How to tell a friend I am worried about their weight?

130 lbs is a low weight for a man, how tall is he?
Maybe take a photo of him and show him? Sometime we can get a distorted view of what we look like in the mirror, I know I do...it's only when I see a photo that I think, yeah I look ok?

Edited typo

You could say it in like a positive way. Ex. "Wow, you look amazing!!! Now that the weights off you could build a really nice body with a good bulk!!!" Something like that. Which honestly may be the perfect thing for him build up some muscle, gain some weight, eat at a surplus. It may be right up his alley

This could be way out of left field and may just be my experience speaking but are drugs a possibility?

I wouldnt say anything at all.

Be positive tell him how great it is he wants to be healthy. Tell him you came across some great tools for people who have lost their weight and want to maintain it and or improve body composition i.e. fat to muscle. There are some good websites and info etc. Maybe something like http://scoobysworkshop.com where he can put his own numbers in.

Just tell him: trust me, it's for the best.

I didn't realize I was underweight until my friend literally screamed it at me, compared her weight to mine, showed me a BMI chart and pushed me over effortlessly. Seriously - show your buddy how weak he is now and he'll get a totally different outlook.
That's what happened for me, anyway. Dropped about 20-25% of my body weight (70-something kg to a record low of 47) when I learnt I had coeliac, but didn't really care or notice - I legitimately felt healthy, strong and full of energy... riiiiiiight up up until my friend showed me quite how "delicate" I had become. It's a a real kick in the *kitten*, I can tell you. As for your friend, it may have the same effect, but it may not; I'm not sure since he clearly dieted pretty hard to get to where he is now and may be too proud of his weight loss or too scared of weight gain to do anything about it, worth a try though, I guess.

You say you saw him in passing at a restaurant and had not seen him in the 4 months prior, living in the same city. This does not sound like too good of a friend, more like acquaintances (lot of young people really do not understand Friendship); You should NOT say anything to him. Leave it to his Friends to speak with him, they know more about what is going on with him on a daily basis. That is probably why he "laughed" your suggestion off of eating more...You are just an acquaintance and what you say does not mean a lot to him.

ETA: Also, 5-8" and 130 is not a bad wt for a man. Of course "we" like to see men muscular at that height; we have a natural inclination that shorter men look more masculine with muscle...and they do. But I have a friend who is 5-10" and about 130 lbs and has been in that range all of his adult life and was "skinny" as a kid growing up...he's healthy.

For those asking about height, he is 5'8". He mentioned to me that he is always exhausted so I kind of joked that he may need to eat some more. He just laughed it off.

his BMI currently is 19.8 so hes still in the healthy weight range. hes in the lower end. 18.5 being underweight, so hes on the way down.

I HAVE A PLAN!!

You should meet up and say you have been trying to loose weight too, and some people on a forum told you to do a bunch of calculations to track your progress and stuff like that and that your interested in his diet.

then you can do your own BMI, BMR, TDEE to introduce this.... and then all nonchalantly say "hey maybe we should do it for you too!" (maybe even include before and after weight to enforce the "YAY YOU" part)

then do his BMI, say wow, cool its in the low end of your weight range (close to underweight) so now you can stop trying to loose weight and go onto a maintenance diet.

then calculate his BMR and TDEE and explain what thats about.

then go through his diet a bit and try to calculate it. explain that he should increase overtime to maintenance TDEE or he will go into an unhealthy weight range.

this is a stealth way to deal with it. its a positive and non confrontational approach, shows you care and doesn't involve a whole bunch of "YOU LOOK LIKE YOUR DYING" etc. if you come at it from a negative angle hes not going to listen, and he will feel like you are a killjoy. you need to help him in a positive way.

Although he might not look great now, his BMI before was around 37 - this is in the SEVERELY OBESE category so he's done very well to get it off, and if he can keep a healthy BMI now, will have literally saved his own life. hes actually healthy (kind of)


so yah. education and praise. wins every time. high 5!