How much weight should I lose

ellioc2

I’m about 5’6” and 160 pounds or so, which is clinically overweight. How much more should I lose to look good? 20 lbs, 30 lbs, or 40 lbs? Any problem areas I should focus on? I know it’s hard to spot reduce but I really don’t like my little chubby arms and flabby belly.

TavistockToad

I thought you were told to maintain your weight at the moment?

pinuplove

What does your dietician say?

kami3006

I think that it's best for others to heed your dietitian's advice even if you're not going to and not advise you on ways to go against her wishes.

Give her a call if you're not able to adhere to what she has asked you to do.

snickerscharlie

TavistockToad wrote: »

I thought you were told to maintain your weight at the moment?

^^ This. Given your current struggles with body image as evidenced in your other threads here, as well as the professional and very sound advice you were given by your RD, this, to me, is just more evidence that you need to get off of MFP for 2 reasons:

1) It's not a healthy place for you to be right now.

2) Continuing to solicit advice from strangers who don't know your dysfunctional background is further evidence that this is not what you need to be doing right now.

Please listen to your RD, and contact your family doctor for a referral for specialty psych counselling. Not for a second saying this to be mean in any way, but your continued obsession with your body image runs all the red flags up the pole for me.

Please get help. The kind of help you cannot expect to get here. Please keep us posted, because we really do care.

janejellyroll

You need to listen to the professional advice you referenced in your previous thread.

This isn't a healthy place for you right now.

Unknown

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TavistockToad

ellioc2 wrote: »

I just want an honest opinion about how big I am right now so I can have a long term goal in place. Because right now I don’t know what the heck I’m doing or how far I should go.

Focus on helping yourself now by working with your dietician and seeking a therapist. Your number 1 long term goal should be to get healthy.

pinuplove

ellioc2 wrote: »

I just want an honest opinion about how big I am right now so I can have a long term goal in place. Because right now I don’t know what the heck I’m doing or how far I should go.

Which is all the more reason for you to listen to the professionals in your life and stop soliciting opinions from internet randoms.

janejellyroll

ellioc2 wrote: »

I just want an honest opinion about how big I am right now so I can have a long term goal in place. Because right now I don’t know what the heck I’m doing or how far I should go.

You had a professional give you an honest opinion that this should be on the back burner for you right now, that you need to focus on your health.

You've got lots of people here giving you the honest opinion that it sounds like your RD is on to something and that you should listen to them.

You admit you don't know what you're doing. It's okay to not know, but that's a really good indication that you need to listen to your RD.

snickerscharlie

TavistockToad wrote: »

ellioc2 wrote: »

I just want an honest opinion about how big I am right now so I can have a long term goal in place. Because right now I don’t know what the heck I’m doing or how far I should go.

Focus on helping yourself now by working with your dietician and seeking a therapist. Your number 1 long term goal should be to get healthy.

^^This.

collectingblues

ellioc2 wrote: »

I just want an honest opinion about how big I am right now so I can have a long term goal in place. Because right now I don’t know what the heck I’m doing or how far I should go.

Ask your dietitian. She will be honest with you.

Fuzzipeg

As a brief rule of thumb, how does your bmi stand. If you are in the area designated "normal weight" as i suspect you are, you need loose nothing. If you are still dissatisfied with your appearance and want to take an interest in your health how about working out to possibly improve your physique. Toned muscles can look very different. That said, I would be perfectly happy to be my equivalent of you.

Unknown

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TavistockToad

ellioc2 wrote: »

Fuzzipeg wrote: »

As a brief rule of thumb, how does your bmi stand. If you are in the area designated "normal weight" as i suspect you are, you need loose nothing. If you are still dissatisfied with your appearance and want to take an interest in your health how about working out to possibly improve your physique. Toned muscles can look very different. That said, I would be perfectly happy to be my equivalent of you.

My BMI is 25.61. Overweight, which means I need to lose the weight for my health. I work out 3-4 times a week.

