Am I right that calorie counting won't work in my situation?

Dionsysus84

Hello!

I downloaded the app a few days ago and don't have any prior experience with calorie counting. My situation: I'm a 5'11", 140 lbs male, but the problem is that I have significant love handles and a noticeable beer gut. Simply losing weight, however, would seem to have me eating below BMR and going into BMI underweight territory. Does anyone have thoughts or advice on this?

nosebag1212

you are borderline underweight, 5'11 140 lbs with love handles? lift weights, eat a small calorie surplus, you will build muscle and lose fat at the same time if you do it right

edit: also you never have to eat below your bmr, you need to eat below TDEE to lose weight, bmr is basically irrelevant since we factor in daily activity

PrizePopple

Uh.. I don't follow. What is having you "eat below BMR"? That's just crazy talk and I think you know that, or you wouldn't be questioning it. I think you need to maintain your weight because you're already in the bottom end of your healthy BMI range. You'd be eating at TDEE, and then just exercising appropriately to shed the fat and replace it with muscle.

I'm just starting out, so I'm sure someone who really know what the hell they're talking about will come along eventually and explain it better.

whateverfloats

Set it to gain, not lose.

Dionsysus84

Yeah, I think the goal is maintain around TDEE and replace fat with muscle by working out. My original thinking was that I could diet my beer gut away at my weight.