There is no shortcut to losing weight or shedding fat. And the road on how to get to 10% body fat is never easy. Many people think that the journey would be just denying yourself certain foods and dieting. If that is the mindset, then you would be disappointed as a lot of effort must be exerted to achieve weight goals as well as body fat aim. Just like any endeavor in life, losing weight and reducing the amount of fat in your body is also a long term- if not lifelong commitment. How to get to 10% body fat and to lose overall healthy weight, you must exercise, follow a healthy and nutritious diet, get enough sleep, and look after your mental health signs, too.
When your main goal is to lose body fat, you should be aware that once you reach at least 15% of body fat in the body, it becomes hard to lose more fat and the preparation you will do is mostly just about finesse and maintaining it. But even before you could reach that, you need to find how to get to 10% body fat without harming your health and following important steps to do it the right way. In this read, the needed body fat percentage will be explained as well as the effects if it becomes too low. A complete guide on how it’s done will also be laid out as you scroll down below.
Body Fat Percentage Explained
Before we go into the specifics of lowering the amount of body fat in the body, there should be an adept explanation of what it is. It is the amount of fat in your body which excludes your lean mass. Lean mass or also called fat-free mass is composed of your organs, bones, body water, and muscles. The fat percentage in your body will show how much of the actual weight is composed of body fat.
According to research, a body fat percentage of 20% up until 32% for women is acceptable as healthy while for men, it should be around 15% to 22%. One thing to also note is that as we grow in age, the percentage of the body increases and this is normal as it’s vital for aging. Factors such as level of overall muscle mass, waist to height ratio, and healthy circumference of the waist must also be looked into. These factors are important and could not be neglected.
Those who always ask how to get to 10% body fat; the answer is to train and work hard as an athlete. When you have a higher percentage of body fat, your focus first should be on nutrition and what to eat to avoid getting more. Once this is addressed, you move closer by getting lower body fat and the attention focuses on mass and muscle building. Those who are in the 10% body fat percentage are mostly athletes, bodybuilders, and fitness competitors.
What Happens When Body Fat Is Too Low?
Men and women in the fitness world want to be lean. That’s why there should be activities that opt to take care of the muscles and body mass. But getting too low in the spectrum of body fat percentage could pose unhealthy risks. While it is true that having high levels of body fat could expose you to heart and health risks, having too low levels could also do the same. In reality, body fat is more than what meets the naked eye. There should be a balance of both as going too low would cause some of these negative effects:
- Energy levels could become too low
- Prone to cardiovascular problems
- Muscles have a hard time to recover from intense exercise
- You get hungry all the time
- Muscles become weak
- Sperm count could drop and could lead to infertility or impotence
How To Get To 10% Body Fat: What To Do And The Training Plan
As mentioned above, getting to a 10% body fat entails commitment. That means that you should watch what you eat and there should also be a detailed exercise to be down. Here is a guide for you.
What to eat
1. Eat for energy and fuel
There should be a laser-focus in getting fuel and energy for your body as exercise and routines could be tough. Diet and meals should include 5-9 vegetables or fruit servings in a day and get protein from bland chicken. Choose lean proteins and fats like chia seeds, nuts, and oils. Avoid saturated fats and foods with high levels of carbohydrates like sweet potatoes, grains, and brown rice.
2. Use your calories storage better
If the question is how to get to 10% body fat, the answer should always be to focus on gaining more muscle and it entails for you to eat more. Calories are needed to build muscle so it’s important that you eat foods with carbs before and right after training so that you can recover. It will also help lock in the protein from the calories taken.
3. Focus on Staple and Bland
When your goal is to eat healthy and lower body fat to 10%, your food will be boring. Your chicken and meat will be bland as you should cut salty and sauces.
4. Hire an expert
Bring your journal of what to eat and not to eat to a licensed dietitian. Hiring a professional could check out anything that must be added or removed to improve any factors that could cause side effects like lack of sleep and stress.
5. Stay Focused. Be committed
What sets apart those who have 10% of body fat to those who have more is that those who have a lesser body fat percentage got ultra-focused- not to mention committed as well.
Workout Strategy
Food is one thing and training is another. When you want to know how to get to 10% body fat, training is important as in this stage, you will be building muscles. Here’s a week’s worth of training guide for you.
- Day 1: Conditioning and Strength Training. Workouts need to have movements that are multi-directional so that stability could be increased. It could also work out all the muscles in the body.
- Day 2: Bodybuilding. Check timeless and growth plan workouts for overall bodybuilding.
- Day 3: Mobility. Do exercises and training that focuses on using all muscles and body parts.
- Day 4: Conditioning and Strength Training (again, yes.).
- Day 5: Active Recovery. After a strenuous workout, it’s vital to recover both physically and mentally. Do not forget to do some stretching and active training like swimming and yoga.
- Day 6: Rest. You are not a robot. Sleep it off and take a walk in the park if you must.
- Day 7: Tempo Conditioning. This is the time where you adjust your sets, reps, and interval lengths. Challenge your muscles and nervous system ready for the new week ahead of the same training.
How to get to 10% body fat is a commitment and those who would like to get to this level are athletes, coaches, and bodybuilders. Whatever the goal is, never forget that a balance of everything could do you good, and too much or too little of something could be an issue.
