Unhealthy Body Fat Levels- Lecture by Mike Israetel

[@incurableromantic4006]

I honestly can't believe I've just had a 30 minute consultation with a medical professional, who clearly and simply told me everything I need to know about this subject, for free, and without even me having to leave my room. Sometimes the internet is a wonderful thing. Thanks

[@rayzerot]

He's not a medical professional (but definitely could be if he wanted to be). Dr. Mike is a PHD in Sports Science

[@vanessativa2418]

He is still a professional

[@Zion122]

A good KZbin video is not a substitute for a medical consultation.

[@cindykurneck]

I know this vid is old, but thank you! I just hit 28.2% body fat, down from 37.5% 10 months ago and this video made me very happy. LOL. I was thinking that I'd like to get down to 25% but I'm in no hurry to do so. I have begun to try to put on muscle now, and want rid of the viceral fat. thank you for this, thank you for so many things.

[@rayzerot]

Hot damn! Good going mah dude!

[@pedrogorilla483]

Congrats man! Look into the carnivore diet.

[@Give_Me_Rent]

If I had this guy as a college professor I would never miss a day of class

[@gk5891]

Considering he quotes a 70 year old study using outdated techniques (95% of diets fail) he shares a lot with the college professors I had. Clinical weight loss programs are more successful than that today.

[@Devil-ig7kl]

​@@gk5891 and it fucking works unlike other bs studies which doesn't even apply in real life 😂

[@gk5891]

@@Devil-ig7kl It works? What works? Please explain. The study in question showed a 5% long-term success rate in the 1950s for clinical weight loss programs. Today they average around 20% (According to meta-analysis of 29 more recent studies). Do you really think the success of clinical weight loss programs 70 years ago is germane today? If you got leukemia today would you really look at the remission rate for the 1950s when deciding treatment options? Incidentally I was Stage 3 (Morbidly) Obese and lost the weight and have kept it off for 40 years so I do have some idea of the real world.

[@Devil-ig7kl]

@@gk5891 i mean whatever he says and it does makes sense!

[@gk5891]

@@Devil-ig7kl I don't have a problem with him in general (That's why I watch him). It's just not good procedure to use out dated information to make your point and it's not at all helpful tell people (especially when it is no longer true) that 19 out of 20 of you will fail if you attempt to lose weight. It's exaggeration by obscurification and cost creditabililty.

[@morganfreeweights]

The voice change is nutty

[@nynerlevin3469]

man, this guy even blinks with a full range of motion

[@bigwig2659]

You look like a homeless person, props for having a device.

[@neilyaremchuk6798]

My workout is his eyelid warm up.

[@bigwig2659]

@@neilyaremchuk6798 i think your workout is mainly eating.

[@Zdenko1991]

HAHAHAHAAHAHAHAH. Youa made my day

[@christianhansen103]

I also do some weird twitch like things sometimes, feels good, stretches my facial muscles etc. Started in my late 20's. 😏

[@harrison_caton]

I treat these like actual lectures, I pull out a notepad and take notes everytime!!!

[@LittleJulio.]

I can’t learn without the analogies!! Thanks yet again Dr. Mike

[@bradley5210]

It's a lot easier for most people. The trick is coming up with your own on the fly.

[@w1cked001]

Man, there's a lot of high level content this channel pushes out for free!

[@theodoremcandrews1634]

Really enjoy listening to Mike Israetel because of his excellent word choice and composition. His brain functions and communicates in such an understandable and rational manner.

[@balladbargen]

Wow , how much healthier, Dr. Mike seems in here

[@lhoffmom]

The RP ebooks helped me tremendously with my weight loss, nutrition, and strength training. Thank you Dr. Mike and RP! Hit my goal weight in May '18 and maintaining for the last 4 months.

[@SporkRevolution]

How are you doing now?

[@GoblinWar]

Not too snoop but it looks like she's hitting Olympic WL PRs as recently as this week. Hell yeah bro

[@blondebomber-qo2uy]

Hell, I appreciate female biology being included in Dr Mike's videos at all. It seems less in his newer videos but he at least gives us the math to convert the male numbers to our own which is a rare thing in the lifting community.

