Body fat percentage?

[UserReqDel20200217]

 

What is my body fat percentage

 

Edited January 28, 2020 by Fernando Gabriel

[mccoy]

I'm tempted to answer: maybe too low!!

From the picture, it would seem that maybe you are going in a dangerous direction, since also muscle mass seems to be way too low.

The emphasys of this forum is caloric restriction but with optimal nutrition, amminoacids, minerals vitamins and so on.

What I see from the picture is not a calorically-restricted condition, rather a malnourished condition, definitely not conducive to longevity.

If you are willing to listen to my suggestion, try and build some muscle mass by eating more healthy food and doing some exercise, drastic CR in young people may be dangerous. If you want to restrict, restrict junk food, animal food, but eat lots of healthy protein-rich plant food, yogurt and eggs if you are not vegan.

And please check your blood values!

 

[Ron Put]

Fernando, how old are you? You seem too young to be doing CR. I am really not sure that restricting calories before full maturity (in males, maybe about 27) is beneficial.

I can't see sharply protruding ribs, so it's hard to tell what fat mass. But you do look very young, so while it's good to eat healthy food at any age, make sure you eat enough to ensure growth and optimum health later on. Don't get fat, of course, but do some push ups, planks, pull ups, get a couple of weights and do a bit of cardio, too. Regularly.

If you can, invest in the top of the line Whitings scale, it will give you benchmarks for fat mass, bone mass, muscle mass, and if you are in Europe, it also shows pulse wave velocity, in addition to weight and BMI.

[Todd Allen]

You look skinny but I'd guess your bodyfat% is about 18% because you have a soft look with little vascularity, muscle definition or prominence of bones such as ribs, hips or collar bones.  Get a DEXA scan or hydrostatic weighing to know with better accuracy.  Here's a simple calculator using just a tape measure and scale that I think gives a fairly good estimate.

http://fitness.bizcalcs.com/Calculator.asp?Calc=Body-Fat-Navy

But even if your bodyfat% is a little higher than ideal as the others have said it isn't because you have too much fat but rather too little muscle.  I'm decades older with a genetic progressive muscle wasting disease and I don't envy your physique.   Best to build up some muscle now, it gets harder as we age.

Edited August 1, 2019 by Todd Allen

[UserReqDel20200217]

13 hours ago, Todd Allen said:

You look skinny but I'd guess your bodyfat% is about 18% because you have a soft look with little vascularity, muscle definition or prominence of bones such as ribs, hips or collar bones.  Get a DEXA scan or hydrostatic weighing to know with better accuracy.  Here's a simple calculator using just a tape measure and scale that I think gives a fairly good estimate.

http://fitness.bizcalcs.com/Calculator.asp?Calc=Body-Fat-Navy

But even if your bodyfat% is a little higher than ideal as the others have said it isn't because you have too much fat but rather too little muscle.  I'm decades older with a genetic progressive muscle wasting disease and I don't envy your physique.   Best to build up some muscle now, it gets harder as we age.

18

[Ron Put]

Fernando, if the above means that you are 18, then really don't even think of CR until you are about 10 years older.

But it's good that you are cognizant of the choices we all make for long-term health and well-being.

Tray to eat a healthy diet, but sufficient to cover your nutrient requirements. Get Cronometer, it really helps evaluating and adjusting nutrients for optimum health.

And definitely start exercising. Start slow, do as much as you can, even a single push-up and a squat, and even a 10 seconds plank. Get a pair of weights, not too heavy and start pumping, slowly. Keep form over repetitions, so you don't hurt yourself, which is the mistake many make. Jog, jump or dance in place, if you don't feel like going out, start with even 5 minutes a day.

Do it 5 days a week and within a few weeks, you'll start seeing results. Within a few months to a year, you'll see your body change significantly and the muscle will replace much of the fat.

Just do it! as Nike says 🙂 You'll feel good, I promise you.

And come back to CR in a decade, after you are fully mature. Or, they might just have a pill by then 🙂

[Matt]

I see where others are coming from because your body is still developing and you could jeopardize your growth into a more adult-like (male) body.  

So you need to think about if you're willing to accept (potential) consequences of severely restricting calories. 

