Good for you buddy. I suspect you will eventually have to cut out the burgers/fries almost completely as the weight will be harder and harder to fall off. I hate excercising for the sake of excercise (I enjoy playing sports) and I’ve gone from 245 to 198 in 4 months just by eating very healthy. I’ve also discovered a lot of delicious healthy meals. I’m 6’3″ so I only have about 10-15 lbs to go to hit ideal weight.
A job well done!
He is really hot now. Thumbs up.
Wow awesome for him! I’m a big fan of long distance hiking and biking but I’ve never really been able to get excited or motivated about any other form of exercise…I’ve got to find something to do this winter though.