[@ClouduSan]

"OMG OMG I'M OVER THE BODY FAT LIMIT, let's do beach body super XTREME HaRdCoRe ZFX 3000" 16:44 , man that's why I love Mike's videos LMAO

[@NathanMulder]

Since me and my mates have applied your advice, we have made substantial improvements. We thank you good sir!

[@sorrisocdo2759]

I used to think there is no lower range, since all the studies showed that all what happens is not getting further benefit. I tried to maintain 8% BF a few years ago. When I got there, my testosteron was 18 nmol/L (=520 ng/dL), and after a few months of maintaining, even when I increased my calories to maintenance, my hunger was getting worse and worse, also, I saw that I was quickly losing muscle, libido and I was constantly depressed. So I went back for another bloodtest and I was shocked... According to the studies, my testosteron should have been increased, yet it was 8 nmol/L (=230 ng/dL). When I got back to 14-15% bodyfat (I couldn't even prevent gaining fat, since I could not build muscle, all the surplus was used up as fat), after a few months of maintenance luckly my hormon levels were close back to their starting point. Since that, I've never tried cutting down to single digit again, and I'm happly gaining muscle between 10-15% BF.

[@imsorrythankyouplease7613]

I’ve been struggling with body dysmorphia. Putting off my diet-break for months. The hunger came. The plateau came. I wanted to get LEAN ASAP. I was mentally torturing myself everyday I ate in a 200 calorie surplus. But I f doctor Mike says I’m lean enough, that means more to me than the dozens of hours spent looking in the mirror pinching skin folds. Thanks for the video.

[@TheRealRealOK]

Hairy Cherub Start lifting.

[@imsorrythankyouplease7613]

O K I’ll keep lifting despite your implication that it’s not doing anything. Because that’s what Dr Mike would want. You won’t make my cortisol levels go up.

[@LaithAlkhalili]

Take your time.. Took me 10 years to look decent..

[@imsorrythankyouplease7613]

Blonothan Jano read the first line of the post. I know, bud.

[@johnelwood5049]

@Hairy Cherub, I wish you the best in managing your dysmorphia. These things can be tough but I think your openness about it will only help. So glad this video has given you a useful perspective. Good on you!

[@matthewhardwick365]

So aim for 4%, got it.

[@sweetguy19762]

Why not aim for 4%?

[@matthewhardwick365]

@@sweetguy19762 no reason not to, I am going to try to reach 4, that's exactly what my comment said. At the same time, I won't use any more extreme measures and if weight loss stalls earlier that's fine too. If you care I'm already roughly 10% (visible veins on lower stomach)

[@gronkiusmaximus]

Matthew Hardwick Have fun dying or feeling like you're going to when you actually reach 4% which you won't and doubt you have any good reason to like a monetary one :D

[@petedawson5875]

Soriki found the fat guy

[@matthewhardwick365]

@@petedawson5875 no idea What you mean

[@Yololololollol]

Dr. Mike is "fundamentally" the best!

[@azulsimmons1040]

Mike needs to have his shirt off sitting on a throne with an axe while he delivers these lectures in pseudo-barbaric language. Mike, what is best in life. Mike answers, "Lift heavy weights, have huge muscles, and hear the lamentation of your competitors."

[@Damian.Williams]

Very interesting I recently dropped 20lb as I believed(after listening to a podcast) the more you weigh, the more blood you need in your body( muscle needing more blood than fat). And the heart has to work harder to pump the extra blood. Then over time it stretches and gets bigger. In turn the heart muscle gets thicker. The thicker the heart muscle gets, the harder it is for it to squeeze and relax with each heartbeat. Over time, the heart may not be able to keep up with the extra load... I dropped from 230 to 210 I was planning on dropping another 10lb for health, which would put me below 15% body fat(around 10%)... After listening to this it seems pointless... Very informative thanks 😀

[@ResistanceQuest]

How come you're always pulling a funny face in the thumbnails? It cracks me up!! Great info Doc, thanks as usual

[@nohpleft]

I love that despite the title the video is actually very focused on healthy levels.

