Consequences of Extremely Low Body Fat Level

[jreacerx]

Does anyone know or have a link to the problems associated with an extremely low body fat level (under 3%)? My testosterone levels were checked and were found to be very low (thinking it may be linked to low body fat level). I'm on 150 mg week of Deletestryl now. Thanks for any help.

 

[MrMakaveli]

Hormonal problems is def one. Blood in bodily functions, VERY easily bruising, easily becoming sick, constant pains the archs of your foot.

Exactly how low are you?

 

[jreacerx]

MrMakaveli
Thanks for the response. My testosterone level was last at 183 and last bodyfat level at 3.1% (tested hydrostatically). I havent had any problems with blood in functions, pain in arches & havent been sick since reaching this level (now slightly lower). I have noticed that I bruise very easily though (seems to heal faster than usual though). Thanks for the help.

 

[Kid Dynamite]

How did you get that low, and for how long have you been there? You really shouldn't sit below 5 or 6% too long, and that's if you're naturally lean.

 

[jreacerx]

Kid Dynamite

It took about 8 months to reach 3% (from 23%). I've always been much more bulky than lean. I decided to cut some body fat and that turned into a desire to see just how much I could actually cut (without drugs). At this point I'm doing cardio every day for 30 mins and eating 2600 calories (35g fat, 226g protein & 355g carbs per day) and still slowly losing fat (actual weight has pretty much stayed the same for months). I havent really seen any real adverse consequences so far beside the possibility of lower testosterone. I think that there may be a lot of misinformation about the possible consequences of very low body fat but I guess I'll find out.

 

[MrMakaveli]

At 3% you only have the fat surrounding your organs and spinal cord left.

I found these posts on a Anabolic Fitness post - How low is too low with bodyfat

"You need bodyfat for a lot of necessary things - cushioning your heart, providing a reservoir of raw materials for synthesizing hormones, all kinds of stuff. Your body is bound to start cannibalizing lean mass pretty soon, in order to protect the precious resource of the little remaining bodyfat you have" - bjaarki

Here's what will happen eventually. The soles of your feet, especially the balls, will start to ache first. Then you will notice bruises starting to appear in the strangest places, without any memory of trauma. You may get a nosebleed or two. Your strength will, amazingly, stay high, especially if you are on gear, but your endurance will suffer. However, it won't be in the traditional sense. You'll just suddenly get lightheaded and shaky in a workout. If you're on a winny cycle, you may see spots after a workout, and your pupils will constrict spontaneously at times of physical stress. Your mouth will always be dry. Oh yeah...your friends will ask you what the hell you are doing to yourself. I can tell you that for me, 4% is the absolute lowest I can stay upright at. Maybe I could get lower..who knows? But what looks different from 5% to 4% anyway? Your face, really, is the only thing that looks any different there, and it is because your eyes will sink in and your neck will look gristly - fukkenshredded


I'd say you would def want to start raising your body-fat back up to 5 at least. Like the above says, you wont notice much difference between 3-5, except your face will look better.

 

[Naxis]

A friend of mine becme completely obsessed with losing every ounce of fat and got somewhere around 1% (according to his account). He got to the point of eating only what he absolutely had to in order to maintain muscle and eventually lost much bladder and bowel function. He started to gain back after that little lesson...

 

[MrMakaveli]

While I dont think 1% is possible unless your dead, I did the same thing a year ago before I knew anything about this sport. It physically took an amazing toll on me, I would get horrible horrible hunger pangs, eating until I threw up simply because I was still hungry, I would find bruises everywhere even from a touch. I was basically living off ECA, Water and minimal food, I regret every day I did that because mentally and physically I have never been the same.

 

[MkZk]

I would get horrible horrible hunger pangs, eating until I threw up simply because I

Yeah I know this...I was at 4% for weeks at a time and I was obsessed with food...would just binge and binge then cardio like hell and go superstrict dieting....dumb. It's possible to maintain low BF level with a more sensible diet and have some sweets/junk more often, but less at a time.

 

[jreacerx]

MrMakaveli

Thanks for the additional information. At this point, I haven't noticed any of those problems besides the previously mentioned possibility of reduced testosterone & bruising very easily. The bruises/scratches heal unusually fast though. For instance, I bumped my head and caused a round scratch on my forehead the size of a nickel on Monday. It has completely healed now. I eat 6 times a day (approx every 3 hours) and am mostly very full after every meal. My diet, as posted above, is perfectly clean, haven't cheated once and am rarely hungry. I'm slowly increasing my calories up from 2600 so I can consume more but still lose additional fat. If I had any of the more extreme problems you posted, I would stop but so far I'm feeling great. There is a bodybuilder, Clarence Bass, who maintains his body fat level below 3% without a problem so the problems mentioned may be from a poor diet. I'll let you know my progress.

