Need other men's input on body type goal

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nice59fordf100
nice59fordf100 Posts: 10 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
First of all, have lost over 45 lbs since September 27th (When i started tracking food and going to the gym)

Starting Stats:
5' 11"
230 LBS
34'-36" waist
XL shirts

Current:
184.8 LBS
30"-32" waist
Medium - Large shirts

Here's my question. When I was larger, the weight was more spread out over my body and of course I had a guy that I constantly sucked in. Now, while my arms, neck, legs, and face has gotten smaller, i still have a pretty decent size gut (havent measured, but thinking around 50"). I know the weight comes off where it wants and what not, and I know toning is a myth, but at my height and current weight, is this normal? Being the weight that I have lost and the weight that I am at, im starting to wonder if I should adjust my goal weight from 155 to 140 to attain a slim build (6-pack not needed right now, that's a whole other set of goals). I just want to have a straight line from sternum to groin. Does this make sense? lol, thanks everyone for your input!
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Replies

  • nice59fordf100
    nice59fordf100 Posts: 10 Member
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    Guess not..
  • TavistockToad
    TavistockToad Posts: 35,719 Member
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    what exercise do you currently do?

    i wouldnt amend any goals just yet, you just need to focus on losing a bit of bodyfat to get rid of the gut!
  • neandermagnon
    neandermagnon Posts: 7,436 Member
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    I'm not a man, but I'm guessing that your fat distribution has changed because your testosterone levels have gone up

    women tend to store fat more evenly/all over, while men tend to store fat in the abdomen. Too much body fat can decrease testosterone levels. So maybe because you've reduced your body fat levels overall, your testosterone levels have increased, and your fat storage pattern has change to be more masculine. Also, you probably had this amount of fat on your gut before, just that you lost it from other places first, because that's what tends to happen in men, and now because everything else is smaller you notice the gut more. You should still carry on losing fat so you lose the gut. Too much fat around the abdomen is linked with health issues.
  • razor_fever
    razor_fever Posts: 41 Member
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    I'm not a trainer or anything, so take this with a grain of salt.

    I would think at 5'11' and 140 you would look sickly. I know it depends on body type, but I am 6'0'' (which is only an inch taller) and when I was down around 175 (about 10 years ago) I looked terrible. A good weight for me is around 190-195. That'll give me the straight line down and I'll start to see some abs. At 42 I think that's pretty good.

    So what kind of workouts do you do? Maybe add some more for your chest/shoulders/arms to add some muscle up top. And work on your legs too. More muscle mass would burn more calories throughout the day.

    Measure your gut too just to see where it really is. Maybe it's not as big as you think.

    It's awesome that you lost that much already. Maybe set a goal of 10 more pounds, and trying to add some muscle, and see what what you look like then. That'd put you at 175 ish

    Hope this helps.
  • CarmenSRT
    CarmenSRT Posts: 843 Member
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    Not a guy, but have a question. You give your waist measurement as 30 to 32 inches (I'm assuming you are going by what pants fit). Then you guesstimate your gut as being 50 inches. What are you calling your gut? If by gut you mean lower abdominal area or hip area that would be a really odd body fat distribution for a guy. Why don't you get either a nonmetal tape measure to find out what the gut measurement is or (better yet) take a picture of yourself and obliterate the head so you stay anonymous. I've heard it said that guys are visual creatures. Maybe the pic will get you more guy responses. :smile:
  • LeenaRuns
    LeenaRuns Posts: 1,309 Member
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    Belly fat is primarily caused by diet.
  • donna_glasgow
    donna_glasgow Posts: 869 Member
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    I guess you mean your measurement round the belly button is 50inch but you wear your trousers under your belly?

    I ask because my hubby has the same issue he wears 34 inch trousers but his belly measurement round the belly button is 38 inches, the rest of his body is the "proper" shape and size .... the belly is round and hard and it seems that the "fat store" it behind the muscle ......... he has no idea how to shift his round belly either as diet seems not to be working for him.