[@cheddarpuff]

I seem to be hovering in the 22% range (female), down from 24% during inactive and vegan times. I am focusing on developing muscles, especially arms/upper body to balance out my look and making some good progress based on how I look at myself. I thought I wanted to get to 20% or 18% body fat, but it seems counterproductive with both building muscles and also just having a normal (meaning, sustainable) way of eating.

[@TorBoy9]

that was a really thorough discussion of healthy and unhealthy body fat percentage. It is too bad that the vast majority of the Western world is quite a bit over the healthy range and suffer from insulin resistance and T2 diabetes.

[@pinosantilli8297]

This fella is right on the money guys and gals...please listen carefully! Great job Mike!

[@Eedwhine]

Holy shit these videos are amazing. I could listen all day to Mike, it doesn't matter what he talks about! Super valuable information though, and important topics that many seem to not know enough about. Thank you for this.

[@Candyapplebone]

Yeah he’s a guru

[@Daniel_Zalman]

Mike, you're a great guy and you provide really high quality information. I really respect that. Удачи!

[@MrAnhedonic]

To talk for this long on this topic with some dense second to knowledge nugget ration is a real display of your knowledge on the subejct. Thank you for sharing this!

[@triarii9257]

Woah he had hair back then.

[@RiDankulous]

It's extremely useful all your videos, thank you! I think it would help to mention also the waist circumference and waist-to-hip ratio and waist-to-height ratio. Simply waist circumference is better than BMI, and getting percent body fat is inaccurate in all methods and costs money. I went whole food-plant based and got my waist size down to I think it was below 31" at 5'10" height. It's back up to 32.25" at this time, but I am in striking distance of the elusive 29". Getting the waist-to-hip ratio lower can also be done bulking the glutes. All kidding aside, it's just a marker. I am doing Bulgarian split squat and that ratio will be dropping. Right now, 31.25" is the highest my waist can be to have < 0.9 waist-to-hip ratio.

[@statisticallysupportedanal1896]

Hormone production in men and the distinction between natural and unnatural athletes is important. Natural men and women generally need 5-8% for basic hormonal function, and women without gear will likely die under 10%.

[@zeroneg]

Had a TIA in December. Metabolic Syndrome. Dropped 40 lbs over the last 5 months starting in February. Why did I wait? Medical testing. Didnt want diet and exercise to throw any data off on tests. Now, from 255 lbs Im at 214. And at 12 to 14%. I need more equipment at home though. These bowflex adjustables and a single kettñe bell is all I got. But man, I make use of them. lol. Y'all. Get healthy, but then start setting performance goals. Fit is not big. Fit can include biggish, but it doesnt mean that. So get there guys. Good info here.

[@JitinMisra]

How did you change your diet when losing the weight ?

[@zeroneg]

@@JitinMisra Carnivore. Added muscle along the way. The high protein count appears to trigger the mTOR pathway via Leucine. Got to where working out was sufferable. lol. Im healthier than when I was in my 20s now.

[@nonyabiznas4986]

thank you for the making this. mostly not new info, but i loved the vid all the same. i recently reached a personal weight loss goal and this video was very validating. i came down from 273 (skinny fat)to 215 (muscular) i took alot of reset cycles in that time and a couple mental breaks from having a structured eating plan at all. it took about 3 years i did yoyo in between 230 and 220 for about a year but i really do feal like taking it slow helped out alot more with my overall health

[@SFSBuster]

I wish all teachers spoke charming like Mike

[@jerryfox143]

love the vids tho super weird seeing a more serious and calm Dr mike

[@squishosrs5790]

Ty for teaching me how to say tertiary because I have been wrong my entire life.

[@reubsbay]

Dr Mike: king of analogies

[@georgep9059]

Dr Mike is the best!!

[@MeleDrummer]

Dr. Mike 4 President! Make America Jacked Again!!!!

