Generally the upper limit is about 12% body fat. Above that you' have abs with fat noticably starting to obscure them. 16% is rolls of fat with nothing visible. You won't look fat fat, but certainly abless.
Below about 8% body fat and you'll start looking emaciated and women will be grossed out. They don't like it.
skinnyfatte wrote:
jazzytherunner wrote:
What other physical activity are you doing in addition to weight training? You should be doing some form of cardiovascular exercise alongside resistance training if you want to get abs…
Is there a reason other than to create caloric deficit for more cardio? I do 30 mins of either indoor biking or rowing on non-running days, which is pretty much every day now. I’d recently resumed very low intensity running but again stopped and am temporarily hardly running except jogging to the gym and back (that’s just a half mile away) because I’m still waiting for my doc to weigh in on my recent DXA indicating low bone density, hormone tests (normal), follow-on MRIs indicating lingering stress reactions from late last year etc. all of which I obtained recently. I suppose I could increase my indoor cardio or resume swimming if his advice is to keep running paused for more weeks.
I sleep plenty. No idea what diet works best for me, but I have significantly upped my protein intake hoping for muscle gain. I like carbs and would like to keep my diet sustainable and satisfying long-term, so I probably won’t want to go for a dramatic change to macros.
It's not just as simple as to creating a caloric deficit. A caloric deficit induced by physical activity would promote more favorable changes in body composition than one created by just eating less. This is why many research studies have shown a much lower rate of muscle loss with diet & exercise as compared to dieting while sedentary, thereby showing that exercise is absolutely critical to maintaining muscle mass while trying to lose weight.
Anouther thing I see now that you told me, is the likelihood of Relative-Energy Deficiency Syndrome(RED-S). Low bone density and recurrent stress reactions are huge red flags for this issue. In relevance to getting leaner believe it or not, low energy availability can cause unfavorable metabolic and/or endocrine changes that make getting lean much more difficult. In fact, many athetes with RED-S find that they gain weight easily. I would check your caloric intake to see if you are in energy balance. Also what blood tests did your doctor do?
I am 195lbs, 20% BF and have visible abs. Not even flexing
coachcommentsnicely wrote:
I am 195lbs, 20% BF and have visible abs. Not even flexing
You’re fat and need your eyes checked, brah.
coachcommentsnicely wrote:
I am 195lbs, 20% BF and have visible abs. Not even flexing
Ha, good for you if true, but difficult to believe. You sure that 20% number is accurate based on a lab test, not just an online calculator?
coachcommentsnicely wrote:
I am 195lbs, 20% BF and have visible abs. Not even flexing
You don’t know what your bf figure is
jazzytherunner wrote:
Anouther thing I see now that you told me, is the likelihood of Relative-Energy Deficiency Syndrome(RED-S). Low bone density and recurrent stress reactions are huge red flags for this issue. In relevance to getting leaner believe it or not, low energy availability can cause unfavorable metabolic and/or endocrine changes that make getting lean much more difficult. In fact, many athetes with RED-S find that they gain weight easily. I would check your caloric intake to see if you are in energy balance. Also what blood tests did your doctor do?
Thanks, I seriously considered RED-S but have pretty much ruled it out based on the following (‘+’ refuting, ‘-‘ confirming, ‘*’ inconclusive):
+ Weight hasn’t fluctuated much from long-term ranges, and has slightly increased (3-5 pounds) since I started running and weight training, almost certainly predominantly posterior chain muscle mass increase;
+ Currently have nearly 15% body fat, which is not low for men, and it doesn’t seem to have shrunk at all going by abs and waist size stasis;
+ Eating by hunger to satiety has served me well for a long time and I would find myself eating more on running days;
+ My nutritionist hasn’t concluded that I’m on a troubling calorie deficit though she did agree my calorie intake based on hunger was lower relative to guidelines (but am still back-and-forth’ing with her);
+ No perceivable feeling of fatigue that I could attribute to caloric-deficit-induced BMR reduction;
+ Hormones including testosterone, thyroid, FSH, LH etc. are normal;
+ Am a hobbyjogger running for love of running for a little over a year, not an athlete, so there was no pressure to reach any body or performance targets;
+ No eating or body image issues ever to my knowledge, just a casual desire to have defined abs.
- Developed stress fractures last fall on both feet that seems difficult to attribute to recklessly high mileage as I gradually increased it to just ~30 mpw over several months, and am pretty sure the first stress fracture happened when I was doing just under 20 mpw.
* Vitamin D level is 29.4, which is “insufficient” (but not considered “deficient”) and, by some studies, can increase stress fracture risk (though doc doesn’t think so) but is not attributable to caloric deficit, plus I started taking isolated D supplements to increase it in Dec;
* DXA showed osteopenia in femur (-1 to -2.5) and nearly osteoporosis in spine (-2.1 to -2.5), but it’s unclear that this has anything to do with running or caloric deficit (as opposed to being innate) as I don’t have any past DXA info;
The last bullet above being the most likely explanation is my current hypothesis. My secondary sports doc in another town prescribed bone density increasing medication but I’m waiting for my primary sports doc to review the various recent tests and get his opinion on that medication.
OMG!!! wrote:
coachcommentsnicely wrote:
I am 195lbs, 20% BF and have visible abs. Not even flexing
You don’t know what your bf figure is
I haven't had a bod pod done in a while. I haven't had a DEXA done before. Though I recently (Wednesday) had a skin caliper test, girth measurement and BIA done.
Skin caliper came up at 15% (tester wasn't that skilled though), girth came up at 38% and BIA 21%.
My girth measurement is an outlier, especially since my butt is big. Waist/hip ratio is .856
I also have a BMI of ~28 and a VO2Max of 66.55 (tested with the Cooper 12-minute run test).
Don't believe me? Check out my Onlyfans. ;)
x_fit_the_real_one had a point with y'all. Go back and read some of his posts.