Fat loss seems impossible!(man boobs)

Hi, First time poster but long time reader of the forums.

I would just like to get some advice on my situation if anyone would like to help!

I'm 19 years old, 5' 11" and today I weighed in at 141 pounds, which is as low as I have weighed since I was about 11 years old I would say. I have been overweight for most of my life and I remember weighing over 14 stone at one stage about 5 years ago. My problem is man boobs and a flabby belly. The man boobs in particular are stopping me from doing several things in my life such as going swimming ,going to the beach, the gym etc. I am looking for advice to get rid of them and have read alot of the advice about this subject on the forums, but I am worried about approaching 10stone in weight. Is it safe to lose more weight? That is my biggest concern, that perhaps there is an underlying problem as to why I cannot shift the flab.

I am a student but lead a reasonably active lifestyle I think. I play 2 hours of competetive badminton, 4 times a week. I consider myself to be fairly physically fit.

I dont have the worst diet in the world, I might get a pizza delivered at the weekends but eat wholegrains, vegetables, potatoes, grilled chicken, steamed fish etc for the rest of the week.Dont eat many snacks like chocolate or sweets. Water is the main beverage that I drink.

I'm just looking from some advice on what I can do, any suggestions/opinions are greatly appreciated

Thank you very much :)
 
My guess is that you either have Gyno( can be surgically removed), 141lbs is very light for 5'11, or you lack muscle in the chest area. But I think it is most likely gyno, impossible to tell without pics.
 
I'm 19 years old, 5' 11" and today I weighed in at 141 pounds, ... My problem is man boobs and a flabby belly. ... Is it safe to lose more weight?

At that height and weight (BMI = 19.7, normally considered to be near the lower end of "healthy" weight in population studies), if you still have a flabby belly, you may want to figure out how much muscle vs. fat you have (i.e. body fat percentage, with 5-17% the typical good range for men, with the lower end of the range more typical for athletes).

A low BMI with high body fat percentage is sometimes referred to as "skinny fat", which is generally considered less healthy. It is also the opposite of the situation of some athletes who have high BMI (in the "overweight" or "obese" range of typical charts) but low body fat percentage (so they are not unhealthy like the usual case of high BMI being due to high body fat percentage). For these reasons, weight or BMI alone may not be accurate as an individual assessment.

If you are "skinny fat", then you may want to try gaining muscle (the usual means being weight or resistance training) without gaining fat.
 
Yeah, I think you should think about lifting some weights to add some muscle. I'm only 5'7 and I weigh more than that and am not what I would consider fat. You may also want to look into what phate was talking about.
 
Not long ago some doctor friends of mine hooked me up with a doctor who helps people who are having trouble losing weight. One of the first questions he asked me was in regards to having man boobs; apparently this is a tell-tale sign or indication of a hormonal imbalance! I'm not trying to weird you out or get you all worried, but it could be something alongs those lines...so you may wanna check with your doctor and ask about getting some hormone testing done. They have some kind of cream that you apparently rub on your shoulders nightly and it can help hormonally deal with that...again, just look into it...not saying it's the problem.

I myself have a very slight man-boob issue going on with my right chest, but not the left chest. I'm told it's simply that I'm right-handed and my chest muscle is just larger on that side. All things considered, the man-boob is comprised of fatty-tissue; it's not muscle. I don't see how building bigger muscles under the fat is going to help the man-boob problem. The problem is the fat.

I concur with TJL in terms of finding out what your true body-fat is. I'm 5' 8" and weigh about 228-pounds when last weighed, but my body-fat% is coming in at about 12%...so I have a lot of lean-muscle, which is why I can lift the weights and do what I do.

The fact that you weight 141 and you have the flabby-belly and Moobs (that's the correct medical term for Man Boobs btw)...would be indicative that you have a very skinny build, low bone-density and would likely make a great marathon runner. But dude...fat IS fat. No such thing as spot-reduction and the body tends to distribute it's fat where it wants...but by-in--large in all parts of the body.

I'd strongly suggest getting into a good weight-training program to at least sustain the muscle you have and ideally add some more as well. At your height, that weight is just too low to be anything but scrawny and it sounds like you're just hanging some flab on the gut/chest.

Please take my advice....don't look back and regret; this time in your life is the most important time to look good and feel good about yourself. Find the time and make it a priority to develop a weight-training program, I think it'll solve most your problems.
 
Thank you all for your replys, very much appreciated.

Where can I get accuratly assesed in terms of BMI and body fat % etc? Can that be done at the doctors or do I need to visit the gym?

I'd strongly suggest getting into a good weight-training program to at least sustain the muscle you have and ideally add some more as well. At your height, that weight is just too low to be anything but scrawny and it sounds like you're just hanging some flab on the gut/chest.
what kind of a weight training program would you recommend? Many people say different things, some even suggest that it would make the man boob problem worse as the muscles would just push out under them even more. I just dont want to invest time in something that will make my problem worse.

Also, what you said about hormonal imbalace, I heard that being mentioned in the forums before. I will certainly check that out if all else fails.

Thanks again
 
Thank you all for your replys, very much appreciated.

Where can I get accuratly assesed in terms of BMI and body fat % etc? Can that be done at the doctors or do I need to visit the gym?

BMI is a simple calculation based on height and weight:

BMI = (mass in kg) / ( (height in meters) ^ 2)

Range of 19-25 is generally considered the "healthy" range. However, it may not accurately show health status on an individual basis, since some people are "overweight" (BMI > 25) but have low body fat (typically highly muscled athletes) and therefore are not unhealthy in an overfat sense, while others within the "healthy" range may have too high a percentage of body fat (the "skinny fat" situation). BMI is commonly used in general population studies because the number of exceptions of these types is relatively small in the general population.

Body fat percentage is more difficult to calculate accurately, since all methods are approximations and depends on formulae that may or may not be accurate for an individual. The usual methods:

Density measurements, usually through underwater weighing: Considered the most accurate, but expensive to do. A very rough approximation can be found by seeing how easily you float in a swimming pool (float easily = high body fat percentage, must tread water to float = low body fat percentage).

Skinfold pinches with special calipers: calipers are inexpensive, but some skill is needed to use them consistently. Various formulae exist with different numbers of sites measured. Measures only under the skin fat, not internal fat; formulae often include an age component that assumes a given amount of internal fat that may or may not be accurate for an individual. There is a sticky post in this forum about using calipers to measure body fat percentage.

Electrical resistance: often in a scale, or a device held by both hands. Fat is more resistive than muscle, so a higher resistance gives a higher body fat percentage. However, bone is also more resistive, so someone with high bone mass may appear "fatter". Some devices have an "athlete" mode that changes the bone mass assumption in the formula used to give body fat from resistance. The assumption for either regular or athlete mode may or may not match a given individual.

For a man, 5-17% is generally considered the "healthy" range for body fat percentage, but the definition of the "healthy" range does vary between different sources. Athletes are more often in the lower part of the range, though how low depends on the sport. Ranges for women are typically listed at 7-10% higher than for men.
 
Post some pics. I have trouble believing a 5'11" man at 141# would have man boobs.
 
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