Prologue [Weight Loss Transformation]

I guess I reached the end of my weight loss journey. This doesn’t mean that I will stop losing weight or that I am gonna stop exercising. This only means that I broke the 100 kgs mark (63.5 kgs loss) that I have defined almost 2 years ago as my target weight.

I promised that I will share with everyone what I did during the last few months. Maybe my experience becomes helpful for someone out there...

But, before doing that I need to make some points clear:

-I am not a professional nutritionist.

-I am not a professional trainer.

-I am not claiming that what I did is the best way of losing weight.

-I am not recommending/forbidding anyone to do what I did.

-It is left upon you (the reader) to decide whether the content makes sense or not.

Then, what am I doing here?  :D

I will basically write what I did in a series of posts.

7 public posts describing the whole weight loss journey.

Why 7 posts?

I wanted to cover my mind state, physical state and emotional state not only diets or gym routines.

I believe that losing weight starts from your mind and how you do feel about yourself and others.

I don’t believe in going to doctors and letting them give you this diet or that life routine then starting following them blindly as if there is some magic that’s gonna happen. Doctors are good in keeping you healthy and in monitoring your physical state, however it’s YOU and only YOU, who decide to lose weight and actually doing it.

In my opinion, people with a BMI* near/more than 35, might find my posts useful rather than the others and the reason is, as you will see, that my start was a bit slow and steady, because when I decided to lose weight I decided to make it an experiment.

I decided to lose weight by doing the minimum amount of change in my life style. I believe that we "Obese people", We can’t start losing weight by eating everything healthy. I remember, one day, I was saying to someone who was offering to me an apple as a joke.

Nahh, thank you !!, this is too healthy for me :D

My point is, do not expect from a person who has a BMI > 35 to eat salads or eat a yoghurt and fruits at dinner. You are basically increasing the chances of him/her to fail.

Start with what you have!! Fix it bit by bit!! Change it bit by bit !! Optimize it!! Perfect it at the end!!

This is the main reason that made me wanna share my experience/experiment with you because I feel it is a bit different from the usual and more practical.

I will be writing my posts in English (Internet Language).

If anyone has any kind of questions please don’t hesitate to contact me.

Here are the posts titles:

Prologue (The one you are currently reading now)

Mind and Body State

The Tick

The Process

The Conclusion

What’s Next ?

Acknowledgment

I might add one more post at the end, if there is some FAQ or some extra content that does not fit in.

My name is Mina Saad,

I am 190cm/6’23 feet tall,

I was 162.5 kgs/360lbs,

Now I am 99kgs/220lbs...

Am I happy with what I have now?

Absolutely, 100%, Super Happy !!!

Am I satisfied with what I have now?

Not yet, I can do better ;)

Stay tuned for my next post ! I know you want to get to the conclusion  :) 

Bear with me  :) you will understand :)

*BMI (Body Mass Index): Your BMI is a measurement of your body weight based on your height and weight. Although your BMI does not actually "measure" your percentage of body fat, it is a useful tool to estimate a healthy body weight based on your height. Due to its ease of measurement and calculation, it is the most widely used diagnostic indicator to identify a person's optimal weight depending on his height. Your BMI "number" will inform you if you are underweight, of normal weight, overweight, or obese. However, due to the wide variety of body types, the distribution of muscle and bone mass, etc., it is not appropriate to use this as the only or final indication for diagnosis.

BMI = ((Your Weight)/(Your height in cm X Your height in cm)) X 10000

Severe Thinness < 16

Moderate Thinness 16 - 17

Mild Thinness 17 - 18.5

Normal 18.5 - 25

Overweight 25 - 30

Obese Class I 30 - 35

Obese Class II 35 - 40

Obese Class III > 40

State of Mind [Weight Loss Transformation]

When I was young, I was exercising frequently, well I was forced to do so at the beginning. I didn’t understand that this is really important, especially, that my body puts on weight really easily. I was considered one of the tallest kids in my class, so, my parents as did I, saw basketball as a good candidate :). I played basketball from the age of 7 till the age of 15~16. I honestly didn’t like basketball, at least at  the beginning but near the end, especially the last 2 years I started enjoying it :). However, one day I got into a fight with my basketball coach and I stopped playing since then.  At the same time I started to teach myself how to play table tennis (ping pong). I started to play with my father on our dining table in my home :D. The net was made out video tapes :D. And I was practicing it everyday in my school with my friends.

