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what do you have to do to get below 10%
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body fat let's talk about
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that how's it going guys my name is
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Richie Kerwin and today we're going to
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talk about that completely arbitrary 10%
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body fat number that people love to put
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on the pedestal of ideal body
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composition we'll cover the importance
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of calories protein fats and carbs and
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how to figure out how much you need to
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help you drop body fat while maintaining
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as much muscle as possible on your quest
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for so 10% let's get started if you want
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to finally get your body fat percentage
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to the low teens or below from a
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nutritional perspective you have two
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main goals number one is to lose body
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fat obviously and number two is to
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maintain as much muscle as possible
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while doing it so let's talk about both
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when it comes to losing body fat if
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you're looking for some sort of Magic
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Bullet I've got bad news for you because
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every single diet that has ever helped
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someone lose body fat in the history of
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all diets has done so by creating a
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calorie deficit that means you're going
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to need to eat fewer calories than you
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burn until you get to your goal body fat
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percentage all the most well-known diets
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be they lowfat or gluten-free keto South
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Beach carnivore whatever all of them
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work because they get people to cut out
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a load of foods from their diets which
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makes them automatically eat fewer
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calories and lose weight but you're
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better than those people because you're
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watching this video and you don't have
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to try some stupid fat diet to lose
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weight you're welcome now there's a lot
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to in this video so bear with me the
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principal way weight loss works is very
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simple just eat fewer calories but in
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practice it's not easy at all especially
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when we live in a world where you can
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have a kebab a curry a bucket of fried
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chicken all followed by cake and ice
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cream delivered straight to your house
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within minutes of ordering and all
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without leaving the comfort of your
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chair but that's a conversation for
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another video so let's start with
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figuring out the calorie deficit you
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need for fat loss there are two ways I
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recommend firstly you can calculate your
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maintenance calories that's how many
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calories you need to maintain your body
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weight there are loads of websites that
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use your height weight age gender and
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activity levels to calculate how many
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calories you need to maintain your
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current weight don't worry about which
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one to use they're all pretty much the
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same and by that I mean they're all
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educated guesses of your calorie needs
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the reason it doesn't matter is because
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you're going to be adjusting your
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calories over time so it doesn't matter
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much where you start so once you know
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how many calories you burn to maintain
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weight if you want to lose body fat you
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just need to eat fewer calories than
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that but how many well remember what I
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said about the two goals of getting sub
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10% body fat one is obviously fat loss
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and the other which is just as important
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is muscle maintenance that's important
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because the bigger the calorie deficit
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you use the faster you lose body fat but
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you are also more likely to lose muscle
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the current research that we have shows
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that slow rates of fat loss are better
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for maintaining muscle when someone is
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getting very very lean now if you have a
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lot of body fat to lose you're less
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likely to lose muscle while losing body
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fat so you can have a bigger calorie
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deficit but if you're below 20 to 15%
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body fat slow is going to be better
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starting your diet with an approximately
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20% deficit is probably a good place to
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start so for example if your maintenance
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calories are about 3,000 calories per
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day that means you'll reduce them by 600
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calories 20% of 3,000 bringing your fat
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loss calories down to 2,400 calories per
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day you can spread that out over the
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entire week if you'd like so on weekdays
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you could have fewer and on weekends you
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could have more calories just to make
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the weekends a little bit more social
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and enjoyable but how do you even know
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if your calorie deficit is working well
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you also need to measure your progress
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without monitoring your progress you
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have no idea if what you're doing with
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your diet is actually working the
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easiest way to do that is by weighing
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yourself you want to do it daily so you
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can get a weekly average because your
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weight can actually fluctuate hugely
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from from day to day so a weekly average
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is a much better indicator of your
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progress there are plenty of other ways
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to measure your progress too taking
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measurements around your hips and waist
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or taking progress photos but the scale
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is probably the simplest especially at
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the start now I mentioned you're going
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to need to make adjustments over time
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because your weight loss will eventually
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slow down and even stop even if you're
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still eating what was a calorie deficit
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for you at the start of the diet this is
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totally normal and happens because when
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you lose weight well bodies need less
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energy and there's also some metabolic
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adaptation to dieting this just means
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your metabolism slows down a little to
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compensate for the reduced calories the
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only thing you can do at this point is
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to drop calories a little bit lower to
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get back into a new calorie deficit
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again it sucks but that's unfortunately
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how metabolism works so far we've only
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spoken about calories the next important
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nutrient to talk about is protein there
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are three reasons you may want to make
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sure you get enough protein protein
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while losing body fat number one protein
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is the most satiating macronutrient
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meaning it helps keep you feeling Fuller
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for longer than other nutrients like
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carbs or fats number two protein helps
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to maintain muscle and if you're cutting
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the whole goal should be to maintain as
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much muscle as possible while losing
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that body fat and number three protein
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has a higher thermic effect of food
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meaning it requires more energy to
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process it than carbs or fats while the
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effect is small in the long term a
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higher protein diet may be more
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beneficial for fat loss than an equal
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amount of calories from carbs or fats so
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how much protein do you need well we
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have researched to show that as little
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as 1.2 G per kilogram of body weight per
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day is enough to spare muscle while
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losing weight as long as you're doing
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resistance exercise but the research has
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also shown benefits for body composition
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with doses as high as 3.4 G or even 4.4
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gam of body weight per day but I'm not
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saying you should eat that much protein
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so how do we calculate your lean weight
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simply multiply your height in Me squar
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by 25 so if you're 170 cm tall that's
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1.7 m and your lean weight is 1.7 m
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squared by 25 which is 72.2 kg this is
