Losing last bit of stomach/chest fat

Takes more than 3 months to lose a good amount of body fat to the point you're in lower double digits. Do you exercise?

A.C.E. Certified Personal and Group Fitness Trainer
IDEA Fitness member
Kickboxing Certified Instructor
Been in fitness for 30 years and have studied kinesiology and nutrition

At your stats that’s a very aggressive loss. That last little bit of fat is the hardest. I would suggest to review your training program. There’s a good chance that you need to add muscle. There are some good programs out there that are proven. With such an aggressive loss there’s a good chance you lost muscle along with fat. It’s probably time to reverse diet along with the proper training focusing on muscle gain.

I'll be more direct: You lost weight too fast for your starting weight. That holds the possibility of bigger snap-back in hunger/satiation hormones. Stop trying to lose fast. Maybe even take a break and maintain your current weight for a month or so. Consider this:

http://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/10604863/of-refeeds-and-diet-breaks/p1

We don't know how tall you are, so we don't know what 165 means on your body. Yes, different people will have more or less body fat at any given weight (and the same height) depending on build, but also depending on body composition (how much muscle vs. how much fat, loosely).

It's dead common for people who've lost weight not to see themselves clearly after loss (maybe especially after fast loss) and still think they're fat when they're not. (I'm not saying you're anorexic, but anorexics do routinely think they're fat. That same cognitive distortion happens to many/most of us, just not to that pathological degree. Brains are weird.) All of this is tougher when you're a young person.

Many of us here think it's a bad idea to lose faster than 0.5-1% of current weight per week (with a bias toward 0.5% if not severely obese), and a bad idea cut calories by more than about 20% of your daily needs (i.e., TDEE). Some think it should be even slower than that for the last few pounds, where you're at now.

From your starting point, 0.5% would've been just under a pound a week. You've been more than twice that, sounds like. That was not a great idea.

I don't know what your TDEE (total daily energy expenditure, i.e., total calorie burn) might be, but if you're average height (5'10"), we'd expect it to be at least 2200 calories even before considering exercise calories, i.e., that many calories just sitting around. You're eating half of that, or less. That's not a great idea either.

As someone else said, one of the many consequences of that not-great idea is that it's likely you've lost more muscle than necessary while losing fat. That was not a great idea for looking good, or for health/fitness.

You're lucky that you're young: That will probably limit bad consequences (health-wise) for that too-aggressive weight loss. Maybe you won't even have hair thinning, or other appearance consequences, if you're lucky.

What you should do now:

* Eat enough calories to maintain your current weight for a while (diet break), ideally for a month or more.
* Follow a good, professionally designed progressive strength training (mass gain) program faithfully.
* Get overall good nutrition, especially enough protein, but also some good fats and plenty of veggies/fruits. Waaaay plenty of veggies/fruits.
* Get some cardiovascular exercise, but don't overdo total exercise load, and eat enough to fuel it (maintain weight).

In a month or so, reassess. Ask your doctor or some neutral *expert* person (like a trusted, experienced sports coach) about your body fat level. If you still have fat to lose:

* Eat at most 250 calories per day fewer than your maintenance calories to slowly lose the fat.
* Keep up the lifting program.
* Keep up the good nutrition.
* Keep up the CV exercise.
* Don't lose weight faster than half a pound a week, tops. Slower is fine, better even, but it takes patience.

You'd even be fine (maybe best), I suspect, just continuing to maintain your current weight or even go for a tiny weight gain rate, and keep up the workout routine and nutrition. Over time, as you add muscle, the remaining body fat can sloooowwwly fuel the gains alongside your nutritional intake.

You're at a prime age to do this right, make some great gains (especially as a young male). Right now, you're not going about this is a good way. Make an investment in your future self. Do smart things now.

@AnnPT77 👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻 for excellent, thorough advice

@ammarello42 👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻for listening , doll.

What often happens when people have rapid, self flagellating kind of weight loss, is a snap-back rebound and weight gain.

Whoa there, lil pony! You didn’t know any better.

Allow yourself more food, settle in , develop and keep the good bits of new habits you’re learning, discard the others.

We don’t want to see you back in five months or five years, posting “back again”.

I’m old as dirt, female, and several inches shorter than you, and I eat twice what you do. Your body needs fuel.

You might also consider searching “body dysmorphia” on this forums. It’s a real thing, at any age.