I didn’t start practicing table tennis in our sports club right away, I played normal tennis for maybe 2 months then I switched to table tennis. The reason for doing so is that my parents wanted me to play a sport with enough cardio effort in it :). I was really good in table tennis, actually, I was the best in the club at that time: I beat everyone in my age, older and even the seniors :D The only person who I couldn’t beat was my coach :D 

Life was so good till that moment, I was 110 kgs (Chubby kid at 190 cm), everything is still under control. Then, I had to stop practicing all sports and activities for 2 years due to the secondary exams. Those exams basically define your whole future and they need lots of effort so that you can secure enrollment in a good university at the end. At the end of the first year I was 120 kgs. The damage didn’t end here :/, I was diagnosed with a pilonidal cyst at the tail bone. The number one reason that caused it is obesity, basically, the existence of fat near the tail bone which enriches the development of bacteria. So, now, I am in pain, I can’t do the surgery at that time due to the recovery time needed for it while I am preparing for the exams. At the end of the second year I weighed 137 kgs. I maintained this weight for maybe 2 more years. I tried to go back and play table tennis again, but I couldn’t and I was really bad :/

After doing the surgery, I had a rough time. I was getting infection near the surgery area and with the smallest amount of movement the wound get teared open again, even after losing weight now, my surgery wound is really vulnerable. So that limited my movement more, I started to put more weight and more weight till I reach my maximum at 162.5 kgs. 

My back hurts due to surgery and its complications, I was always under the threat to redo the surgery if the area got infected. I did hurt my right knee, and till now it clicks, I had almost 90% of the time headaches due to high blood pressure. I discovered at the end by mistake that I almost lost my right eye sight due to intracranial hypertension (extra brain pressure) which happened due to the extra weight.

Maybe I was healthy, sporty and a bit chubby but I was a kid who doesn’t have any problems with his life. Now, I am running out of breath easily, I couldn’t talk while walking, I was sweating a lot, can’t go out with friends because my back hurts, my knee hurts, migraines, always sick or afraid of being sick... :/ 

I felt like I was held as a hostage inside my body. I hated myself. My confidence became super low. I didn’t want to know new people because I don’t want them to know this version of me… :/

This wasn’t me… :/ The worst thing is, I went  from school to university as a morbidly obese person. People treats you as if you were always obese. I hate stereotyping…

I always knew that one day I am going back to my older self, maybe even better. I started to put restriction on myself so that I don’t forget that this is not me. For example, I never bought for myself any clothes unless the old ones are torn, I never changed my profile picture since 2012. I hated being in photos, I didn’t go out alot with my friends or family. You may think, well that’s stupid, I saw that by buying clothes, changing my profile picture, being in photos or going out counts as an acknowledgement of my current status or as a celebration or a gesture of happiness of myself. I didn’t want to help myself in accepting my current status. I am not gonna stay like that forever, I don’t want to have memories in that shape, I don’t wanna make peace with myself. This is only temporary... 

I knew that I will start losing weight one day and when I do, it will be in my terms with my rules at the time that fits me. Not because I have to listen to my parents or to my friends or to my doctors. I am doing it for my own sake..

The first step to weight loss is to acknowledge that you have a problem. That you need to do something by Yourself to save Yourself. Maybe, putting some restrictions will help in keeping reminding yourself that this is not you, this is not what you wanted to be remembered as… In my case I knew that I was in a problem since the beginning. Putting restrictions on myself was a way to remind myself that you are waiting for the right moment where you will take the decision of losing weight and be committed to it till the end...

The Tick [Weight Loss Transformation]

So, I  knew that I needed to lose weight… But I didn’t take any action yet… 

It is October 2015, I left for my masters in Germany.

It is a new beginning... something should happen, right...?

But, I didn’t know what should I do. 

Maybe, by just traveling, I will lose weight.

Maybe, I will lose weight by ignoring it.

Or maybe, it’s not my fault, it’s our eating habits back at home. (I was staying with my owns)

I didn’t want any commitment yet…

I started to feel that each penny I am paying at the supermarket on bad food is like I am paying money to kill myself slowly. Usually, I find food back in our house, I don’t question where it came from or who brought it, or how it was cooked, I just eat it. But now that I took full responsibility of my life I started questioning...