So you're not taking your dieticians advice?

snickerscharlie

ellioc2 wrote: »

Fuzzipeg wrote: »

As a brief rule of thumb, how does your bmi stand. If you are in the area designated "normal weight" as i suspect you are, you need loose nothing. If you are still dissatisfied with your appearance and want to take an interest in your health how about working out to possibly improve your physique. Toned muscles can look very different. That said, I would be perfectly happy to be my equivalent of you.

My BMI is 25.61. Overweight, which means I need to lose the weight for my health. I work out 3-4 times a week.

Curious that the only person you've responded to is also the only one who asked you about your BMI.

What you are missing right now is that it's irrelevant whether you think you need to lose weight right now or not. You have other more pressing issues that absolutely need to be addressed first. You are literally insisting on continuing to put the cart before the horse here.

Please get help.

eeanneli

25.61 is literally just outside the healthy range so it isn't going to do you any harm remember bmi us only an estimate if you are an active person you have nothing to worry about. For now focus on your mental health and when that is sorted you can decide if you need to lose anymore.

RoxieDawn

ellioc2 wrote: »

I just want an honest opinion about how big I am right now so I can have a long term goal in place. Because right now I don’t know what the heck I’m doing or how far I should go.

I've read some of your other threads. I'm with others about speaking to your dietician and perhaps getting some outside counsel with your other issues as well.

Maybe it might seem that if you lose weight and/or perhaps work on the physical aspects to all of this, the rest will fix itself. Take it from others who have been where you are, getting some outside counseling will help you immensely and hopefully you are looking for long term solutions for better mental and physical health as they work together.

DanaDark

You can work on this problem while also following your dietitian's advice.

If you want a more solid stomach and less flabby arms, you need muscle. More muscle on your arms, the more the fat there will have something to hold onto and not seem flabby. Could even be the same weight of fat but with more muscle it will look different. This goes for your core too.

Gain muscle in a calorie surplus.

Long term plan:

Eat at maintenance or a slight surplus
Pick up a full body weight training program
Do this for 6 months
After 6 months, switch to a slight calorie deficit of no more than 500 a day
Continue with the weight training program but don't focus on adding more weight to the barbells etc.
Do this for 6 months.
Keep doing that over and over.

The fine details need to be adjusted per person, but that's basically a good outline to achieve the goals you've stated. You could go hog wild at the gym, or focus on at-home body weight stuff like push ups etc. something is better than nothing and your goals don't seem to be totally unreasonable.

But you MUST work out any feelings you have about calories and food intake etc. else you will just shoot yourself in the foot over and over again.

kimny72

snickerscharlie wrote: »

TavistockToad wrote: »

I thought you were told to maintain your weight at the moment?

^^ This. Given your current struggles with body image as evidenced in your other threads here, as well as the professional and very sound advice you were given by your RD, this, to me, is just more evidence that you need to get off of MFP for 2 reasons:

1) It's not a healthy place for you to be right now.

2) Continuing to solicit advice from strangers who don't know your dysfunctional background is further evidence that this is not what you need to be doing right now.

Please listen to your RD, and contact your family doctor for a referral for specialty psych counselling. Not for a second saying this to be mean in any way, but your continued obsession with your body image runs all the red flags up the pole for me.

Please get help. The kind of help you cannot expect to get here. Please keep us posted, because we really do care.

QFT.
OP please follow your dietitian's advice, and focus on what they worked on with you, not what posters who are unfamiliar with your situation suggest. And please consider getting a referral for counseling.

lynn_glenmont

ellioc2 wrote: »

I just want an honest opinion about how big I am right now so I can have a long term goal in place. Because right now I don’t know what the heck I’m doing or how far I should go.

A healthier self-image and healthier attitude toward eating and nutrition should be your long-term goal. You don't look the way you seem to think you look. And 160 lbs at 5'6" is just barely overweight. I agree with everyone who is saying to consult your existing medical support, including your RD; to ask for a referral for counseling about your eating- and body-image related issues; and to stop seeking advice on MFP forums, especially without being honest that you are under medical advice not to be focusing on weight loss and food logging right now.