2 replies to this topic

[The Immortalist]

I'm just wondering if when you practice calorie restriction does your bodyfat percentage go down to very low levels (5% if your a man for example)?

[Luminosity]

I haven't practiced that formally but I have skipped a lot of meals, and dieted, and it seemed to have made me fat.

[Michael]

I'm just wondering if when you practice calorie restriction does your bodyfat percentage go down to very low levels (5% if your a man for example)?

My own %BF does indeed come out below that number on DEXA, but I don't think that's an issue on which to get focused or with a reasonable answer: obviously, it's going to depend on a person's starting anthropometry, degree of CR, whether and what kind of exercise s/he does (preferentially preserving lean), how much protein s/he is consuming (ditto), and doubtless some genetic factors.

I also don't think it's a very reasonable expectation that many CR folk will get that low: aside from being insane in a woman, very very few men are likely to get that low -- for example:

Five hundred twenty-eight male athletes participating in 26 Olympic events and 298 female athletes participating in 15 Olympic events underwent determination of body fat percentage (% fat) ... All groups of athletes were below the average values for % fat of college age men and women of 15% and 25%, respectively. In general, athletes involved in a sport where their body weight is supported, such as canoe and kayak (males, 13.0 ± 2.5%; females, 22.2 ± 4.6%) and swimming (males, 12.4 ± 3.7%; females 19.5 ± 2.8%), tended to have higher % fat values. Athletes involved in sports where a weight class has to be made to compete, such as boxing (males, 6.9 ± 1.6%) and wrestling (male, Junior World Freestyle 7.9 ± 2.7%), events such as the 100, 200, and 400 meters in athletes (male 100 and 200 meters, 6.5 ± 1.2%; female 100, 200 and 400 meters, 13.7 ± 3.6%) that are very anaerobic in nature and extremely aerobic events such as the marathon (males, 6.4 ± 1.3%) demonstrated lower % fat values.

To give some hard numbers: in the long-term CR practitioners from the CR Society, average %BF was 6.7± 4. Equally, there are many athletes who do have extremely low body fat, but who are consuming enormous numbers of Calories. CR is about your Caloric intake, not your weight or anthropometry.

I haven't practiced that formally but I have skipped a lot of meals, and dieted, and it seemed to have made me fat.

Ie, evidently you didn't practice at all . The only way to restrict Calories is to restrict Calories.