What to say when boyfriend makes negative remarks about his own body?

[marrk]

Sometimes my boyfriend will say he is fat, he won’t buy new clothes until he loses weight, he needs to hit the gym, or *a shirtless man comes on tv* that he is his body goal.

this makes me feel awkward because he has told me I make him feel confident in his body, but he also knows I do wish he had abs.

How should I reply when he says things like this? I don’t want to be insensitive, but I also won’t lie and tell him he doesn’t need to lose weight.

[teamvic]

Well remember a lot of the times when guys talk about their body negatively it's not always asking for sympathy. It's a bit different compared to girls. And I'm not saying girls just cry or anything but I'm saying guys just see it as oh thats what I want and it's more of a motivation thing. Like for me as well, I'm not fat or anything but I no longer have any muscle which I Hate. I think my body is embarrassing but I see it as, damn I really need to start working out again

What in trying to say is just keep him motivated and like give him words of assurance. Like ," don't worry you'll get there" stuff like that. Now keep in mind, what I said isn't for EVERY GUY. So it may not be the case foe yours. You know him, I don't. So just be the support system

[marrk]

Thank you for explaining and giving me an example phrase to say. That’s super helpful!

[Anonymous]

You can t say much. He needs a man to talk to him. A man who is direct like most men are w each other. You’re concerned about hurting his feelings, a man who is direct isn’t concerned about that. He either needs to make that change, which more than likely he knows what to do to make that happen. Exercise, eat better, drink more water, etc. If he’s not going to do what’s necessary to complete that objective then he needs to be quiet. Cause now he just sounds like a girl whining. Men like that are looked down upon not just by other men but by women as well. Because women typically don’t want a man like that.

[marrk]

Yeah he has a weight loss bet with a buddy, so while he attends the gym 3 days a week, he overeats to deal with stress from work. I eat vegetarian and will ask to go to the gym with him. Not sure if there was a reply I could use when he says these things.

[AndrewJordon99]

Truthfulness is important, otherwise it leads to messy confusion like you're having now. If you lie to him to make him falsely more confident, you're denying the fact you yourself actually would rather he lose weight.

[serious]

Well, there is nothing wrong if he is motivating himself to have a better body. That is a good thing