body fat percentages.... how low should you go?

webbhost

Ok, so for a few months ive been a little weight conscious, and I always notice the ring of fat around my belly (not stupidly fat like, not alot probably about 1CM ring if I squeese it together) - however I went to a leisure centre a few days back and a machine told me that my body fat percentage was 7.4% (equalling a total of 4 kilo in weight of fat).

Now I know the minimum recommended body fat is 5% which gives me 2.4% space that I can reduce

However, what would you do? I do not know if there are any health complications if I run "below" 5%?

I was talking to a friend today who has been losing weight and as a joke I said tell ya what i bet ya 10 quid I can drop my body fat percentage to 5% before you can lose another stone. Now althrough I bike, I dont goto the gym but have been thinking about it for the bikes, and treadmills to improve general fitness, and my friend got a little serious about the bet and got me thinking hmm.. maybe I should try this on and see who wins ?

Any way you get the idea...

Is there any health complications if I drop my body fat to 5% or below, and how hard would it be to get this last 2.4%?

Thanks for any information as I am new to this body fat lark!

320DMsport

I know nothing at all about bodyfat or being a racing snake but if your just 7.4 percent fat i'd leave it at that as it sounds pretty lean to me!!

You don't want to make yourself ill if you feel healthy and happy and have enough energy to do your biking.

I heard something on the radio the other day i'm sure it said that your average premiership footballer was around 9% bodyfat so if your 7.4% you are a whippet.

I think to much stuff is emphasised on percent bodyfat and BMI etc, according to BMI i'm overweight at 5ft 7 and 12stone 1, i have a 30 inch waist and 40 inch chest and after weight training over the years i'm solidly built so would never get down to my ideal BMI weight, i'd look ill, i was 11stone 7 when i was 15 so there is no chance.

I'd just be happy if i was you.

Just my opinion though.

sloboy

I'm inlcined to agree that body fat as a target is ne of the last things I'd be thinking about, if my aim was to ride well. I'd be much more worried about running my energy levels down so that I wasn't getting as much as I could out of my riding.

Obviously at 7.4%, lardiness is not your problem. They don't give prizes for the skinniest cyclist, so might be time to focus on another area for development.

ash68

Tend to agree with DM320sport.I'm roughly the same height and weight as him. 5 feet 8, 12 stone and have trained on the weights since I was 16. Am now 39 years old.Always seem to be struggling to be inside my supposed BMI range, but there's very little excess weight on me. Got a good six pack and no spare tyre. Think that's probably a better gauge than BMI or body fat percentages. IMO anyway.

La cucaracha

Your body fat % is pretty low anyway so there's probably little to be gained by reducing it further, but if you wanted to then how easily you could lose it really depends on your own constitution - some individuals' body fat % quite naturally rests around this level whereas some people struggle to get below 10%. It's largely genetically predetermined.

Going below 5% would be difficult for a start - you'd have to really starve yourself and it would be seriously detrimental to your athletic performance and health. Some of the consequences wouldn't be directly due to the low body fat %, but to the state of starvation you'd be in to achieve it, however I will list them anyway because at such a low body fat you can't have one without the other. You'd be looking at;

-muscle wastage as the body breaks down it's own proteins for energy (this includes even heart muscle so you end up with bradycardia, a low stroke volume, low cardiac output and low blood pressure). Low BP can cause fainting.
-major organs are affected - the liver and kidneys begin to shut down as the brain is given priority )so if you notice that you're becoming jaundiced or get abnormal results in a U&E blood test you've likely gone too far), the cortex of the brain shrinks slightly, peripheral circulation is damaged and may not recover, the immune system is greatly compromised, putting you at highly increased risk of infection.
-hypoglycaemia which can lead to irritability, confusion, temporary impairment of vision or hearing, fainting, coma, death.
-general tiredness and lethargy due to lack of energy and muscle loss.
-effectson your mood - irritabilty, depression, low self-esteem, loss of interest in sex.
-decreased basal metabolic rate
-decreased abilty to tolerate cold due to loss of insulation and less heat being generated by the body to begin with.
-increased cost of insurance - if you black out from either low BP or hypoglycaemia you're buggered financially as well as health wise.

For females, the recommended body fat % is higher and if it falls below a certain point (the average is around 15%) amenorrhea (ie. no periods) results. This is due to a fall in the level of estogen and, as this hormone is also responsible for bone development, amenorrheaic women are at greatly increased risk of osteoporosis. (NB amenorrhea does not always go with anovulation!!)

webbhost

thanks for the replies people and La cucaracha thats quite a detailed explaination with useful info.

