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are my fats too low?

  • 07-02-2017 11:24PM
    #1
    f140
    Banned (with Prison Access) Posts: 875 ✭✭✭


    Have been cutting now with about 2 months. Dropped from 20% bmi to 15% bmi (gym tested this for me) but I thought I should have been seeing a better outline of abs at this stage. Really no sight of abs just yet. I am eating very clean and in a deficit. Weight is dropping as well.


    I am wondering could my fats be too low causing my body to keep storing belly fat for longer? The only fats I am eating are whatever is in a small handful of cashew nuts, in a small bit of almond milk and what evers in about 175g of lean steak mince. COuld my fats be too low?


Comments

  • #2
    Mellor
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 40,607 ✭✭✭✭Mellor


    I assume you mean BF% and not BMI. A BMI of 15 would have you looking like you are on deaths door.

    It's probably very unlikely you'll see abs at 15%. You probably need to be under 12%, maybe even 10% to see abs.
    Fats look to be a bit low. And being too isn't good, but it causes issues with hormones, skin, hair etc. It won't cause you to significantly retain belly fat.
    Dropping from 20% to 15% is a fair bit of mass lost, which means you are burning less energy on a daily basis as you aren't carrying all that excess weight everywhere you go. It's probably a good time re-adjust your calories intake to suit your current size.

    Current height, weight and age?
    Previous weight?


  • #3
    Zillah
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 17,369 ✭✭✭✭Zillah


    f140 wrote: »
    COuld my fats be too low?

    No.

    Abs only really show up when you're extremely lean. 15% isn't all that lean. Genetics also dictate the shape of a person's abs. Some people have very shapely, individual divisions, some people have more of a slab.

    Bodyfat percentage is more useful than BMI but it's still not all that useful. You could gain muscle in your arms and legs, thereby lowering your bodyfat %, but you'd still have the exact same amount of fat on your stomach.

    If you want visible abs you need to reduce your body fat more, the number the gym people tell you doesn't matter much if your body doesn't look the way you'd like.

    You should have fats in your diet but not because your body will "hang on" to body fat if you don't eat fat; that's not how it works.


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