I was also super bored, I had lots of time to waste there, I didn’t know a lot of people. So I started to watch TV series. I was keeping track of them using an App called TV Time (TVShowtime) :).

October’s days passed, November too. And I didn’t do anything :/

The feeling of “I should do something” is getting more stronger but the spark didn’t happen yet.

Untill…

One day, I opened the TV Time app. I noticed that they have some statistics for each user.

I saw mine… :)

I watched in October 90 episodes of TV shows !!!

Over 60 episodes in November !!!

What the hell am I doing with my life? why am I postponing my “old me“ comeback? Do I want to stay like that forever? Who am I stalling ?

Something is really wrong with me !!! :( 

And here, I knew it… tomorrow is gonna be different.

I bought a pair of running shoes and a training suit in the next fews days…

And I started…

Each weight loss story has its own “Tick”. My “Tick” was some numbers in an app… Maybe, someone else’s “Tick” is getting some cool tattoos or simply realizing your selfishness in keeping yourself in danger and not realizing that you may hurt people who love you...

There is always a tick for everyone, it doesn’t need to be complex, it is a moment of awakening… 

Find yours... ;) 

The Process [Weight Loss Transformation]

Let me remind you of my experiment. I don’t want to lose weight by following a specific diet, I wanted to lose weight with the minimal amount of change in my life.

With that being said,

I will split my process into 3 stages.

Stage 1: No Gym only light workouts at the house. (-35 kgs)

Stage 2: Light Workout at the Gym (-9 kgs)

Stage 3: Real/intensive Workout at Gym  (-22 kgs)

Stage 1: No Gym only light workouts at the house. (-35 kgs)

The Duration of the first stage was 9 months from December 2015 to  August 2016.I lost in them 35 kgs. I can summarize it in 5 steps:

Step 1: Check how many calories I needed per day to maintain my current weight.

This can be done easily from this calculator:

https://tdeecalculator.net/

So back then, weight 162.5 kgs, age 24 years, height 190 cm, with 0 daily activity.

I got 3237 Kcal per day to maintain my weight.

To gain 1 kgs of pure fat you need to eat 7000 calories over your daily intake. 

So for example if your TDEE is 3000 Kcal, to gain 1 kgs you need to eat 10000 kcal.

What usually happens is that people eat over their intake and then they accumulate the extra as body fat. 

To lose 1 kgs of pure fat, guess what ?!  :D You need to create a deficit of 7000 kcal.

And this can be done by eating under the maintenance caloric intake.

Basically, I wanted to eat less than this number to achieve a caloric deficit.  

Step 2: Cut from my calories.

So, I made something really stupid in this step I cut 1737 kcal from 3237. :)

I was eating 1500 kcal per day.

Well, it worked but it was a bit harsh on my body for the first 2~3 weeks till I got adapted to it.

If can go back to this step I would have removed 500 ~ 1000 from my daily intake.

These numbers are for the morbidly obese people otherwise it should be much much less than that.

Step 3: Check what I was eating... and count…

At 162.5 kgs any attempt on correcting your weight should be within your daily food. Meaning, you will not move from cheap bad food to super healthy in 1 day.  I started counting everything I eat. And then I decided to fulfill my 1500 kcal I will split them into 3 meals. I hated breakfast, I never wanted to have breakfast so I decided 100 kcal goes in to breakfast and this will be a banana (usually around 8~10 am). Lunch, my main meal, I was eating at a greek place everyday. After doing my calculations, I discovered that instead eating 2 wraps, I should eat 1.

Just to give you an idea what is lunch exactly: Half chicken breast, grilled, wrapped in a white bread (Pita bread), with yogurt and garlic sauce (tzatziki sauce), tomatoes, onions and as a side dish french fries (yes french fries :D ) and in addition to that I was drinking apple juice with soda (apfelschorle). I estimated this meal to be 1000 kcal. (usually at 2~3 pm) As for the dinner I was eating half pizza from the supermarket 400 kcal. (usually at 8 pm). So, you can see I didn’t deprive myself from anything. I just started with what I have. And btw it didn’t change a lot over time.

Step 4: Let’s do some activity…

When you are not doing anything for long time your body burning rate goes down. To wake up my body I need to tell it, Hey !! I am doing more activity now than before so please provide me with energy from what you have. I decided that I will walk everyday 2~3km around my house and I will try everyday to optimize my 2km in terms of duration. So I remember that I started at 24~25 mins  and I ended with 17~18 mins. I needed to push myself.