    I hope someone here can give some clues :)
  • FitBeto
    FitBeto Posts: 2,121 Member
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    How old are you? You are a man, man. Get stronger and eat clean and the body will come. Us men need to be strong to carry our women around and pick up heavy things for them, and when you have kids if you are a sex maching you need muscle to hold all 7 kids you are going to end up having! If your wife is prego and your car breaks down in the middle of no where no fkin worries man - you can push that ho down to the nearest shop! or hell even to your destination! I used to freak out about the scale but now that i am stronger I have the body near to what i want and its far from any weight goal my pre testosterone filled body had set. You will thank yourself its such a stress relief trying to get stronger and eating steak then running around doing 30 ds and listening to jenny craig talk bs
  • ShaunShaunphenomenon
    ShaunShaunphenomenon Posts: 141 Member
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    As someone has already said, if you continue on you regular workout and you eat right then you will lose it natrually. Guys(me included) tend to have a bigger stomach than most, it can be helped a little bit by watching your fat intake and decreasing that. I wouldn't say it's abnormal, but you just need to make sure you continue on your way and don't lose hope!
  • nice59fordf100
    nice59fordf100 Posts: 10 Member
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    Thanks everyone for the responses!

    My workout regime is usually 50/50 cardio/stregth. about 30 minutes varying cardio excercizes and alternating legs/core/upper on strength on a 5 day basis (mon-legs, tues-core, weds-upper, then repeat)

    My diet is staying pretty consistent under 1600 calories with the calories burned mixed with that. stay away from fast food, high fat foods, concentrate on fruits, veggies, and chicken/turkey.

    I'm trying to find a measure to tape to take accurate readings so stand by. and by 'gut' i suppose i mean my navel area. And while it itself has shrinked in size, i was just concerned it wasnt shrinking in proportion to the rest of my body, hense why I was thinking in needed to drop my goal weight to counter this (who knows, i may be a tall lanky frame underneath lol)
  • MrCoachBell
    MrCoachBell Posts: 6 Member
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    First of all, have lost over 45 lbs since September 27th (When i started tracking food and going to the gym)

    Starting Stats:
    5' 11"
    230 LBS
    34'-36" waist
    XL shirts

    Current:
    184.8 LBS
    30"-32" waist
    Medium - Large shirts

    Here's my question. When I was larger, the weight was more spread out over my body and of course I had a guy that I constantly sucked in. Now, while my arms, neck, legs, and face has gotten smaller, i still have a pretty decent size gut (havent measured, but thinking around 50"). I know the weight comes off where it wants and what not, and I know toning is a myth, but at my height and current weight, is this normal? Being the weight that I have lost and the weight that I am at, im starting to wonder if I should adjust my goal weight from 155 to 140 to attain a slim build (6-pack not needed right now, that's a whole other set of goals). I just want to have a straight line from sternum to groin. Does this make sense? lol, thanks everyone for your input!

    I'm a male athletic trainer and if you were one of my athletes, I'd be concerned if at your height your mass was only 140 lbs as an adult, I'd be very worried because I'd think you weren't getting all the required nutrients you needed. Height/weight charts can be very misleading because they don't account for lean body mass. As LeenaRuns mentions, belly fat starts with the diet. I would recommend adjusting your carbs to protein ratio and doing more cardio exercises. If you already do plenty cardio, increase the frequency, intensity, or time to increase fat burning potential.

    Another thing to consider is your "gut" is the extra skin from when you were bigger. Though the skin has elastic properties, sometimes we stretch it to a point of no return. Is it extra body fat around your middle or is it the extra skin left over from your weight loss?
  • johnnys30
    johnnys30 Posts: 64 Member
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    I think it has a lot to do with what body type you were before becoming 230 lbs. If you were lean and not muscular it would be different than if you were.

    For instance I was an athlete all through school and college. I played in college at 180-185 lbs at only 5'7". I was in the best shape of my life yet any chart would say I was obese. We all know that BMR, I believe, chart is flawed because it does not take factors into consideration.

    I went from that healthy 180-185 and continued to lift and build more muscle. Somewhere along the way I stopped working out and found myself at 248 lbs. I've lost 33 of that in the last 6-7 months. I too have noticed I'm smaller everywhere but the least in the gut. It is smaller, but not at the same rate. I also at 215 have a way to go to get to the 190 target. I personally don't care what number I end up at so long as everything looks good.

    That being said since I was a healthy 185 I know anything less shouldn't and likely cannot be a possible goal.
  • nice59fordf100
    nice59fordf100 Posts: 10 Member
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    Ive never been lean for as long as I can remember, all through middle - high school i had a gut, while not severely bad, it was there and the starting of man boobs. Over the years (im 26 now) it's just grown. So i dont even know if a lean body is even possible at this point with fear of loose skin and stretch marks lol
  • johnnys30
    johnnys30 Posts: 64 Member
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    I've found this to be a good tool for me. Once you find your current body fat % you can input a target % on the next page and it tells you what you would weigh at that BF%.

    http://www.fat2fitradio.com/tools/mbf/
  • FitBeto
    FitBeto Posts: 2,121 Member
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    Thanks everyone for the responses!