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what I use to calculate protein intake
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for all my clients so if your ideal
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weight is 72.2 kg just multiply your
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weight in kilograms by 1.6 for example
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and that's how much you should eat in
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terms of protein that works out at 115.6
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g of protein per day hopefully spit up
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evenly over three or four meals for some
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of you that probably doesn't sound like
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a lot but there's evidence that that's
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enough to maintain muscle on a long diet
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but you can always eat more great Whole
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Food protein sources include lean meat
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eggs fish dairy products like yogurts
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cheeses Quark the reduced fat versions
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may make it easier to control calories
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too and vegetarian sources like tofu
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textured vegetable protein or TVP micro
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protein products like corn beans peas
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and lentils protein powders can be a
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cheap and convenient option too if
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you're having trouble getting enough
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protein from your diet alone now one
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last thing on maintaining muscle while
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dieting I've said that protein is
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important but all the protein in the
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world won't save your muscle if you're
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not training in the gym resistance
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exercise is simply the most important
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signal you can give to your body to hold
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on to muscle while you're dieting it's a
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far stronger effect than eating more
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protein okay so let's move on to Fat
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along protein fat is an absolutely
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essential macronutrient and there are
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essential fatty acids which means you
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absolutely need to get them in your diet
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to stay healthy on top of that if your
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diet is too low in fat for an extended
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period of time it can have some serious
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effects on your health low fat intake
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can affect your hormone levels like
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testosterone and you can end up feeling
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weak tired all the time and you can even
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see a major drop in your sex drive and
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nobody wants to lose their libido just
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for the sake of a six-pack so how much
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how much fat should you eat well we
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don't actually have an official bottom
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level of fat intake but if we speak
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somewhat conservatively starting with
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0.8 G of fat per kilogram of body weight
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is a decent place to start so if you
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weigh 70 kg that works out at about 56
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gram of fat per day as a minimum again
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keep an eye on how you're feeling and if
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you start feeling really fatigued and
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lose your sex drive or will to train
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increasing your fat intake might help
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get you feeling better again great fat
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sources include nuts and nut Butters
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seeds grind them up so you can actually
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get the fats out of them olive oil and
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oily fish at least twice a week and if
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you don't like oily fish consider taking
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a fish oil or an algo oil supplement to
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make sure you're getting your long chain
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omega-3 fatty acids keep your saturated
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fat intake low again for health purposes
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by reducing your intake of fatty red or
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processed Meats coconut oil butter and
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cream the one thing to be careful about
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with fats is that they have a lot of
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calories per gram so they can be easy
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easy to overeat and don't provide a
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whole lot of satiety which brings us on
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to carbs now carbs have been given a
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pretty bad reputation for people who
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clearly don't understand nutrition
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science and think that carbs make you
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fat they don't excess calories do you'll
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often hear that carbs aren't essential
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so we don't need them now while they may
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not be essential for Life carbs do offer
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a lot of benefits they help improve
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training quality they reduce fatigue in
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the gym and in general Whole Food Source
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of carbs are much more filling than fats
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and provide fiber which is very
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beneficial for your long-term Health on
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top of that carbs stored as glycogen in
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your muscles may even help with muscle
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growth and may help reduce muscle
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breakdown long story short carbs are
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awesome try and fit as many in as you
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can while still being in a calorie
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deficit and losing weight and the whole
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fat loss experience will be a lot easier
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and more productive for you I really
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recommend getting the majority of your
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carbs from whole food sources like whole
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grains such as such as oats or whole whe
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products starchy tubers like potatoes
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and sweet potatoes fruit and vegetables
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and even beans peas and nles they'll
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provide you with a load of vitamins
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minerals and phytonutrients to help keep
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you healthy they'll also provide a lot
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of fiber to keep you feeling Fuller for
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longer oh and if your calories get
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really low like at the later stages of a
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fat loss phase it can be a good idea to
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try and eat the majority of your carbs
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before training sessions to make sure
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your sessions are as good as they can
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nobody likes working out when they don't
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have any energy so make sure you carb up
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before training now before we finish up
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I also want to mention something about
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your rate of weight loss like I said if
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you have a bigger calorie deficit you
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lose weight faster while some people
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like that because it can keep them
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motivated personally I think a slower
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rate of weight loss is better one it's
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easier to manage because you're not
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dropping your calories crazy low which
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will just make you feel deprived really
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quickly a hard deficit right from the
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start can lead to people just getting
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sick of a diet giving up and robbing a
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bakery at gunpo and number two like I've
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said slower rates of weight loss will
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help you maintain more muscle mass which
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makes getting below 10% easier in the
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long run which brings me to something
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most people don't mention about trying
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to get below 10% body fat time and
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patience sticking to a strict diet for
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months at a time is damn hard especially
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if you've never been that lean before
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you're going to need to be strict with
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your food and you might not be able to
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enjoy social functions as much as you'd
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like your appetite hormones will
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eventually get a little deranged no
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matter how much protein or veggies or
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Fiber you fit into your diet because
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most people's bodies actively try to
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fight against weight loss that's a
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remnant of our Evolution because losing
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weight when food wasn't secure could end
11:45
up being fatal that's not so much a risk
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these days so you're going to need a lot
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of patience a lot of mental resolve and
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some damn good reasons for wanting to
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get to 10% body fat which brings me to
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this question why do you want to get
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below 10% body fat anyway it's the most
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arbitrary number in the world of Fitness
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10% looks different on everyone and you
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might not even like how you look that
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lean you don't need to be 10% body fat
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for health reasons and in fact getting a
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lot lower than that has some serious
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negative health effects too so what do
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you think has that answered your
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questions about how to get below 10%
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body fat as always if you have any
12:22
questions let me know in the comments
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below and remember to like And subscribe
12:25
to the my protein YouTube channel for
12:27
more great evidence-based nutrition