 

[The Shadow]

Does anyone know or have a link to the problems associated with an extremely low body fat level (under 3%)? My testosterone levels were checked and were found to be very low (thinking it may be linked to low body fat level). I'm on 150 mg week of Deletestryl now. Thanks for any help.

SOrry but you ARE NOT below 3%......world record is 2.7

 

[jreacerx]

Well, I was hydrostatically tested at a very well respected center - the Cooper Aerobics Center in Dallas so I trust their measurements (which is the reason I decided to have it tested there and not a University). Of course, this is the internet and anyone can claim anything. Also, I've already looked into others with low body fat and found this (Men's Lowest Body Fat % Jason Chiero 2.29 4-5-02):

http://www.peak-athletic.com/mens_records.asp

 

[velvett]

Congradulations.

You're nearly dead.

 

[The Shadow]

10 Yard Sprint Jason Chiero 1.55 4-5-02
20 Yard Sprint Jason Chiero 2.03 4-5-02
30 Yard Sprint Jason Chiero 3.95 4-5-02
40 Yard Sprint Jason Chiero 4.5 4-5-02
Vertical Jump Jason Chiero 39.5 4-5-02
Broad Jump Jason Chiero 7.5 4-5-02
Squat Jason Chiero 660 4-5-02
Deadlift Jason Chiero 605 4-5-02
1 Mile Run Jason Chiero 4:15 4-5-02
Men's Lowest Body Fat % Jason Chiero 2.29 4-5-02



AND HE BROKE ALL THESE RECORDS ON THE SAME DAY AT THAT BODYFAT...




BULLSHIT


IF YOU BELIEVE THOSE RECORDS AT THAT WEIGHT I HAVE SOME DIBENCOZIDE I NEED TO SELL YOU

 

[nclifter6feet6]

why are you mods downing this guy. just because your pudgy and not ripped doesnt mean you have to "player hate" someone else. im suprised to see these jealous coments coming from moderaters you should should be embaressed. . i beleive those records too by the way. dont be so narrow minded. theres a guy at my gym that weighs 160 with below 5 percent bodyfat that deadlifts 585 for 2 reps no belt no straps and natural to boot.

 

[ZKaudio]

why are you mods downing this guy. just because your pudgy and not ripped doesnt mean you have to "player hate" someone else. im suprised to see these jealous coments coming from moderaters you should should be embaressed. . i beleive those records too by the way. dont be so narrow minded. theres a guy at my gym that weighs 160 with below 5 percent bodyfat that deadlifts 585 for 2 reps no belt no straps and natural to boot.

Have you ever been sub 5%? From experience I can tell you, your strength is shit. You have no energy. You are cranky. You are dizzy. It's just not a great time to be PRing in lifts. I guess the only way I could believe this is if the guy has insane genetics and his resting bodyfat is just very low,

 

[jreacerx]

Thanks for the support nclifter6feet6. What really surprises me is that people refuse to open their minds up to the fact that you may be able to maintain a very low body fat level without any harmful repercussions. Instead of wallowing in ignorance and saying it isn't possible, do some research. Have the people that have had their body fat levels very low severely restricted calories (I haven't)? Have they performed massive amounts of cardio (I haven't)? Have they taken some form of steroid or drug to cut (besides ECA, I haven't)? Have they tried to reduce their levels quickly and not allow your body an opportunity to adjust (I've been cutting for the last 7 mos - was tested on September 5th)? I consulted with a sports physician at the Cooper Center after being hydrostatically weighed and he said, in a follow-up letter to me:

"As we discussed, I believe that your current body weight and percent body fat are healthy and that further attempts to lower it would not be a good idea."

Besides the fact that I easily bruise, I haven't noticed any other problems that I can directly relate to my low body fat levels (still unsure as to my low testosterone problem). If you're truly interested, I'm sure the sports physicians at the Cooper Center would love to talk shop with you. Of course, you could always just continue to wallow in ignorance.

 

[The Shadow]

why are you mods downing this guy. just because your pudgy and not ripped doesnt mean you have to "player hate" someone else.

...pudgy...do I look pudgy???


THis is a simple case of biomechanics - he set ALL those recoreds...on the SMAE day at sub 3% bf........I still call bullshit.

Sorry....ask ANY pler how much their power drops when bf drops

 

[velvett]

why are you mods downing this guy. just because your pudgy and not ripped doesnt mean you have to "player hate" someone else. im suprised to see these jealous coments coming from moderaters you should should be embaressed. . i beleive those records too by the way. dont be so narrow minded. theres a guy at my gym that weighs 160 with below 5 percent bodyfat that deadlifts 585 for 2 reps no belt no straps and natural to boot.