[@Heatherleianne]

Great to know! I feel better about my 25%. I’m working on my visceral fat now. When you get a dexa, they don’t say anything about your numbers.

[@vanessativa2418]

He looks 10 years younger here

[@flipperzero9662]

I spent about a decade IDing people for a living, dozens to hundreds per shift. Just wanted to say I disagree with you and would say he's aged like 5 years.

[@A.x3]

Mike looks so handsome here!!

[@diablominero]

Being too lean (down to the low single digits) won't make males sick directly. But males who get sick while being that lean sometimes have worse outcomes than they would if they had more body fat. During the AIDS crisis, the people who made it through to treatments being available were the ones who were carrying a bit of extra weight when they got infected. If you get cancer and have difficulty eating from chemo, you'll be able to tolerate more chemo if you can survive longer on insufficient food, i.e., if you have body fat.

[@operationtruth288]

Great Information

[@p-anilsson6306]

Exceptionell work in here Mike👌💪 only thing is that when you get plus 50 years old a very low bodyfat for men sub 12% can mean that you get accelarated weight loss If you get sicknesses as severe as cancer, open heart surgery etc etc… aka an extremly catabolic state. the aging body needs a bit more stores energy for those extreme cases it seems like.

[@Docinaplane]

I have a male friend who is probably close to 10% body fat, maybe a little lower. He wants to go to 5%. I cautioned him on the dangers of being below 6%, though he is Asian (very fit 40 y/o) so I think he may be able to go a little lower. I also suggested he get a DEXA scan to really know his BF. That scan can find fat on a rock. I've been just under 10% for many years and comfortably sustain that with IF and being very active.

[@sunishotra9958]

I agree dropping into the single digits of body fat puts you at risk for hormonal dysfunction athletes don't even stay in the single digits for too long so what makes us normal beings think that it's sustainable?

[@santiagogomez2143]

Gotta love Dr.Mike's analogies

[@vibesfro]

Thanks for the video! It was really helpful, and I'm thrilled to know that I don't have as far to go with my body fat % as I thought. Also... is that Pulpit Rock in the background?

[@bovv8940]

oh my... how youve changed in 4 years!!! (now 2023)

[@cringeproof100]

Best video on body fat ever

[@slashjor]

Voice sounds different af lol nice job gear

[@stargazer2042]

Very educational and important. I'm glad I know now.

[@eoinhh]

On males being below 10% being safe "it's not being there, it's the getting there that's dangerous" what about the anecdotes from body builders saying their serial health declines. So would this be due to the athlete missing out on fats for hormone optimization, or simply being in such a low body fat?

[@geogemini8528]

Really? I have always heard that going that low will drop your test levels. Isn't that why most natural lifters never stay that low unless they are about to go on stage?

[@sunishotra9958]

EXACTLY! entering the single digit range will more than likely put you at risk for hormonal dysfunction (sometimes permanent) that's why athletes after the competition is over, they go back into the safe ranges and still look ripped between 10-15% or maybe a bit higher.

[@mamalemon4461]

this clear up alot of questions.

[@lazur1]

Thanks, Doctor.

[@YamanoRyuu]

I just bulk to 30%, I dont want to die bro

[@Lowcarbtrucker]

😂

[@chandrascorner8780]

I wish I would have known about the body fat %ages when I first lost weight after my oldest son. I was 23 and had a trainer who got me to 21% body fat (the lowest I’ve ever been as an adult). My trainer was 9% or 10% and I didn’t understand why I couldn’t get to that number. Unfortunately he couldn’t tell me either because he wasn’t as knowledgeable. I’m 37 now and 3 kids later, trying to get back there would be hell on earth. 29% is probably doable for me now. I’ve gotten to that in my 30’s.

[@Lebowski92]

How much can you change in 4 years? 😅 Appreciate your channel 🙏🏻!

[@nightwolf9951]

Fr, seeing this video after watching his latest ones feels so out of place, didn't know Doc evolved this noticably in just a few years 😂

[@aethylwulfeiii6502]

There really isn’t much peer reviewed literature on health consequences and outcomes for low body fat in males that are technically at the healthy or even “obese,” bmi levels. None that I found.

