Fat percentage in men: indicators, norms and deviations, tips

How much fat do we need?

This table shows generally accepted body fat percentages for men and women.

Essential fat is the minimum you need to survive. For this reason, bodybuilders dry their bodies to this point only before competition. The rest of the time, they maintain a higher percentage of fat so as not to undermine their health and train effectively.

• If you're trying to be thin, aim for an athletic body fat percentage.
• If you want to look healthy and fit, aim for an athletic body fat percentage.

If your body fat percentage is approaching the maximum permissible value for a normal physique or falls into the obesity category, you would do well to reduce this figure.

BMI and body weight

Body fat percentage is the best indicator of health. It is better suited for determining the constitution than the aging body mass index (BMI) or simply weighing. Weight can vary significantly depending on hormonal fluctuations, time of day, and the amount of food eaten and drunk before stepping on the scale.

If you are very tall and have significant muscle mass, your BMI will likely put you in the overweight or even obese category. The problem is that BMI was developed in 1832 by Belgian mathematician Adolphe Quetelet to identify the average person (determining how weight increases with height), not to identify underweight or obesity.

In the 1980s, BMI was adopted as a useful tool for determining life expectancy, and has been the bane of muscular people ever since. BMI often prevents young people from joining the police and other fitness-oriented agencies because they still use this indicator for admission. However, by measuring your body fat percentage, you are measuring the amount of fat mass, rather than getting an estimate based solely on height and weight.

Source: https://www.coachmag.co.uk/exercises/lose-weight/3809/what-is-a-healthy-body-fat-percentage

How to measure body fat percentage

There are seven main methods, varying in accuracy, simplicity and cost.

Visual method

It consists of comparing yourself to the pictures above and determining who you are approximately similar to. A very inaccurate method.

Using a caliper

Pull back the skin with subcutaneous fat, grab it with a caliper and find the percentage of fat corresponding to the caliper readings in the table. As a rule, calipers show a lower percentage of body fat than it actually is.

Using the formula

For example, you can use the US Navy formula or the YMCA formula. This method usually errs on the big side.

Using electrical monitors

A weak electrical current is passed through the body, and then a “biometric resistance” is analyzed. As practice has shown, this method gives very inaccurate results.

With Bod Pod System

Using a special device, the air displaced by the body is measured, and based on the data obtained, the mass of the body, its volume and density are calculated. This method is considered very accurate, but expensive.

Water displacement method

Very accurate (with an error of only 1–3%), but expensive, complex and inconvenient method.

DEXA scan

This method is considered the most accurate and consists of a complete study of body composition using x-rays. It is also a very expensive method.

Whatever method you choose, try to take measurements at the same time and under similar conditions: for example, on a certain day of the week, in the morning, on an empty stomach. Even if the data obtained is inaccurate, you will be able to understand whether progress is being made.

What is fat content and why is it important?

Essentially, this is the presence in the body of a certain amount of fatty tissue, which accumulates in the subcutaneous zone and is measured as a percentage. They are concentrated in various parts of the body:

• in women - on the arms (shoulders), chest, hips and apron area (front of the abdomen);
• in men - in the waist area (especially the lower back) and on the stomach.

The importance of controlling body fat is due to the risk of disease and the failure of certain natural functions. Any plus/minus can affect fertility and, in general, gender characteristics of the female or male gender.

How to reduce body fat percentage

Calorie deficit

Spend more than you consume. But keep in mind that if you do not do strength training and limit yourself in carbohydrates, then along with fat you will lose muscle mass. This is not the best way, but fat loss is guaranteed.

Pull the iron

When you train with weights (as well as intense bodyweight training), you maintain muscle mass, but also speed up your metabolism and achieve the afterburn effect, where calories continue to be burned after the end of the workout.

Sprinting

Sprints also cause a calorie burn effect.

Eat no more than 100 g of carbohydrates per day

By limiting yourself in carbohydrates, you deprive the body of its favorite source of energy. In this case, he has to extract it from fat reserves.

Train on an empty stomach

Your first meal will be only after training. Hard, but effective.

Accumulated fat

Another type - accumulated - is the result of excess calories consumed. When we eat, calories that are not immediately used for functioning (such as providing energy for breathing or maintaining heart rate) are converted into triglycerides, which make up stored fat. Frequent excess calories, which cause fat accumulation, lead to weight gain. On the other hand, a repeated calorie deficit forces the body to use stored fat mass as energy, depleting reserves and leading to weight loss.