Please.

Spare me.

A friend of mine that owned a gym a few years back is friendly with Tom Platz so I had the chance to meet and talk to him. He told us a story of when he dropped down to 4% body fat for a competition and how violently ill he was and the enormous amount of pain and fear he felt.

You and jreacerx wanna get down to or below 2% percent body fat I wish you a happy trip with abolutely no support from me or any other big bad playa hatin' mod here whatsoever.

 

[velvett]

By the way, once you hit 1% your brain will start to stop functioning (your brain requires fat - FYI) and shortly there after you will start to die.

 

[nclifter6feet6]

how do you know tom platz illness was related to low bodyfat levels. dont you know that guy took tons of steroids. its a totally different situation. look at old bodybuilders now like arnold that took juice and how hes having problems now. i bet alot of the pros feel like shit all the time with all the crap they take, maybe they dont. especially back then they didnt know as much as we do know about roids.

natural athletes and juiced ones are verydifferent.

cornholio-maybe your ripped to shreds now i dont know, i was just judging you from your pic you posted a few months ago with no sign of ab development. you are also still ignorant to the fact that a lean guy cant lift as much as a fatter guy is what your saying somewhat. especially on something like deadlift, in which speed is your best asset! now wouldnt it make sense to drop your bodyfat as low as possible, because it is a "speed lift". the lighter or leaner you are the faster you are

 

[The Shadow]

you are also still ignorant to the fact that a lean guy cant lift as much as a fatter guy is what your saying somewhat. especially on something like deadlift, in which speed is your best asset! now wouldnt it make sense to drop your bodyfat as low as possible, because it is a "speed lift". the lighter or leaner you are the faster you are

LOL

BW has nothing to do with speed.....if it does - why do heavier lifters move more weight than lighter competitors

I said your interstitial leverage is GREATLY reduces as visceral fat deposits are non-existant - leverage is what pling is all about....actually a higher bodyweight would be beneficial on a lot of lifts - the claen come sto mind as you pull yourself under the bar....heavier bw makes that easier does it not.

Why is it a WR dead or Squat has been set with that low of a bodyfat level......that is YOUR argument.


Post a poll on the subject and see what the masses think......especially the plers

Open you eyes people........so you think that he set ALL those records in sucession on the same day at a bf of 2.2%????

 

[nclifter6feet6]

cornholio--why do you think powerlifters, especially the ones training west side have a SPEED DAY or DYNAMIC EFFORT DAY. thats it plain and simple. also a higher body fat percenage means more weight your trying to resist when you squat. let me make this simple for you a 200 pound man with 20 percent bodyfat can do a max squat of 400 pounds. total weight lifted combined with body weight is 600 pounds. take that same man and drop his body fat from 20 percent down to 5 now he weighs about 167 or so......do you get my point or do you need further explanation

 

[nclifter6feet6]

the reason why a squat or deadlift record hasnt been set with a low bodyfat is because most people do not have a clue on how to maintain a 5 percent bodyfat or below. its much easier to just strive to be big fat and strong, then having to worry about leanness, but if they had the knowledge or the amount of drugs(which ever route they choose) to be leaner, then that would be the MUCH smarter choice because they would weigh less and have less bodyweight to carry on lifts such as the squat and the deadlift

 

[The Shadow]

the reason why a squat or deadlift record hasnt been set with a low bodyfat is because most people do not have a clue on how to maintain a 5 percent bodyfat or below. its much easier to just strive to be big fat and strong, then having to worry about leanness, but if they had the knowledge or the amount of drugs(which ever route they choose) to be leaner, then that would be the MUCH smarter choice because they would weigh less and have less bodyweight to carry on lifts such as the squat and the deadlift

How hard would it be to peak on the day of the comp if it makes it that much easier?

 

[The Shadow]

cornholio--why do you think powerlifters, especially the ones training west side have a SPEED DAY or DYNAMIC EFFORT DAY. thats it plain and simple. also a higher body fat percenage means more weight your trying to resist when you squat. let me make this simple for you a 200 pound man with 20 percent bodyfat can do a max squat of 400 pounds. total weight lifted combined with body weight is 600 pounds. take that same man and drop his body fat from 20 percent down to 5 now he weighs about 167 or so......do you get my point or do you need further explanation

....that does little for the deads and bench though huh??


Simple....lol

...again...since this makes so much sense why do you NEVER see that done at the elite levels?

Again - you sinply are ignorant or misinformed about the body's reaction to a sub 5% bf reading....