[@SR-gg3mm]

You should remake this video with your newer slides format

[@jamesbunkley7823]

I love the breakdowns

[@seeslotrun8574]

Breasts being described as STRUCTURES is the best thing EVER!!! #BlinkSquad

[@NathanMcKitrick]

I think you should use genie analogies for every lecture

[@haroonabassi1821]

Damn that intro was Italo disco as fuck. I love it.

[@scottmichaelcoleman1063]

Great content, Mike. For visual learners like me, could you add graphics, charts, pics, etc.? Thanks

[@RealExpertsPro]

You just scared me into buying the RP plan. 😅

[@robinhensley3382]

Great video!! I could listen to you all day ☺️

[@1MoreStep1]

24:27 The lowest beneficial body fat for men incoming. With sustainable realistic diet: 10-15%. Lower percentages are technically ok until about 4% but getting there would most likely not be healthy.

[@gilozoaira]

This is such excellent information! Best regards from Belgium.

[@Paeoniarosa]

Very helpful, Thank you.

[@tiffanyj3245]

I’m 9.5% body fat as a woman and now am eating so much food it is embarrassing to me. Also the constant thinking of food. I eat about 3000 cal/day. Just so hungry all the time. I eat pretty healthy, am vegan, eat around 35-50 g fat, 200g protein 300 g carbs. Can I keep this up without gaining more fat?? Do I still exercise when doing a diet reset? I travel every 2 months so I have a break from my lifting even when I don’t want to and diet reset eating without documenting my food/macros while traveling that lasts 2 weeks. I did a reset while traveling and did not exercise, ate what I wanted and gained 10 lbs and up 2% body fat. What’s a good way to feel satisfied, not gain more body fat and drop my cravings?

[@johnmole9958]

Hey Mike, thanks for that vid! You touched on the ideal weight for a female to be able to lift to function optimally in every day life and not be carrying around too much muscle/weight and perhaps be unhealthy. Do you have any guidelines for lifts regarding males? I assume it would differ with size etc, but just general guidelines? Thanks.

[@AesthMed]

Generally a good aim for strength is: Bench press- At least 1.5x your body weight. Squat and deadlift- at least 2x your bodyweight. Those are some good numbers to aim for as a beginner. For example, I weigh 180lbs so I aimed for 270lbs bench press and 360lbs squat and deadlift to establish a solid strength foundation. I was able to hit all 3 of those about my 2nd year of lifting.

[@bogdanpopa268]

Huh, look at that, a universe where Dr. Mike has hair 😁

[@evan_james]

I miss fuzzy dr. Mike

[@simonerobledo8198]

Thank you for these videos!

[@okkomp]

Pretty sure about 15% as male or 25% as female is optimal. Below that is worse health wise

[@williambreeze2659]

Learned a lot from this 👌

[@sam187st]

I don't think rats can use ketones as fuel like humans could. So overfeeding them saturated fats is an equivalent to over feeding humans carbs.

[@guessmyname1104]

Woah, hair!?

[@cb4isagoodmovie]

Poor Cindy and Laura

[@pedrogorilla483]

Hey Dr. Mike, if I have high body fat as a male and transition to female, does my body fat normalize to the female range?

[@matty_b5482]

14:55 I thought he said ligma lol

[@tiziano7071]

@@seanodea8102 ligma balls lmao

[@makhseed]

Lmao

[@deuteriumjones]

Slight correction at about 11:00. Pound for pound muscle requires a lot more blood flow than a pound of adipose (fat) tissue. So muscle is more taxing on the heart than fat **But** top body builders might have 60? More pounds of muscle than an average healthy person. People are routinely 2, 3, 400 pounds over fat. So fat definitely causes more heart problems.

