Losing Weight

I have a friend in his 40s who has had trouble with his weight. Hes 5'10 and weighs 360. His blood pressure was normal 6 months ago before he blew out his knee. He was going to have lap band surgery but now he is unable to because of his blood pressure. He also may have an enlarged heart.

So I have been trying to motivate him to get in the gym. I was wondering if anyone knew of any supps to help with him losing weight that is safe. I finally got him to get a gym membership and he is going to start hitting the cardio machines. Anyways any insight would be appreciated.

Supplements won't make him lose weight. They're about 5% of the equation. Probably less. The right diet and exercise program will help him lose weight.

He'll get a lot of conflicting informations in here. Some will advocate following Ray Peat. Some will advocate Paleo.

I lost about 90 pounds now since I first found this forum. I've kept it off. The key for me was changing my diet and the way I exercised. Give him a book like 4 Hour Body by Tim Ferris or Mark Sisson's Primal Blueprint. Both of those will tell him how he should be eating and exercising. They also have recommendations for supplements. Also look up Jack Kruse and his guidelines for people who are Leptin resistant which your friend most probably is.

The supp's IH recommends that are helpful with weight loss are Alpha Lipoic Acid/Acetyl L-Carnitine with meals. I would add a Berberine supplement with each meal if he is insulin resistant which he most likely is. I would also add a Green Tea supplement. Basically, everything in the IH top 6 line will help with weight loss, but taking fist fulls of pills a day isn't going to make him lose weight. It's how he eats and exercises.

At the very least, you have to tell him to stop drinking his calories. He needs to drink water, seltzer w/o artificial sweeteners, coffee, green tea, etc. No diet soda. I had a 2 liter a day habit of Diet Pepsi and couldn't figure out why I couldn't lose weight. When I dropped it, the weight started to come off. Artificial sweeteners make the insulin resistant body react like they just had sugar. Only stevia should be used as a sweetener and xylitol.

The way out of this involves high protein, low carbs and the right kind of fats. Avocado's, coconut oil, Kerrygold butter, nuts. He should be eating at least a pound of wild salmon a week. Maybe more. He needs to drop bread and basically gluten as those are trigger foods that spike his insulin and make him want to eat more. Eating high protein and fat with low carbs will keep him full. I used to eat 5-6 small meals a day w/no progress. Since changing my diet like I have I eat 2 meals a day and I'm full. I've stopped snacking. I give myself a cheat day/meal once a week. It's a practical way of changing old bad habits. You don't get to 360lbs at 5'10'' without old bad habits.

Just get him some of the books I mentioned.

The thing of it is, it would be better if he were coming here for advice. All of the "my friend needs help" posts usually end up with the friend ignoring the advice they go out and get. Get him the books. If he really wants to change his life and shape, all of the info he needs are in there. You're a good friend for trying to help though.

Supplements should be way down on the list in my opinion. He needs to change how he eats and how he moves first.

Supplements only worth 5%? Totally disagree. Hypothyroidism, for example, could be the difference between making it impossible to lose weight to making it easy.

Let him do this experiment(al) (diet) :D : http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2007/02/070206132121.htm
Or, for more in-depth information: http://diabetes.diabetesjournals.org/content/59/1/17.full

moby wrote:Supplements only worth 5%? Totally disagree. Hypothyroidism, for example, could be the difference between making it impossible to lose weight to making it easy.

Moby - All we know is he's 5'10'' and 360 pounds in his 40's with high blood pressure. It sounds like he's not active since he's just going back to the gym and was trying to get lap band surgery which means he has an eating issue that he felt could only be controlled through bariatric surgery. He's got about 180 pounds to lose if he doesn't have muscle tone. Maybe more.

I was this guy before I changed the way I ate and worked out. Adding iodine and thyroid supporting supplements did nothing for me until I got my diet under control and started training properly at the gym.

The worst thing his friend could do for him right now is tell him "take this, this and this" and he thinks he can eat/drink the same way and the supplements will cure him. If you look at my regimen in my signature it's all focused on fighting obesity/metabolic syndrome, but it would do nothing if I wasn't eating properly and training the right way. I know that because the minute I go off of it & rely on supplements only, my weight balloons.

If he was hypothyroid according to the medical community I hope they would have caught it when he was getting tested for whether he was a candidate for lap band. Even then CS says the tests can be wrong/misleading.

In my experience on myself and others I know, just adding supplements isn't going to effect a 200 pound weight loss.

I second hadrion.

When you hit a certain level of weight, there is a problem with leptin resistance. The right type of exercise (such as HIIT) raises testosterone, increase growth hormone levels and decrease leptin resistance. All three of these things will significantly increase chance of success.

Also, on point towards diet. One could be eating an allergic substance and it will cause leptin resistance. The brain will never "know" that the stomach is full. Some grain foods could be allergic, so that's something to look into.

Once those factors (diet and exercise) are accounted for, then supplements can play a strong role.

CS -

I've definitely learned that wheat, in some forms, is my enemy. On my cheat meals/days if I touch wheat in certain forms, I have a bloating pain in my stomach. I can't drink beer anymore. It literally makes me sick even though I love beer. I also think corn is a trigger food for me because when I consume it, I'm ravenous. It doesn't cause pain, but it makes me want to eat double what I normally eat. Oddly enough, sugar doesn't bother me when I have it on a cheat day like corn and wheat do.