Things such as not being as tall as you could be, having a smaller frame (including less broad shoulders), not having a deep voice, and other characteristics which are considered masculine. I don't know for sure that these are affected, but I would take it seriously. And being so skinny might make it harder to get into relationships in the future as well.  

Can you stand up straight with your shoulders back and the camera more body level? 

I was trying to just get an old similar pic I took when I had a BMI of 16 just to compare. Photobucket is being rubbishing right now (as it usually is) so I can't access it.

I don't think 18 is too young to start eating a really healthy diet and just staying lean but not underweight. Starting this early assume that there is much room for improvement beyond the current functioning of your cells and body as a whole. 

I started this journey when I was also around 18 years old (35 this Oct) and I continued more seriously at 20, and then ended up with a BMI of 16.3 or lower which I maintained it for about 6 years. Then I increased it to 17.5 (intentionally) for a few years. 

It's hard to see my trajectory if I hadn't done CR. I'm only just over 5 ft 7" and my brother and father are much taller than me. I have the small body frame, even when I went to my sister's wedding, I was like 1 size away from a boys suit rather than men's because my shoulders were not very broad. Didn't really develop any overly masculine features, very boyish (teenage) voice (even often referred to as a girl on the phone.)

All that might've not happened even if I didn't restrict to just 1500 K/cal for years (and now back at 1500). Or it might've happened anyway due to genetics and whatever other factors were involved. I do feel though that I may have interrupted my development to an extent.

But it just so happens that I'm perfectly fine about all of that. I have zero regrets and I'm very happy about my decision. It was probably one of the best things I could have done.

But now imagine yourself 10 years from now. You're a 28-year-old dude and CR is old news. We have senolytics and other therapies which are far superior. Now you're stuck with many of these features because you deprived yourself of energy while you were still developing. Yeah, you could bulk up, do some weights... but would you have preferred to be taller? Have a bigger body frame? Broader shoulders?  Many of these things matter if you're into girls, it's what they're attracted to.

Even though I have a site partly about CR, I would not recommend people do it at 18 or even 20. Earliest would be 25. 

Think more about the consequences... 

 

Edited August 3, 2019 by Matt

[UserReqDel20200217]

[mccoy]

Man, you really need to put some bodyweight onto yourself.

If you read carefully previous discussions in this forum, you'll realize that some body fat and some muscles seem to provide benefits to longevity. There is an optimum. Too high is bad but too low is maybe worse.

[UserReqDel20200217]

14 hours ago, mccoy said:

Man, you really need to put some bodyweight onto yourself.

If you read carefully previous discussions in this forum, you'll realize that some body fat and some muscles seem to provide benefits to longevity. There is an optimum. Too high is bad but too low is maybe worse.

What is the minimum amount of muscle for me to survive according to my body type.
Example I may be alive if I have 30 pounds of muscle

Edited November 16, 2019 by Fernando Gabriel

[mccoy]

Why are you interested in the minimum amount of muscle? You should be interested in the optimum amount of muscle. Your optimum would probably be at a BMI of 21-23, remaining lean.

 

[UserReqDel20200217]

Does the percentage of healthy fat change with age?

[mccoy]

With age usually non-healthy fat (visceral fat) tends to increase, but that's not always the case.

[UserReqDel20200217]

If I have a low imc but have a healthy fat percentage will I have high immunity?

[mccoy]

Your BMI may be low, but if it is too low then your immune system may be compromised.

Again, in my opinion you should aim at a 10-12% body fat with a BMI of 22-24 kgm-2. With the little musculoskeletal tissue you have, even endurance exercises will cause some muscular hypertrophy, providing you eat enough calories and protein. Then you can start with some free-body resistance exercise, then some weight lifting. You are going to be and feel much healthier with some muscles on the bones.

Bottomline: eat more, eat healthy food, do a lot of exercise starting very progressively, then forget about food and concentrate on studying and building a career.

[UserReqDel20200217]

I was wondering what my biotype according to my photos

[mccoy]

On 1/2/2020 at 2:28 PM, Fernando Gabriel said:

I was wondering what my biotype according to my photos

Your photos are pictures of the phenotype of a starving boy