    My workout regime is usually 50/50 cardio/stregth. about 30 minutes varying cardio excercizes and alternating legs/core/upper on strength on a 5 day basis (mon-legs, tues-core, weds-upper, then repeat)

    My diet is staying pretty consistent under 1600 calories with the calories burned mixed with that. stay away from fast food, high fat foods, concentrate on fruits, veggies, and chicken/turkey.

    I'm trying to find a measure to tape to take accurate readings so stand by. and by 'gut' i suppose i mean my navel area. And while it itself has shrinked in size, i was just concerned it wasnt shrinking in proportion to the rest of my body, hense why I was thinking in needed to drop my goal weight to counter this (who knows, i may be a tall lanky frame underneath lol)

    You should do starting strength or stronglifts 5x5 - look them up. As a beginner you shouldn't really have to focusing on split training yet, IMO. I started out split routines and I have seen so much more progress in half the time with progressive loading full body routines (thats my experiance). Do what works for you, but you should really check out one of the aforementioned programs.
  • deksgrl
    deksgrl Posts: 7,237 Member
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    1600 calories is too low for a man, especially a man who works out. I eat more than that to lose weight and I'm a middle aged woman.
  • WolfPackFan13
    WolfPackFan13 Posts: 95 Member
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    Thanks everyone for the responses!

    My workout regime is usually 50/50 cardio/stregth. about 30 minutes varying cardio excercizes and alternating legs/core/upper on strength on a 5 day basis (mon-legs, tues-core, weds-upper, then repeat)

    My diet is staying pretty consistent under 1600 calories with the calories burned mixed with that. stay away from fast food, high fat foods, concentrate on fruits, veggies, and chicken/turkey.

    I'm trying to find a measure to tape to take accurate readings so stand by. and by 'gut' i suppose i mean my navel area. And while it itself has shrinked in size, i was just concerned it wasnt shrinking in proportion to the rest of my body, hense why I was thinking in needed to drop my goal weight to counter this (who knows, i may be a tall lanky frame underneath lol)

    If you aren't specifically training for anything, maybe you should consider cutting back on the cardio, and eating a little more.
    My reasoning is this: if you have too high of body fat (which based on your description of yourself, you do), then you need to focus on losing that body fat while maintaining the muscle you have. Maybe as you were losing weight, you didn't keep as much muscle as you would have liked.

    Try making your split something like 75% weights, and 25% cardio. Also, try to get more protein in your diet. 1 gram per 1 lb of lean body weight is a good place to start. So somewhere around 140 grams a day. The weights will help you from losing muscle as you continue to lose weight, eating more will help with this also, and so will eating more protein. You won't be able to spot lose, so just keep on keeping on.

    I still do cardio, but mainly because I'm training for a half marathon, and I like to be able to pig-out on occasion.

    Good luck!
  • Hirgy03
    Hirgy03 Posts: 332 Member
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    ........ I had a guy that I constantly sucked in. ......

    First of all, you may want to edit one word in the above sentence!:wink::laugh:

    Sorry, not the spelling police here....that just struck me funny (I couldn't resist).

    but I would say that all the suggestions above are good ones. I am your height, and I have thinned down to your starting weight (I'm currently at 226). I was just at the doc's office, and my goal is to get down to right around 200 lbs, anything under that would be too small according to him...of course, when I hit that goal (AND I WILL DAMMIT), I will probably readjust my workouts, diet and "looks" goals.

    That being said, I would guess that you are not getting enough nutrition (now take this with a large helping of salt, as I'm by NO MEANS an expert at this). However, with your workout regimine and your height, I'd say that maybe your caloric intake is way too low to promote muscle growth, hence the belly issues.

    Just a guess, but I look forward to reading more comments from those more well versed than myself in this area.

    But please, edit that one sentence so I can stop giggling.:drinker: :wink:
  • FitBeto
    FitBeto Posts: 2,121 Member
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    and I'm a woman.

    Yeah you are, how you doin?
  • mikegl1
    mikegl1 Posts: 238 Member
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    100% normal. They don't say "stubborn belly fat" for nothing. Keep losing and it will go away around your mid-section soon enough.

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