Everyday, no matter what... 

I usually did my walks after dinner.

Advice, do not run when you weight 140 kgs it will screw your knees :)

Step 5: Weightlifting

I read that increasing your muscles mass increase your daily caloric need. Actually, almost every pound of muscle burn 50 calories more. I didn’t want to go to a gym and my knee is not in a good shape at all. So I decided to do only upper body lifting, mainly arms, biceps, triceps and shoulders using a pair of dumbbells.

Everyday, no matter what... 

Before walking.

Be consistent with what you are doing and you will see results right away.

Stage 2: Light Workout at the Gym (-9 kgs)

With the same amount of food I decided to hit the gym.The duration of the second stage was 7 months from September 2016 to  March 2017. I lost in them 9 kgs.

I started with a day for each muscles group in addition to (almost) the same amount of cardio.

Maybe I will not delve into the details of the workout in this post but mainly I had a triceps day, a chest day, a biceps day, a back day, legs day and a shoulders day. As for cardio I switched to 3 km on the elliptical moderate speed (8 km/h).

Stage 3:  Real/intensive Workout at Gym  (-22 kgs)

I needed to increase the amount of food because at the end of stage 2 I hit a plateau. My body can’t lose weight with the low amount of food I am giving to it compared to the amount of the exercise I am doing. So I needed to increase my food portions and increase my workout intensity. The duration of the third stage was 5 months from April 2017 to August 2017. I lost in them 22 kgs.The workout itself was the same but more intense in terms of speed, time of rest and weights. The whole workout session took from me 45 mins. As for the food I wanted to optimize my way of fat burning. And I hated breakfast. So I discovered a scheduling way called “Intermittent fasting”. Basically, I fasted for 16-20 hrs per day (I can only drink water) and I eat all my portions/calories in 8-4 hours. There is lots of debates about intermittent fasting is it effective or not? do you lose muscle mass or not? In my opinion it was really efficient in my case and actually I gained muscles too while doing it.  If you want to hear more about intermittent fasting please let me know.

At stage 3, I can eat daily from Mcdonalds a meal while doing intermittent fasting and exercising:

1 Big Tasty 900 kcal

1 Fries large 440 kcal

1 Cola Light 1 kcal

1 Cheese Burger 330 kcal

1 McFlurry Caramel 500 kcal

Total of ~2200 Kcal

And still I lost weight everyday….

I ate this meal for a week, this week was the same week when I broke my obesity weight at 108.2 kgs on the 17th of July. 

Now because I have more muscles and I am exercising hard my maintenance calories is 3200 kcal, yes exactly the same as if I was a guy weighing 162 kgs and want to maintain them.

My point is you can eat whatever you want as long as you count and exercise enough. Mcdonald's is not what you want in your body to be healthy but for the sake of the experiment it worked. 

Conclusions:

-Don’t start from the end. Start step by step, always from what you have.

-No Magic, No cheating, You need to do it by yourself day by day and find a way to enjoy it.

-Putting muscles is the only cheat that you can do to lose weight fast.

-Don’t make all the changes together, always keep a next card to play, your body is very adaptive to changes, every change is enough to make a difference. So don’t do them together.

-If you love food, you can eat more or at least the same amount while being healthy, just put on more muscles, exercise moderately and be smart about what you eat. 

 There is lots of information inside this post. If you need in depth post about specific parts of the process please tell me.

There is not magic pills, there is not magic drink, there is no shortcuts for loosing weights.

Yes, it will take time. Yes, you will have bad days. Yes, it sounds really hard. Yes, your goal is far away

But you can start now, step by step, and be surprised when you you reach you goal :)

The Conclusion & Whats Next ? [Weight Loss Transformation]

Lets recap the whole thing.

I decided to lose weight in December 2015, I was in a really bad shape, physically and emotionally.

I started by counting my food in terms of calories and making sure that I am eating less than my maintenance intake. In addition to that I started to exercise by walking everyday 2km. I didn’t change my life 180 degrees in one day.

Everyday I tried to enhance my food and my workout: less carbs, less fats, more protein. Now, lets start weight lifting, upper body only, lower body too,....

I got better day by day, now I can run daily for 3~5km, now I can lift heavier. My life style dictated my diet/food scheduling technique so Intermittent fasting became my natural choice.

