How fat is too fat?

imageI couldn’t tell you how many time I was asked this last weekend.

I was measuring body fat % at the Deva triathlon in Chester on Saturday.  I wasn’t sure how it would go down but it seemed there were a lot of people who wanted to know how fat they were.

The theme though was that most of the people who wanted to get measured were already pretty lean.  IT was like they just wanted confirmation.

The fatter people on the other hand didn’t want to know (I suppose they already do and perhaps just didn’t want a stranger telling them – fair enough).

The lowest man was 6% and lowest woman 14%.

From talking to the people I measured I also found that the leanest were those who were expecting good times, winning times.

You might say the leanest were the fastest.

Maybe that’s not a surprise.

The problem for me was that these people don’t need my help, they are already doing pretty well and whilst I am sure I could make them a bit better, the gains would be far less.

So who needs my hep?

I suppose those struggling the most, the ones who are trying but not getting anywhere but they are desperate – thats my best client.

Lets say for example your a man and 20% fat

Lets assume you are 80kg.

That means you have 16KG of fat.

The remainder is muscle, bones, organs etc.

What would happen if you lost 8KG of just fat.

– You would be able to see your abs
– You would fly up the hills
– You would feel light on the run
– You wouldn’t have to hold your belly in getting out of the pool
– Your misses would be all over you like a cheap suit

None of those are a bad thing.

So what % should you be aiming for?

This is very individual but I would say as a man if you are somewhere around the 10-12% body fat mark you are doing pretty well.

If you are a woman anything around 20-22% is good.

So what you going to do about it?

Eating less and training more will only get you so fat by the way.

LINK:

How to do triathlon and still have a life outside, its not easy:

http://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/the-swimming-blog/2015/jun/17/how-to-balance-triathlon-training-work-life

RECIPE:

Its like pizza but better:

http://paleoporn.net/meatza-recipe/

Jamie “I didn’t used to be able to see my abs” Leighto

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