#60: Body Fat %

Reasons or

Results! 

Fitness Nutrition Training

Sovereign Michael Valentine

SPN, CFT, Eft, Yft, Cft, SSc, GFI, CMCht, CERT, Reiki Master

206.225.9647

email: sovereignmv@gmail.com

web: bnbbs.myshaklee.com

Special Report #60

Part of the

“I see you to succeeding"

series.

Bodyfat %

It's important to track your body fat percentage from the beginning of your nutrition and exercise regime.

Often, we see a skinny person jogging or doing "an" exercise and mistakenly think that "that" activity produced those results.

Random activity that isn't designed for your fitness goals or fitness level doesn't produce the results you think it may.

Part of the time, the most accomplished fitness buffs do low intensity random, recreational exercise simply as a way to cross train or break up and lower the intensity of their routine and when we see them we think "that" activity produced "that" body.

Then we go to our trainer and say, "I want to get that body by doing that exercise." It doesn't work that way. Once you get over 20%, every 1% of fat  = about 2 pounds of fat. 

This is critical to note since the closer you get to, or over 30% you are assuredly in the arena where all the de-generative dis-eases kick in, diabetes, heart dis-ease, cancer, stroke, obesity, etc. 

20% body fat level isn't necessarily where you need to be for your activity level and fitness goals. But it is the first goal to strive for. 

Obesity and body fat is energy that is stored but isn't being used for energy. -Like carrying a backpack full of food that you don't have access to since it's on your back!

If you can imagine an endurance athlete like a runner or soccer player carrying a backpack full of food they won't eat during the run... You get it. So, depending on what kind of activity you want to participate in, this is how you determine what your secondary goal beyond getting your body fat to 20% should be.

Runners, bikers & swimmers  should be around 10% or less. Each pound of body fat requires more strength and energy to move the weight of that fat.

Going below 5% body fat isn't usually useful unless you're a physique competitor like a bodybuilding athlete, but even then staying that low beyond the competition itself actually inhibits recovery from workouts, inhibits muscle and lean mass growth and isn't really good for the body in general, so it doesn't serve a purpose either.

So, either end of the spectrum can be detrimental.

For women, once the body fat gets down in the 5% range bone density and menstrual cycles tend to suffer. So being that low in body fat interferes with overall health so much that it can inhibit fitness. Also, for endurance fitness, the difference in energy level going from 20% to 10% is compounded...at 10% body fat you'll have way more energy and feel a lot better all the way around since it requires energy to carry fat on your body.

If you've every attended or participated in fun runs you'll see a wide variety of body types among the participants. Some people participate but don't care about their health. Some people think running will eventually burn the fat off. It's common to see people who look skinny on top but have a lot of fat in one area of the body (insulin resistance), in other words because their initial training focused on conditioning versus lean mass, they simply got conditioned enough to carry the extra fat (fat is dangerous) so they are still in the danger zone of de-generative dis-ease, but they have a base of cardiovascular fitness (strong and tough but dangerously unhealthy).

So, if you do have excess body fat, focus on burning fat first, until you are at 10%-20% body fat, then get conditioned for the activities you enjoy. Burning fat will provide a high level of conditioning, but higher intensity conditioning won't necessarily produce fat loss. Nor will running for a longer duration burn off more fat. Burning fat is the result of tapping into the energy pathway which allows / signals / utilizes the body to burn fat for energy, rather than  the energy pathway which preserves body fat. And that's part of the reason you'll see people are participating / competing in events but still have stubborn spots or uneven distribution of bodyfat on their frame (insulin resistance).

 Make 20% your initial body fat goal, then 10%-20% depending on your activity level.

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Ciao!