A Doctor Explains Why You Can't Have Less Than 1 Percent Body Fat
Professional bodybuilders are known for having seriously low body fat. During an episode of Joe Rogan's podcast, Mr. Olympia Ronnie Coleman claims to have had 0.33 percent body fat when he competed as a professional bodybuilder. But is that even possible?
No, according to Brian Sutterer, MD. a physician specializing in physical medicine and rehabilitation.
Our bodies have two kinds of fat: essential and storage. The latter is what we think of as the yellow stuff that builds up from our diets, says Dr. Sutterer. What we don't think about is essential fat, which our bodies need to keep us alive. Fat helps us absorb vitamins, regulates hormones, and regulates body temperature.
There's fat inside our bodies in places you may not be aware of, like the brain, nerves, and surrounding organs.
"It is impossible to have zero percent body fat," says Dr. Sutterer.
Guys should have roughly two to five percent of essential fat, he says. It's just not humanely possible to have only 0.33 percent body fat.
So why could Coleman think his body fat was less than one percent? Machines that measure body fat aren't 100 percent accurate and may not have captured the bodybuilder's true body fat. He says it's more likely that Coleman had around three percent total body fat.
"It has to be the result of the machine giving a false measurement," says Dr. Sutterer. He says doesn't believe the body builder is trying to be dishonest.
"I don't think Coleman knows any better," he says.
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