Body fat to muscle ratio

Previously, the weight loss industry was focused only on the fight against fat. Now we have a cult of muscles and gyms. The time of starvation diets has passed - now losing weight must be correct and safe. Gradually we get used to not trusting the scales. If previously people saw a plumb line of 800 grams on the scales, they were sure that the fat had gone. Now, having understood their biochemistry, they learned that this figure can appear due to the loss of water or muscles. As you know, fat weighs less than muscle, so, for example, the figures of two or more girls of the same height and weight can look completely different. Their volumes can vary greatly. Many people, when they start going to the gym and see the first noticeable results, note that the number on the scale has increased and the volume has gone away. This is a great example of the benefits of exercise and a balanced diet.

Critical fat content in the human body

With an increase in its percentage of muscle and bone mass, the risk of negative consequences from the body increases. In particular, unsafe factors appear such as:

• pressure surges;
• heart attacks of various types;
• diabetes;
• threat of cancer, etc.

However, it is worth noting: not only an excess of body fat is dangerous, but also a lack of it. The latter is extremely undesirable for women. So, with indicators below optimal:

• the skin becomes flabby;
• wrinkles appear quickly;
• hair becomes dull and split;
• reproductive function is lost;
• unwanted body hair occurs;
• bone fragility is observed;
• the risk of atherosclerosis increases;
• the regulation of cholesterol in the blood is disrupted.

If the fat ratio drops below 14 percent, the presence of male hormones begins to increase, since the female hormone estrogen is produced specifically by adipose tissue.

Low fat percentage or negative energy balance?

There are studies that show that a low percentage of fat does not in any way affect the absence of menstruation and the appearance of amenorrhea in girls. It's all about negative energy balance, not fat percentage per se. When a girl begins to lose weight and lose her kilograms, she does this due to a calorie deficit , that is, she spends more energy than she receives from food, thereby creating a negative energy balance .

So, it is this factor that is key in stopping menstruation and disrupting a girl’s reproductive function, and not the low percentage of fat itself.

If you believe these studies, it turns out that, in principle, a girl can have 6 packs on her stomach and not have problems with her cycle. Is it really?

• How to pump up your abs to six-pack size without harming your health? Part 1: Basic Physiology

If we think logically, then in order to get the desired muscle definition, you simply NEED TO REDUCE your fat component, that is, REDUCE the percentage of fat in the body to its minimum (13-14%). And this, in turn, can ONLY be done thanks to a calorie deficit , which is created by reducing the number of calories ingested from food and increasing energy expenditure during training.

And here the question arises: are there girls who compete in the “Bikini Fitness” or “Body Fitness” nominations and at the same time their cycle does not disappear? How is this possible? After all, most of them bring their body fat percentage below the minimum acceptable norm of 13%.

I allow this option:

 those girls who were able to maintain their menstrual cycle during drying and a strict diet (and there are not so many such girls), they still managed to maintain their energy balance at the proper level, without creating a large calorie deficit due to sports supplements nutrition and vitamin complexes.

• Sports nutrition and health: is it possible to put an equal sign between them? Part 1

After all, in order to prepare and compete in bodybuilding and bikini fitness competitions, you definitely need additional help in the form of special sports nutrition, otherwise there is no other way. Training and strict nutrition deplete the body’s energy reserves so much that sometimes girls not only lose their cycle, they simply faint right on stage. This all shows how illiterate and incorrectly the coach or the girl herself approaches the issue of preparation and preparation for competitions. It is clear that the diet of performing athletes contains the minimum possible amount of carbohydrates (the main source of energy), but, perhaps, some also do not receive the normal amount of proteins and fats from food. We cannot know this for sure, but it is true that sports nutrition supplements can partly reduce the energy balance created in the body of athletes.

Where am I leading with all this? And besides, if you want to have a low percentage of body fat (less than 15%) in order to see your six-pack on your stomach, you need to take this issue VERY seriously! Firstly, you need to find out your minimum percentage of fat with which your body continues to function normally, and secondly, do not forget about additional nutrition for athletes.

Remember that the level of fat in the female body is still directly related to the negative energy balance created. The higher it is, the faster you lose weight and reduce your fat percentage. And if at this time you do not help your body and do not support it in the form of additional sports nutrition and vitamins, then you risk losing your cycle, and subsequently getting even more problems with your health:

And there is one more important point that I would like to mention. After the girl fully realizes that her weight loss is not at all the result she dreamed of, and she decides to increase her fat percentage to her “historical” norm, then this girl will inevitably face the realities of her weight loss. Unfortunately, not all the consequences of this weight loss will go away as completely as they appeared. Yes, she will most likely be able to return her menstrual cycle to normal in a couple of weeks, but, for example, the loss of some minerals that are responsible for bone strength may be an irreversible process for her. The consequences of amenorrhea never go completely without a trace, this is a scientifically proven fact. So, keep this in mind if you suddenly want to lose weight and reduce your normal body fat percentage to a minimum.