Idea that I had in mind was to stop eating fryups and cream cakes for breakfast (healthy choice instead), and to start going to the gym. I would never "starve" myself to try and reduce the bf%

Actually quite scary thinking about it, being so close to the minimum recommended line. I'll be careful to watch out for any symptoms in the future.

Would i be right in saying that if I just changed the above ( the unhealthy breakfasts and more exersize) that I would be perfectly safe to do so as long as I am taking appropiate steps such as energy drinks whilst training, and eating straight after to replenish energy stores?

TheGreatGatsby

for this time of year 7.4% is good and you should work on maintaining that for the duriation of the cold snap. Once the racing season hits proper you may find that naturally with the difference in training routines you'll find the bf reduces anyway.

When i was racing I was 4% and while during the season it was great my problem came when I tried to sustain it through the winter. BIG mistake. Illness and disorders reared their ugly heads and for quite some time afterwards. I aim to be under 10% for the winter and then come summer it is what it is - ideally between 6-8% and I think that is my limit.

Gats

webbhost

I guess the general good idea would be to try not to worry about lowering it too much and just do what I want.. i..e if It drops to 5% or so cool, but to do a bet with my mate that I'll do it is not good because I may take actions i wouldnt do normally etc.

The bets off but i might still join gym. If i lose it I lose it but i dont think i'm going to watch it carefully.

thrope

I'm not an expert but I think the people who spending the biggest time worrying about bodyfat are the weight lifting/body building people...

I can't remember many details, but I think if you're under 10% (all year round) you're doing pretty well. I think pushing it to 5% is possible, but you start having to be very careful about your diet if you don't want your performance to drop off. I think the weight lifting folk always do cycles so they would cut down to 5% around a competition, I think only dropping below for a few days.

Check some body building forums for more info/advice about this because it is a big topic for them.

La cucaracha

You don't really need to worry about watching it carefully - if you're basically healthy ie. doing enough exercise and neither gorging nor starving yourself your body fat will just fall into place at its natural optimum level. And that level varies - eg my brother does very little exercise, eats lots of junk food and yet maintains a low, but still "healthy" weight and BMI and 4% body fat, but some people would be a) overweight and fat with that lifestyle and b) would have health problems at such a low BF%. Basically, don't monitor your BF too much as better signs to watch for are drops in power output, picking up infections more often, feeling exhausted.

Cat

blackhands

How was your body fat measured? Most equipment in gyms, especially bioelectrical impedence monitors, is very innacurate due to the assumptions it makes about the person it is testing - also such things as hydration state or body fatness can influence the results. What I'm saying is that the figure you got could be hopelessly wrong.

Babbsy

webbhost wrote:

I went to a leisure centre a few days back and a machine told me that my body fat percentage was 7.4%

Measurement could be wrong to start with due to inaccuracies of these machines.

xover_runner

Agree with blackhands. My son (20) is a fitness instructor and I went to his gym recently and we did bodyfat on the machine that measures electrical impedance. It asks you to put in age, weight and height. He came out 12% and me (49) at 22%. I was mortfied but didn't believe it. My wife describes me as skinny and I do 5-7 hours endurance work a week (run and/or bike). My son is same height and about a stone heavier but is built like a brick outhouse ie. well muscled up (he was benching 80kg whilst I was struggling with 30kg!)

Ric_Stern/RST

depending on the BIA system used there can be large differences reported in body fat %. Some of the very expensive BIA can be reasonably accurate.

The gold standard for body fat assessment is hydrostatic weighing, with good quality metal calipers (e.g. Harpenden) used by a well trained ex. phys technician a close second (along with DEXA assessment which is expensive).

Any body fat % under 10% (in males) is classed as very lean. Unless you happen to race at a very elite level (e.g. TdF) where you will be climbing long passes, reducing body fat % below 7% is unlikely to make any difference whatsoever. Additionally, as mass is the denominator in power/mass ratio it's of less importance than increasing your power output.

Nonetheless, with all the body fat assessment methods there can be quite large errors associated with them. There's only one way to get an accurate measure of body fat % and i wouldn't recommend that method to anyone... ;-)

Ric

TheGreatGatsby

anybody else managed to tick all the symptom boxes in La cucurachas post?

Jusnt me then...

right ....good.

Gats

webbhost

yeah the machine I used like sent an electric shock throguh my hands (could only jsut feel the tingle through).

On the bright side it automatically determined my weight and height. (and it knew I was wearing clothes and shoes somehow lol). Not that that matters.