I reached my goal (hitting 100 kgs) in August 2017.

Surprisingly, It didn’t feel that I have waited that long.

I want to share the lessons I learned from my journey:

-The only person who can help you is yourself.

-Our bodies react differently than each other. What works for me may or may not work for you.

-Always start from what you have.

-Consistency makes everything easier, It allows you to monitor your progress and body response. Don’t make all the changes together, always keep a next card to play, your body is very adaptive to changes, every change is enough to make a difference. So don’t do them all together.

-No Magic, No cheating, You need to do it by yourself day by day and find a way to enjoy it.

-Putting muscles is the only cheat that you can do to lose weight fast.

-Always ask yourself, Is it doable/maintainable?, can I keep doing what I am doing now to lose weight for a month/year/lifetime?

-Life is not always colorful, you will have bad days and good days (look at the table)

-Failing is part of the process, don’t worry about it, while giving up isn't ;)

-You can’t lose all what you worked for in months in one night.

-Unfortunately, most of the people judge by the looks. (I saw it practically)

-Enjoy it, Enjoy the change. One change at a time... Soon You will be done with all...

Those are the main lessons that I have learned in the past 2 years :)

What I am doing now and gonna do next?

I am still losing fat by keeping a slight caloric deficit and I switched to pure High Intensity Intervals Training (HIIT) at the end of each workout session. I am focusing on weight lifting more to shape my body and fix my posture.

My ultimate goal now is to reach 15 % body fat and try to reach my maximum muscular capacity in a natural way.

Acknowledgment [Weight Loss Transformation]

One last tip... Always surround yourself with the right people. I don’t think that what I did was a product of one man. Yes it is executed by one (Me) but I saw it a collaboration of many...

I received a lot of support from my family and friends throughout my journey.

I would like to mention people (In alphabetic order :) ) who had a direct impact on my trip and on my way of thinking.

Abdykerim Erikov: Thank you man for your workout advices and the motivational support !! I will keep pushing till the end as we agreed ;)

Ahmed El Safty: The lean/bulk super sheet !!! Thank you for your workout/nutrition advices and emotional support. You were right about a lot of stuff I was wrong about.

Ahmed Mohamed Youssef: Sobhy !! Thank you for always being there :) and for your help especially during the bad days !! You have defined for me the standard of a real friend. Congratulations for you and Rana !!

Ahmed Youssef Mokhtar: The oldest non relative friend of the list :) We saw lots of shit together since school :) Thank you man for being there and for your continuous support !! See you soon ;)

Beshoy Bassem: I will never forget what you did. You helped me at the beginning by lending me your extra pairs of dumbbells and your bathroom scale in addition to your support and advices. :) Thank you man for the your help I owe you the first 35 kgs !!

Chris Koliniatis: MAH man !!!! You have no idea I am still doing the workout you gave me up to this moment with a bit of variations for sure. Thank you for your advices and moral support throughout the whole process and Thank you for your patience ! I am really glad that destiny made our paths cross :) 

Dina Aladawy: You might think you didn’t do anything, but you had a couple of wise moments here and there that made me rethink a lot of stuff :) Thank you young wise lady :) !!

Jolly Salah: I don’t know what should I write :) You need a whole dedicated post :D  You saw a lot from me :) if I was in your place I would have shot me twice :D Thank you so much for your help/time/support even in your bad days! I really appreciated it. Get your photographing skills ready because we might need a new profile pic here soon. 

Omar Faruki: I know we don’t know each other for a long time. But man your advices were gold. Workout and nutrition, especially the biceps routine ;) Thank you man !!!

Yeti: Thank you for your support and your help!! I won't forget your comment: “Mina !! you are shrinking week by week :)” :D 

Youssef: I am sure you know that you don’t need to be in any list :) But I felt it wont be fair to skip you :) Thank you man for your support !! :) It really meant a lot for me to find someone to speak to like a brother !!

I would like to thank all the people who liked/reacted/commented to my profile picture they form almost 2 / 3 of my friend list. It meant alot for me.

I would like to thank my family for being there for me, and Mom, no I will not stop!!  and I am not starving to death…. Yet  :D

Last but not least, I would like to thank God for making me who I am...

I hope that, one day, one of my posts changes or contributes in a way or another in  someone's life like what those people did to mine :)