Cost of Getting Lean

harringtonp

Excellent article. Rather than focusing on specific diets or exercise programs it talks about general lifestyle changes and sacrifices needed to go down through the body fat percentage bands. Well worth a read.

http://www.precisionnutrition.com/cost-of-getting-lean

Applicable to any sport where weight is important.

Beasty

For me - the cost was, well, quite a lot ......

....but at least I've ended up with a few bikes and a nice training facility

Alkers

Don't really agree, the sacrifices they've raised there are more what it takes to get to being that lean, not to maintaining those bf percentages

ford2600

Simona1986 wrote: »

Don't really agree, the sacrifices they've raised there are more what it takes to get to being that lean, not to maintaining those bf percentages

Does it not depend where on the spectrum you are?

A guy who goes from 25% to 15% can probably stay there easy enough once his new practices/lifestyle become an ingrained habit.

Staying under 10% would be socially difficult and maybe mentally draining for most in the long term?

harringtonp

Reckon I'm in the 13-15% bracket now as was 16.5% when 3KG heavier.

Had to change a lot of eating habits to bring the weight down and then found I could reintroduce a few of the bad ones and maintain a stable weight. I'm pretty sure though that if I went back to how I was regards eating, the weight would shoot right back up.

As suggested above, probably the higher your body fat percentage the more you can get away with relaxing the regime that got you there in the first place and still maintain stable weight.

Hmmzis

I'm a bit in two minds about that health thing and low body fat percentages. Maybe it's just observer bias on my part but I find that getting rid of a cold is a great deal more difficult when I'm at 10% than when I'm around 15%. Also I seem to be getting secondary infections easier when at 10%.

Inquitus

Hmmzis wrote: »

I'm a bit in two minds about that health thing and low body fat percentages. Maybe it's just observer bias on my part but I find that getting rid of a cold is a great deal more difficult when I'm at 10% than when I'm around 15%. Also I seem to be getting secondary infections easier when at 10%.

Aye racing at Navan last week at 8% bodyfat seems like a fast track to getting sick. In our climate there's probably a benefit to maintaining a higher bodyfat percentage than if you were training in the Canaries.

ford2600

Inquitus wrote: »

Aye racing at Navan last week at 8% bodyfat seems like a fast track to getting sick. In our climate there's probably a benefit to maintaining a higher bodyfat percentage than if you were training in the Canaries.

8% is pretty low.

Hard to get there and stay there? I'm not going to try, just curious btw.

How are you measuring? Got an 11% and 14% reading at same time with two different methods last year.

Is the reason pro cyclists, for example, are prone to colds/flus etc more to do with their bodies being under stress than low bodyfat?

Inquitus

ford2600 wrote: »

8% is pretty low.

Hard to get there and stay there? I'm not going to try, just curious btw.

How are you measuring? Got an 11% and 14% reading at same time with two different methods last year.

Is the reason pro cyclists, for example, are prone to colds/flus etc more to do with their bodies being under stress than low bodyfat?

I am not 8%, I am in the same range as you, I was surmising that at such low levels you'd suffer in our conditions, week in week out, for racing and training.

harringtonp

What do you reckon guys is optimum ? In other words both healthy and light.

From reading suspect about 10% but have not been at these levels to know.

And how do you measure it ? The twice I've had it done was with a gym owner who measured with calipers. Is it something you can do yourself ?

Inquitus

harringtonp wrote: »

What do you reckon guys is optimum ? In other words both healthy and light.

From reading suspect about 10% but have not been at these levels to know.

And how do you measure it ? The twice I've had it done was with a gym owner who measured with calipers. Is it something you can do yourself ?

"iDxa scans" and "Bod pods" are the only very accurate ways to determine it as far as I understand.

ford2600

harringtonp wrote: »

What do you reckon guys is optimum ? In other words both healthy and light.

From reading suspect about 10% but have not been at these levels to know.

And how do you measure it ? The twice I've had it done was with a gym owner who measured with calipers. Is it something you can do yourself ?

See what level of fat you feel best at rather than targeting a number I think.

As for measuring, use same person to do it a same time of day and at same hydration level etc. Might not be 100% accurate but is reliably in its inaccuracy and is cheap!

harringtonp

Inquitus wrote: »

"iDxa scans" and "Bod pods" are the only very accurate ways to determine it as far as I understand.

Interesting. I happen to have a DEXA scan in Limerick regional in 2 weeks time to measure bone density. I wonder is body fat percentage automatically measured too or is it something you would need to explicitly request and do separately.