I wont take too much notice from it... just carry on as I was. I guess if i really want to monitor anything it should more be power output (so 1 of them things u get for back wheels that measures watts). but even then, they aren't greatly accurate.

ut_och_cykla

Gats (Warning for pending extreme bluntness!)

there have recently been body fat posts on this forum (initiated by you? - tho' I may be wrong there) where people have pointed out the extremely limited benefits of being very low fat and the potential very great dangers of being too skinny. Most people don't thrive on being as low as 5, 7 or even 10% body fat. The short term problems are listed by Cucuracha and there are probably long term problems too - hormone balance, bone density etc.
So .... well I think you know the answer - food and fat is not your enemy - you can live together and enjoy life together - millions of people do - and if you think you can't then perhaps professional help would be of beneifit. Sorry to be so blunt.
But to all of you obsessing about the odd kg here or there - its not going to make the difference you want it to make. Train wiser, rest more.....
Blntness finished

TheGreatGatsby

I am taking notice though due to this post and the slimming down in beginners - I even had breakfast today (after my ride of course) so we'll see what the Eltons have to say about that come the en of the week!

gats

webbhost

hi ut_och_cykla

Dont worry it didn't really seem blunt.

This is actually my first post on here regarding body fat - I have only had the 1 test on this machine, and it got me thinking. Having absolutely no knowledge about body fat percentages I made this post to get information, and you are right, I think I do know the answer.

Also just so you are aware, I know food and fat is not my enemy, and I know that getting the correct nutrition before, during and after exersizing is of upmost importance!

Sorry if I gave you the impression that I'm anerexic, thats definatly far from the case!.

I was just thinking about what impact extra training would have and a healthier choice in food as a life style as opposed to fry ups and cream cakes.

TheGreatGatsby

I think some of that post was aimed at me web. what with my eating disorder history - athletica annorexia - and continued fear of food and putting on weight in any shape or form.

You seem to have your head screwed on the right way!

Gats

ut_och_cykla

TheGreatGatsby wrote:

I think some of that post was aimed at me web. what with my eating disorder history - athletica annorexia - and continued fear of food and putting on weight in any shape or form.

You seem to have your head screwed on the right way!

Gats

Yep - Gats - it was at least in part aimed at you 'cos I know a very little bit of where you have been on teh food road, but also at anybody else that might be thinking - "I'd be a better/faster/harder....." if I could just shed that last kilo.... . The weight is not THE answer, it might at best be part of a solution but not more than that.
Nuff said . Mates? I hope so

webbhost

aah sory great gatsby..

Yes you 2 are friends... no make up and give each other a big kiss lol, thanks from both of you for information provided.

JonEdwards

TheGreatGatsby

Sorry - completely Off topic - are you Mark the cook from T2R? The tatoo in your avatar looks kinda familiar.

What are you up to now? Say Hi to Ellie for me!

TheGreatGatsby

yes its me! err I'm sorry you'll have to refresh my memory
:oops:

working in a barn being all creative and stuff! Haven't baked since I've been home.

wow - I hope you're well I'll pass on the hello to monkey.

Gats

JonEdwards

LOL - no worries.

We were out middle of August - over the weekend you got your Tatt done. I still wake up in the middle of the night thinking about your flapjack... :oops:

TheGreatGatsby

ahh right! heh heh heh yeah flapjack... that and the crazy smores granola bars

I may have to bake this weekend.

Gats

heavymental

For the nosey...whats T2R?!

TheGreatGatsby

ticket 2 ride bc, Its a mountain bike adventure holiday company working out of a rad chalet in Whistler BC. Last year Ellie and I were the chalet hosts there coking and looking after the guests when they got back from injuring themselves in the bike park or down at the North shore!

Jon was one of our guests from last year that - as memory serves correctly - was pretty quiet except when it came to extolling the virtues of my cakes and more specifically my flapjacks and smores granols bars!

heavymental

Sounds like a good job that. I'm thinking of doing something similar this summer. Are they worth getting in touch with?

TheGreatGatsby

errrmm if you like getting paid an absolute pittance. having no spare time, working an minimum of a 14 hour day 18 on transfer day, cleaning 12 private toilets, a hot tub, 9 bedrooms and the living areas each day as well as preparing and buying produce for up to 32 guests and 9 guides on a budget for less than a family of four - which will include breakfast hot and cold options different every day, packed lunches including a massive sandwich, two home baked bars, drinks and fruit, an afternoon tea different each day and a 3 course meal every evening which may or may not include vegetarian/food allergy/fussy people depending on guests and having no spare time..

then yeah its great!

Gats

heavymental

Decision made! Cheers.