 

[velvett]

It doesn't matter if you are natural or roided out - you hit below 2% your brain's gonna shut down. For a male anything under a monitored 5% is just not healthy for long periods of time.

 

[nclifter6feet6]

cornholio...yeah sub 5 percent bodyfat may have its "con's" but you cant deny the "pro's" to having low bodyfat in the squat and in deadlift. less bodyfat fat means less weight you have to squat or deadlift with. why is that so hard to comprehend moderaters

if more people new how to get down to such a low bodyfat they would. im shure alot of powerlifters would rather be at say 8 percent body fat then the usuall 15-20 percent i see. its not an easy thing to do and alot dont know how.

afterall his physician said it was healthy at the bodyfat he is at now but not to go any lower.

 

[The Shadow]

again - you missed my point:

At 2.27% - no WAY that guy posted all those records on the same day.....that is my only point in this..



and I wish the guy who started the post would post a pic.....I talked with Shawn Ray art teh O in 93 and he was so suckesd down that you could see the outline of his teeth i\under his lips

 

[jreacerx]

Cornholio
Now what would be the point of me posting a picture? So that you could make comments such as "you're don't have only 3% body fat in that picture," "who cares if you're 3% body fat, you don't have ANY muscle mass" or the classic "you look like you're on the verge of death." lol My reason for posting on the board was simply to ask a question regarding my low testosterone problem. Instead, I encounter nothing but negativity (except from Nclifter6feet6) from individuals who have no experience with very low body fat levels and who offer no authority whatsoever for their statements. If I believed that I was in danger at this body fat level or that it was unhealthy I would increase my level. Being healthy is very important to me. It is the reason that I have not and will not juice. I currently have a prescription for self-injecting Delatestryl. The amount prescribed is more than I feel is healthy so I have lowered the dosage (my doctor is a Urologist and not an Endocrinologist). How hard would it be for me to consult with additional Urologists to obtain further prescriptions - very easy. I could then form legally obtained cycles. To me, it's not worth the side effects/risks.

If you thought about it, you might actually have been able to learn something from someone who maintained very low body fat levels. Since I have only a little more than 4.5 lbs of fat on my body and I closely monitor my weight, I can closely track exactly what works to build muscle/lose fat. Don't get me wrong, I'm not pissed off about the post. To be honest, I didn't expect much by way of information and you guys didn't disappoint.

 

[SeekerOfKnowledge]

Kid Dynamite

It took about 8 months to reach 3% (from 23%). I've always been much more bulky than lean. I decided to cut some body fat and that turned into a desire to see just how much I could actually cut (without drugs). At this point I'm doing cardio every day for 30 mins and eating 2600 calories (35g fat, 226g protein & 355g carbs per day) and still slowly losing fat (actual weight has pretty much stayed the same for months). I havent really seen any real adverse consequences so far beside the possibility of lower testosterone. I think that there may be a lot of misinformation about the possible consequences of very low body fat but I guess I'll find out.

I'd like to know what you did for 8 months to drop 20% of body fat

 

[MrMakaveli]

None of the measures of body-fat available are accurate to any real degree anyway, so odds are he is no where close to a true 2% (God I hope not) just extremely low and needs to put a little on.

 

[circusgirl]

Um, not to flame but, the person who talked about starving himself down to that low with water + eca needs to see an ED specialist. I'm not flaming, I'm concerned. If this post was over on the women's board talking about staying sub 8% for longer than needed for a show, that would be the reply.

If you've gone that low, start eating carbs now, get back up to 10% guys... wait for your show to get down to 4%... If you find that mentally, it's difficult for you to put some bf back on, there are some folks over on the women's board who can give you some support in getting some control back...

Hope this helps.

 

[nclifter6feet6]

circusgirl- you are confused. he did not starve himself. 2500 calories is not starving. my father isnt huge but hes 61 years old and 6feet1 and weighs 170 and maintains 4-6 percent year round, and every thing is in check on him. lol your telling us to get back to 10 percent bodyfat LOL what a load of shit.

 

[circusgirl]

circusgirl- you are confused. he did not starve himself. 2500 calories is not starving. my father isnt huge but hes 61 years old and 6feet1 and weighs 170 and maintains 4-6 percent year round, and every thing is in check on him. lol your telling us to get back to 10 percent bodyfat LOL what a load of shit.

um wasn't there a respondent who said he got down to sub 3% by eating nothing and taking eca? Anyway, no problems, I was just a bit concerned for that guy. Anyway if you can maintain 6% year round healthily as you say, good for you!

 

[Fonz]

Re: Re: Consequences of Extremely Low Body Fat Level

SOrry but you ARE NOT below 3%......world record is 2.7

No. The Guiness Book of World Records has it stated as 1.1%.

Fonz