Comments on: The Line Must Be Drawn Here! Why You Shouldn’t Care If Your Body Fat Percentage Isn’t Under 15%

By: Rahim

Rahim — Sat, 15 Aug 2009 20:58:49 +0000

Honestly, I never understood what the obsession was with the whole body fat % thing either. If you’re doing the right things, that’s all that should matter. I’m beginning to wonder if the whole craze started with 2 people in a crowded gym somewhere who were in impecable shape and ran out of competitive comparisions to make with eachother. So one of them turned to the other and said “Oh yeah? Well what’s your body fat percentage?”

By: Spacerguy

Spacerguy — Mon, 10 Aug 2009 23:34:15 +0000

What about Salt? Salt is inorganic and can’t be absorbed by the body, its also a great preserver of body fat and so too is sugar. What you eat today is walking and talking tomorrow. Do you like you’re fizzy drinks? Well, salt and sugar will do a wonderful job of preserving and increasing the bodys fat stores which is why at nearly 40 I’m not such a bad catch. I stay away from the salt shakers because they’re extremely bad news. Salt will wash away the synovial fluid between your bones and cement them together. Nice huh? No, its horrible, take a closer look at older people and how they walk. These folks are in pain, crippled by their joints and on painkillers. Some waddle from side to side because their joints are so stiff and ruined from a lifetime of self indulgence. It is possible to eat yourself healthy but I want to enjoy what I eat. Its a bit of a catch 22 if you have a slow metabolism but even time will catch up with the best of metabolisms if the natural laws of nature are ignored. I have a melon fast once a week which is really tastey and good for you. Just melon and water for the whole day, its awesome and full of natural salt cleansers. Okay, confession time. I drink tea and love scones, yes thats right. The bleached foodless white flour ones with raisons. I guess nobodys perfect but where do you draw the line between health and happiness? You could say I’m in a battle against time! LOL!

By: DB

DB — Mon, 10 Aug 2009 14:58:01 +0000

When my boyfriend says he’s fat, I tell him that I just want him to be healthy, happy, and active. If he is missing one of these, then I encourage him to work out more. I am definitely more concerned about how a man acts and his personality than how ripped he is.

By: Rafi Bar-Lev

Rafi Bar-Lev — Sun, 09 Aug 2009 01:08:11 +0000

Sophia – Cool answer.

AF – Thanks for the compliment!

Henry – It really depends on the situation, but low body fat percentage doesn’t automatically equal health either, since like Kevin pointed out, low body fat percentage can also mean someone is God forbid malnourished. But don’t get me wrong, I’m not encouraging people to be overweight, I’m just saying you don’t need to get obsessive about having an extremely low body fat percentage.

By: henry

henry — Sat, 08 Aug 2009 14:40:16 +0000

rafi,sophia low body fat levels (up to a point) are healthy, studies have shown that people with low fat levels have longer life spans and are less prone to many diseases. There is a post on the fitness black book explaining how being only a little overweight increases mortality. I will increase my fat level before taking s.a.s selection ( to cope with food deprivation) and extreme cold ( I aim to join the mountain troops who specialise in mountain climbing and arctic warfare).

By: Anytime Fitness

Anytime Fitness — Fri, 07 Aug 2009 16:34:37 +0000

Great post, Rafi! I much prefer your t-shirt strategy, rather than those calipers!

@FitnessWP

By: Help Me. I’m a Poor College Student. « Burp and Slurp~

Help Me. I’m a Poor College Student. « Burp and Slurp~ — Thu, 06 Aug 2009 23:52:37 +0000

[...] Check this post about why body fat doesn’t matter, and please be sure to contribute your input so I can see [...]

By: Sophia

Sophia — Thu, 06 Aug 2009 18:13:55 +0000

Henry: I don’t think anybody is asking you to carry more fat than necessary. 5% or 15%, what I find most attractive about a guy is his confidence in himself, and his charming personality. I admit it is nice to see a guy with nice muscle definition and a six-pack, but I don’t really find myself wanting to spend time with him if he is obsessive-compulsive about his weight and working out. Vain guys are such a turn off!
But wait–I’m not saying you are vain or anything. I’m just saying, I wish everybody would just be at their own natural weight and be confident of themselves. My brother himself is really slim and probably has less than 10% body fat…but then he is just naturally that way. Maybe you are that way too. But if your natural weight is a bit plumper, then that is perfectly fine, too.

By: Rafi

Rafi — Thu, 06 Aug 2009 17:28:56 +0000

Henry – This is one of the few fitness sites on the internet where you won’t see me telling people they need to look like a photoshopped Hollywood actor (who often look terrible in real life) or Arnold Schwarzenegger in order to be fit or look good.

Didn’t you tell me you wanted to get into the SAS? Because the army requires real world, functional fitness where you’ll be better off with some body fat. In general, 5% body fat is way too low unless you have some kind of medical problem that you can’t help it right now.

Instead of answering your question, I’m going to ask the girls who visit this site to answer your question about what they like more.

So to the girls…do you prefer a guy who has 7% body fat and is obsessive compulsive about his weight, body fat, how his body looks and when he works out. Or would you rather a guy who has 15% body fat but is in solid shape, isn’t compulsive about his body fat % or his body but instead prefers to admire yours…and is fun to be around. Let’s hear what you have to say!

By: henry

henry — Thu, 06 Aug 2009 10:36:05 +0000

I like your site ( the frequency at which you post is amazing) but I disagree with this post. If your bodyfat is over about 10% your sixpack will not be visable. Also girls are more impressed by muscle definition(low body fat) than muscle size. Also why would you want to carry around any more weight than you have too. I may be a little biased because my body fat must be around 5% but I really can not see the point in having excess fat. Fat is of little use in our mordern world where your never far away from a fridge when you get hungry.