This guy needs to get his diet in order. The worst thing he can do is calorie restriction and continue to eat the refined carbs that got him to this size/state.

HIIT interval workouts 3-4x a week with some heavy lifting once or twice a week will change his life combined with the right diet. Then adding in the supplements will be the final piece of the puzzle.

He also should check if he has sleep apnea. It could also be causing the weight gain and the high blood pressure.

Thanks for all the great info guys. I'm still trying to figure out a game plan. Has anyone had any experience with the "medifast" diet program? I think he needs some sort of organization with his diet that I can not control or help him with. Like you guys said he has to want to help himself and want to change his diet.

I wanted to add that he is very solid and muscular for a 360 lb guy. He has no visible extra fat that normal people this size have on their legs and arms. He use to play softball which I know probably isnt enough cardio 5 times a week until he had the knee issue. He maintained this weight before having the knee issue.

Recently he started cutting his meals in half and actually gained weight. I cant testify to how well he stuck to it cause he could have cheated elsewhere. Anyways I appreciate it guys and will update later. At this point he seems pretty open to anything.

Try what was suggested here. If he still has problems cutting down bodyfat, try intermittent fasting. Either the leangains protocol or the eat stop eat protocol.

to lose weight, then your friend needs to firstly raise his atp by consistently staying active. without first raising atp, he is not going to have the energy to do a gym workout. if he spends too much time sitting down, then encourage him to do the opposite. this is the beauty about keeping active -- it warms up the muscles and prepares them for an intensive work out and you burn calories around the clock.

secondly, and very importantly, advise him not to eat huge meals, as they take longer to digest, not to mention causing lethargy due to insulin resistance.

thirdly, he needs to be careful about doing too much hard exercise at the gym, considering his enlarged heart. and, if he loses weight too fast his skin will likely sag. so, if i was him, i'd go easy on the gym for the time being, but stay active as much as possible.

fourth, plenty of sleep in a well ventilated room, so oxygen levels are restored to his muscles / cells, and that way he wont experience aching muscles caused by lactic acid.

Medifast was the first diet I ever did when I was in my 20's and had gained about 15 pounds from drinking. It worked but I was hungry all the time, and I did gain it all back after I stopped. I feel Medifast my have contributed to the yo-yo syndrome I've been on in the years since. It may not be the best thing for your friend.

I know many people don't like Barry Sears, but I really recommend the Zone Diet for people who need structure and who may have blood sugar issues. It's quite a lot of food to eat, it's pretty tasty, and you do lose weight. Downside is that it can be a pain in the ass until you get the hang of eyeballing portions and ratios.

I would steer clear of Medifast. He's basically crash dieting with shakes if he does Medifast. His calories in will be so low that he'll lose weight quickly, and muscle mass which he doesn't want to lose, because of starvation. Then when he returns to solid food, he'll balloon up to 400 pounds. It's the worst thing he could do.

Exercise and eating right for what's going on in his body is what's needed. And I'm sorry, but if you're 5'10'' and 360 pounds, you're not muscular. He may have a lot of muscle mass, but at that height/weight he's covered in fat. I was near that size at one time. You don't have to be jiggly. The fat is choking his organs to death under the skin. He probably has a very hard belly. He's very heavy, too heavy and needs to work on this with a long term solution.

Leanagins is very good if he can intermittent fast, but I feel like for someone starting out the more he could eat the better since his habits have gotten him up to this level. If he cut his meals in half and gained weight, he's insulin/leptin resistant. The only way out of that is low carb eating and exercise. He can get carbs from veggies and legumes (beans), although some say beans are bad (I don't agree with that). He can eat steak and lentils and fill himself up and lose weight. He can go to Chipotle and get a burrito bowl with meat, beans, veggies, salsa, guac and lose weight. It's not hard. 4 Hour Body will be the easiest book for him to understand and read and he'll lose weight and get himself out of the 300's in a few months while maintaining some of the muscle mass.

Cutting calories while still eating refined carbs or crash dieting will only push over the 400 pound mark in the future.

I've dropped and kept off 90 pounds now over the matter of 5 or so years. The second I stop eating Paleo-ish start putting bread, rice, white potatoes, etc. back in I balloon. I was over 300 pounds and 5'11'' before I started this.

It's not time for iodine or supplements. It's time for changing how he eats and thinks about food. The good thing about 4 Hour Body is he gets a cheat day once a week. If he reads it and likes it, tell him from me to skip his first cheat day and do 2 weeks of the slow carb eating before allowing a cheat. What will happen on cheat day is he'll go to his old trigger foods and they will make him sick, bloated, etc. and he'll stop dreaming about them.

The Zone is also a good plan. It's a matter of finding the one that speaks to him. I know from my experience and from people I've helped over the past year that 4 Hour Body is a great way to get started on a weight loss goal. He'll be full. He'll be losing fat. He'll get a day to eat what he wants and the scale will change if he follows it strictly.

Wish him luck.