I hate my fat pad

Abs don’t show up until sub 10%? Is it healthy to have less than 10% of bodyfat for long periods?

I’ve heard 12%, but alas, I have never experienced this.

As for healthy, I think 10 would be fine. Under 6 gets dicey longterm, again, so I have been told.

We all hate your fatpad. So kick it’s ass.

Hi guys!

I’m on a diet myself and looked up fat % categories. Wikipedia says 15% is ideal for men. Some other source went more into detail stating that 8%-15% is thin, 15-20% is normal, 20-25% is slightly overweight, 25-30% is overweight and over 30% is seriously overweight. These are Finnish categories. I guess this means 8% or more is ok long term…

I’m at 27% :( . I’m 7” BP and only about 5” NBP. So I still have a long way to go… well it’s better than 32% where I was. Can’t wait to be down to “normal” or beyond. Good luck on your guest WantToBeThick!

Thats a ton of length tied up in the fat pad. Potentiall 1.5 NBP or slightly more! That’s HUGE.

I know…. that’s one of the few good things in being fat… the potential…. it’s pushing me forward. I have also noticed that as my fat ass and thighs get leaner the penis looks bigger in comparison :) .

ShortWorm,

What are you doing to strip fat?

djrobins,

I’m on ketogenic. At first it was hell but after about two weeks in I have had enough energy for working out as good as before. I plateaud so I kept a food journal which pointed me into cutting calories. On ketogenic you can’t eat all you can which some people might think. Currently I’m at 200 calories under basic metabolic rate (metabolism without exercise). For me this is 2000-2100 Calories. Carbs 15-30 grams per day.

One hour morning walk everyday after two mugs of coffee and a pint of water. 7km run once or twice a week. Gym once or twice a week.

I have lost 17cm off my waist, 12kg and 5% bf since christmas. I haven’t felt hungry. Have cheated too many times but you just have to get back in the saddle…. can’t be fat forever..

Yea, that’s actually the biggest motivator in my recent fitness/diet kick. With 3 months of dieting/exercise, I could hit my ultimate length goal, 7 inches nbp.

I’m down 10 pounds as of this morning. I don’t think the fat pad as budged much, but I know that will come later.

Keep going and going and going. That’s the kind of battle your on. It’s a marathon.

Abs showing at approximately 10% bf is what I’ve heard too and that 6% is the lowest level that can be maintained for a sustained period of time. During competitions bodybuilders are at even lower levels, around 3% bf. Such low levels cannot be maintained without risk for a longer period.

Another poster mentioned that he was gaining two pound of muscle a month while still losing weight, this is close to impossible for a guy of average fitness and average genes. Those who are new to weight lifting will gain muscle while still losing weight, but after the first year or so this becomes very difficult. It is still possible to increase strength and maintain muscle while losing weight, but the fitter one gets the more difficult it becomes. The best way to maintain strength and muscle mass while dieting is to do heavy weight lifting (3-6 reps/set), keeping the energy shortage at reasonable levels (-500-1000 kcals/day) and making sure to eat sufficient amounts of protein; 2 grams*(kg body weight) each day. That is, a guy of 100 kg should eat at least 200 grams of protein each day. Oh, and make sure to always eat directly after working out, this is the most important meal of the day when trying to gain muscle and strength.

I have 10% body fat when I’m not working out, and a .5 fat pad. It goes down maybe 1/8 an inch when I’m regularly working out; point being, the distribution of fat matters just as much as the percentage of body fat. My abs are visible even when I don’t work out (no I’m not anorexic, just skinny). I would kill to shave off another 1/8 an inch from my fat pad.

At my lowest I was at ~8% measured with calipers. but my libido was non existant.

Now I’m around 10-11% with a fat pad of ~0.5” and a 4-pack showing, so my opinion is that 10-14% is lean enough to keep long term, but not with the drawbacks of being “too lean”. Sometimes, in the summer I go towards the single digits of %BF , but not for long, just for the show.

There are exceptions of course, which are naturally about 8-10% and don’t suffer any negative outcomes.

It is extremely rare for anyone to be below 5% in reality, rare even in the bodybuilding scene. And only for a few hours at that.