Bear, having lost weight, treading softly (7)
I believe the answer is:
padding
'bear' is the definition.
Although both the answer and definition are singular nouns, I don't see how one could define the other.
'lost weight treading softly' is the wordplay.
I cannot quite see how this works, but
'softly' could be 'p' (short for piano, musical term for softly) and 'p' is present in the answer.
The remaining letters 'adding' is a valid word which might be clued in a way I don't understand.
This may be the basis of the clue (or it may be nonsense).
'having' is the link.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Another definition for padding that I've seen is " Soft stuffing".)