[@rossinverted]

Sure, I'd even press the necessity of slightly higher body fat for performance outside of bodybuilding. I notice a huge difference in 12% (great) work capacity vs 7% with athletics or medium+ length Crossfit workouts. Look at strongmen: almost none of them are ripped, so there's something to be said about composition, function, frame stability, fuel (goal obviously). Curious about the addition of body types as well. What it takes for an endomorph at sub 6% vs meso/ecto. Good reference video for people educated by instagram/youtube.

[@Slayer666th]

Awesome video! The only thing that comes to my mind that might be bad for males to have a very low bodyfat percentage is the loss of brain mass? The brain is mainly fat and maybe the body regulates the fat destribution in some weird way, since survival is more important than writing novels, idk. Seems unlikely but thats the only thing i could come up with.

[@tpespos]

I had a friend dip into the 2% and the first problem he ran into was heart problems. There’s fat around your heart that is necessary for function.

[@sergiocalderon6325]

I'm no expert by any means, but I can guarantee you that you will 1. Feel awful from super low body fat well before you start losing around the brain, and 2. The brain is without a doubt the most important organ in the body. The body knows this. The body is great at prioritizing the vital organs above all else.

[@GuidetteExpert]

What body fat % makes your hormones go beneath a healthy range ? Is there any clear study because everyone are making these videos without referring to a study. I had my period in 9% bodyfat so I dont really believe that period thing. I think when your cutting and in to much deficit and fast, that is when the periods stop.

[@luisaisaac517]

So you are saying there will not be any type of hormonal imbalances from being in the 4-8% body fat percentage for a male?

[@owlinahat5611]

I have a question that I’m genuinely confused about; if a man is around 17% body fat but then they lose a leg or something, now their weight is much lower and their fat is not drastically lower, especially if they genetically store more fat in their abdominal area, are they now considered unhealthy?

[@cellardoor3156]

That question is too unspecific

[@Reddles37]

I think what really matters is mostly the deep visceral fat around your organs. Your overall body fat level is roughly proportional to the visceral fat, since spot reduction isn't really a thing so you gain and lose fat pretty evenly across your body. But losing a leg or something doesn't affect the visceral fat and obviously doesn't make you less lean, you'll just have a different ideal body fat to aim for. It's the same as how the targets are higher for women, because for the same level of visceral fat they have more overall body fat but that extra fat isn't making them more unhealthy.

[@julesrope]

Question: what are your thoughts on the accuracy of the InBody (BIA) machine? Thanks!!

[@mrsbobanna]

I know you didn't ask me, but I seriously doubt its accuracy. I'm a female and I tested at 15%, but going by pictures I am ~20% minimum.

[@lock152]

Off by at least +/- 4%

[@Clybielike]

you need to bring back the beard dr. mike!

[@Mikey__R]

If you have excess muscle mass, likely from lifting weights, are you going to have denser bones than a sedentary person with excess fat?

[@TheNRicciardi]

Dan John says 3x bw deadlift is a gamechanger

[@samvega290]

I’m pretty sure it’s 2x, and that’s specific to sports performance

[@michaelblacktree]

The KZbin algorithm decided I should watch this video. It was weird watching a muscle-bound guy talk intelligently. But that was some good info.

[@taylordavis1799]

michael blacktree this dude’s great. Him and Jeff Nippard are the best.

[@imbaguitar]

@@taylordavis1799 let's be honest here. Jeff Nippard doesn't know what he's talking about

[@taylordavis1799]

@@imbaguitar yeahhhhh I can’t agree with that one chief

[@AesthMed]

@@taylordavis1799 He just regurgitates studies rather than understand the big picture. He has even done videos correcting misleading info in videos He made in the past. In general he has some gold info, but really only for beginners.

[@sanderoxopsono9468]

So Dr Mike was Jeff Nippard before Jeff Nippard

[@aarsteinhalderaker3331]

Papa Mike

[@noneednoneed5752]

Dr Mike had hair ? ... was always jacked :D

[@sitiwrattz]

Ah the days before Scott The Video Guy when Mike had hair.

[@davieorr1]

What is your thoughts on BMI scale?

[@JamesHarveyDavies]

NOW WE'RE TALKING! FAT FOR A YEAR BABY, I HEAR YA