Losing weight

gdfrew

Hi there. I want to know if anyone else is going through the same thing. I am currently 79.75kg In weight for a man at 6ft and aged 33. My waist for jeans is currently sitting at 30" and getting smaller. I think nearly 28" waist which is almost too small for a guy. So I'm super skinny on the bottom and a large t-shirt on top. Can't lose my 40" belly (measured around the navel) and my man boobs. I see that anything above 40" is still considered in the danger zone for a few things. My weight is almost fine maybe 1 or 2 more kilos to lose but that won't get rid of the stomach. I guess I come under the category of skinny fat. I'm usually under my bmr more or less. or on active day a pretty decent amount under my tdee. I try to overestimate some of the foods I calculate like a store bought salad without any calories information so I don't overestimate my calorie burn. What can I do next?

Another wee question is it still possible to lose weight if I'm under my calories for the day but maybe slightly higher than most for fat content like a bad cheat day eating a kfc but still managing to be under my tdee?

AnnPT77

gdfrew wrote: »

Hi there. I want to know if anyone else is going through the same thing. I am currently 79.75kg In weight for a man at 6ft and aged 33. My waist for jeans is currently sitting at 30" and getting smaller. I think nearly 28" waist which is almost too small for a guy. So I'm super skinny on the bottom and a large t-shirt on top. Can't lose my 40" belly (measured around the navel) and my man boobs. I see that anything above 40" is still considered in the danger zone for a few things. My weight is almost fine maybe 1 or 2 more kilos to lose but that won't get rid of the stomach. I guess I come under the category of skinny fat. I'm usually under my bmr more or less. or on active day a pretty decent amount under my tdee. I try to overestimate some of the foods I calculate like a store bought salad without any calories information so I don't overestimate my calorie burn. What can I do next?

Another wee question is it still possible to lose weight if I'm under my calories for the day but maybe slightly higher than most for fat content like a bad cheat day eating a kfc but still managing to be under my tdee?

I don't have an opinion on your body configuration issues, with apologies: I'm a li'l ol' lady, so lack relevant experience. What does your doctor say? Have you had a dexa scan to know body fat semi-accurately?

On the other question: Any time you eat under your actual TDEE, you are going to burn stored body fat to make up the difference. (At extremes, other tissues can be burned, but you're asking about smaller deficits, not bigger ones.)

Note that your actual TDEE is not necessarily what some "calculator" or fitness tracker says it is. By "your actual TDEE" I mean the number of calories you physically burn in real life. For most people, the estimates are pretty close. But they can be further off for some people, or (even more likely) our food logging or exercise/activity-level estimates can be wrong.

So, eating a little over your calorie goal, but under your actual TDEE, you're still losing weight. Doesn't matter which macros you eat, especially if it's a one off**. The closer you bring the estimated eating to the *estimated* TDEE, the odds increase that you're approaching your actual TDEE. Your rate of weight loss so far give you a clue, based on whether you lose faster, slower, or about the same rate as expected based on the estimates. Calculate by assuming that 3500 cumulative calories roughly equates to a pound of body fat.

** Persistently sub-par nutrition over a longer time period can affect energy level by causing fatigue and lowering calorie burn by supressing activity. It can also cause higher cravings, through the body subtly nutrition-seeking, and make it tough to stick to a calorie deficit. So, nutrition can matter, but not in any immediate sense, like one day, in a healthy person.

ALZ14

If you are in a calorie deficit you will lose weight, no matter what your macros are.

Lietchi

If you eat under your TDEE, you will lose bodyfat, doesn't matter if it's KFC or not. You might not lose weight on the scale though, since you might retain some extra water weight from high sodium intake (but that's only temporary).

Now what to do about your belly and 'man boobs': that's a matter of fat percentage. The best thing you can do is start lifting weights to increase muscle mass. It will make much more of a difference in how you look than only eating at a deficit as you have been doing.

As for your food: you mention eating under your BMR, which sounds low to me, but hard to tell since you don't give specific numbers. Your BMR is not really relevant, it's how many calories you burn in total that matters. Eat 250 calories less than that per day, and you will lose 0.25kg per week. Since you have very little weight left to lose, you shouldn't aim to eat lower than that.
Have you set up your goals and personal stats in MFP? Just choose the appropriate activity level for you (not counting exercise) and choose 0.25kg weight loss per week and see what number that gives you. If you exercice, log that and eat back (a reasonable estimate of) those exercise calories on top of the base calories goal MFP gives you.
Alternatively, I might even suggest aiming to maintain weight while lifting weights (body recomposition).
Either way, make sure to eat enough protein to build muscle.

gdfrew

Wow thank you for the quick replies. All very helpful so a nice community here. All my exercise has been mostly walking so far, most times 5 mile and over up to 8 mile. Just recently started adding in a bit of jogging as well as my fitness levels went a bit downhill. Before lockdown had started, I was at 94kg and now I'm at 79kg so a good loss so far in my journey. So I don't necessarily want to lose much more weight, only fat. Also to get my upper half toned a good bit. There has been good suggestions I have acquired some dumbbells so I will start to do some weights. I have set up myfitnesspal as active my job is fairly active anyway usually around 8000-1000 steps in there every day then I add in exercise at night.

The calories in the top left hand corner say 2,300 per day is that my BMR or TDEE? I know its usually over estimated quite a bit just today on my cheat day seems a bit wierd I done a 6 mile walk saying 675 calories burned from my Samsung galaxy watch. I've entered around 1,200 calories from kfc and around 600 for snacks from with watching movies etc. But it says I still I have 1,080 calories remaining which seems like a lot of food to eat. I can't eat that much back, after all kfc is very filling with all that chicken.

Lietchi

The top left corner where?
In my version of the app, that's where my calorie goal is.

That number is not your (theoretical) TDEE (unless you've chosen maintenance as your goal AND haven't gotten any exercise/extra activity calories), nor your BMR.

Your calorie goal is calculated based on your stats, activity level and goal (weight loss rate/ maintenance/ weight gain rate). Based on your daily activity not counting exercise, so exercise (or activity above your chosen activity level if you have a tracker synced) will give extra calories.

Whether or not the numbers are overestimated is something you can find out by monitoring your weight and comparing it with how your weight should have evolved according to MFP with the number of calories you ate. (1kg of bodyfat is around 7700 calories)

gdfrew

Top left is 2,300 so this is my goal with being active? Should I aim to be 250/500 under this or is that included as well?

jayemes

2300 is your goal. 679 are your exercise calories which MFP expects you to add in. Most people start with half of the exercise calories. So you should be able to eat about 2600 and lose weight. The best way to judge is do that for 4 weeks and see if you're losing like you expect. Adjust accordingly

ALZ14

gdfrew wrote: »

Top left is 2,300 so this is my goal with being active? Should I aim to be 250/500 under this or is that included as well?

As long as your goal is set up for you to lose weight then the calorie deficit is built into that number.