How important is body fat percentage ?

[abett07]

Is body fat percentage something that should be followed closely
and does it tell a full story ?

Is a bodyfat percentage of 16% ok ? so many guys are desperately after a bf% below 10%



Thanks for any response

[IronWill]

I think that depends on your personal goals. For me, presently bodyfat % is irrelevant.

[JTurner]

Agree with IronWill, all depends. It's a useful tool for finding out what's really going on with the scale and whether weight lost/gained/maintained is fat or muscle and in what proportion.

16 is a healthy number as far as I know, if you're happy then it's all good. Most people chasing 10% will get there and suddenly realise they have nothing to show off, I would know, I started like that.

[BendtheBar]

15 to 20% is a healthy and reasonable number. If we're talking pure health, then no, it doesn't tell the complete story.

There have been studies that indicate folks with a BMI of 25-29.9 live longer than those with a BMI of 18.5-24.9. Here's an article that talks about one of the studies:

Study: Overweight People Live Longer

In the newly published study, researchers used data from an ongoing Canadian national health survey to follow more than 11,000 adults from the mid-1990s to 2007.

Compared to people who fell into the normal-weight category:

Those classified as underweight were 73% more likely to die.
Those classified as extremely obese with BMI of 35 or greater were 36% more likely to die.
Those classified as obese with BMI 30-34.9 had about the same risk of death.
Those classified as overweight with BMI 25-29.9 were 17% less likely to die.

Obviously this wasn't performed on only athletes or lifters. Common sense indicates that if you stay active, eat right and are lean you're probably going to live a long, healthy life. But it certainly doesn't seem to be a bad thing to carry around some fat.

Those without food in nature struggle. A little more is better than a little less for longevity? Perhaps. Just tossing this out.

[leefarley]

I'm not conserd about bf% if i look slim and have some muscle when i look in the mirror that is good enough for me and i also believe in that having a bit of body fat not enough to wobble around is also beneficial to health.

[Rich Knapp]

Originally Posted by abett07

Is body fat percentage something that should be followed closely
and does it tell a full story ?

Is a bodyfat percentage of 16% ok ? so many guys are desperately after a bf% below 10%



Thanks for any response

1. People chasing 10% don't even know what 10% is. Or they go by pinch test and are 15% but the test reads 10%.

20lbs.(not 20%) of B/F is a lot and will allow you to make gains. its a surplus of 70,000 cals in storage. But its will keep you in the looking ok range.

Picture 2 of these.


A 300lb. power lifter at 40% b/f is 120 lbs b/f = 180lbs of LBM. Equaling 12 of these pics. That 120lbs of fat equals a stored total of 420,000 cals.


2. If you goal is looking good but make gains then yes tracking B/F is important. If you goal is power lifting it not.

Its all your choice and goal your life. No one else can run it or life it.

[5kgLifter]

Originally Posted by leefarley

I'm not conserd about bf% if i look slim and have some muscle when i look in the mirror that is good enough for me and i also believe in that having a bit of body fat not enough to wobble around is also beneficial to health.

Yep, same here, I can't be bothered knowing what the BF% is as long as I have the look I want and I'm healthy, that's all that matters.

[Fazc]

I would say if you're completely unconcerned about the amount of fat you carry then you're being somewhat short sighted. It is a concern, whether that's from a health, bodybuilding or powerlifting point of view.

I don't mean to offend by that, but I've heard that a lot and it inevitably comes round to bite people in their ass.

[5kgLifter]

Originally Posted by Fazc

I would say if you're completely unconcerned about the amount of fat you carry then you're being somewhat short sighted. It is a concern, whether that's from a health, bodybuilding or powerlifting point of view.

I don't mean to offend by that, but I've heard that a lot and it inevitably comes round to bite people in their ass.

I don't think either myself or leefarley said we weren't "concerned" we just stated that the number or percentage itself is unimportant to us...both of us stated that as long as we looked slim and healthy with lean mass which understandably will mean less bodyfat anyway.

Besides, there are so many numerical formulas out there and not one of them is accurate, not even the most accurate one which still has a set margin concerning its percentage of error. People sometimes get too hung up on the numbers, especially when two calculations give a varying result, boy do people just hate that and they invariably go with the lowest result even if it's more than likely only as accurate as the one they rejected...delusions abound.

[TitanCT]

dont care about the number, only care about the reflection in the mirror.