What bodyfat percentage can you cut to naturally?

[peterm28]

By reducing calories and doing a bit of cardio and maintenance lifting, eating enough protein, what bodyfat percentage can you cut to? What happens at/past that point?

I've been doing a lot of cardio, intermittant fasting as an adherence regime, and drastically cut down on my Calories (for example cutting out sweets) while supplementing protein. I'm looking better every day (I can only guess, but maybe from 18%-20% to 15%-16% bodyfat so far. The difference is pretty profound.)

While being natty (I recently started some creatine though, helps a bit with the training), how low can my bodyfat go on this program? Obviously 12% would be possible, but how about 10% or even 8%?

What's going to happen as I reach that?

Please note that I do eat vegetables too, and have some rest days (scheduling) where I just do pullups at home, and on some days I eat a little more. I'd like to know what wall I'm going to hit at when.

[xsquid99]

Single digits (5-8%) more than possible as a natty, but usually for limited amounts of time (stepping on stage for a contest); maintaining single digit BF IMO is not sustainable for most.

Eric Helms is a lifetime natty and was completely shredded on stage for a natural bodybuilding contest earlier this year.

[bLinkMoore]

Basically what Squid said.

You can get absurdly shredded if you know what you're doing. You'll also lose a lot of muscle mass, have zero energy, look like you're on death's door, and be basically miserable. I have never heard a bodybuilder say "yeah man, I wish I could always feel the way I do a few days out!"

Unless you're prepping for a serious competition, just stay as lean as is comfortable and sustainable

[hardyboysare]

You can cut as long as you want natural its called starving.

But I guess you are referring to actually having a decent amount of muscle and leanness. I would say anyway around above 5-6% is possible we have a few people on this forum who are that lean and I can quite comfortable make the assumption they aren't using magic beans they just quite light for their height therefore very lean.

What percentage can you maintain for a long period without help or some side effect again I would say near the 8-10% if you are very dedicated, 10%+ and you can live a pretty normal life without having to 100% strict.

Single digits (5-8%) more than possible as a natty, but usually for limited amounts of time (stepping on stage for a contest); maintaining single digit BF IMO is not sustainable for most.

Eric Helms is a lifetime natty and was completely shredded on stage for a natural bodybuilding contest earlier this year.

Not to name or shame just to point out how it can be difficult to conclude everything from what is believed on the internet Eric Helms is not a lifetime natty (not that matters IMO). He even talks about it himself which is perfectly fine IMO (although he used it a very long time ago):-

https://forum.bodybuilding.com/showthread.php?t=550850

https://forum.bodybuilding.com/showt...#post546220893

https://forum.bodybuilding.com/showt...#post957257513

That said it doesn't matter IMO. In terms of fat lost you can get as lean as you like but most individuals will have to compensate with dealing with muscle loss and that is balance if you truly want to really lean you have to weigh up the cost of muscle loss vs leanness.

To answer OP what will happen as you get leaner then lets say 10-12%. I have done it once in my life (best estimate from myself and others during my Uni days including some bf% test (although these aren't reliable)) and I felt c**p I was hungry, always grouchy, felt tired and generally my strength plummeted.

You look lean but for some it can really take it out of you. I believe you don't need to go to single digit fat to look lean and solid its more you are lacking muscle mass to show the results off around 10% and above.

[FaIIen]

There is no magical point where all goes to chit.

The more fat you have, the more muscle mass you can carry. It most likely isn't a linear relationship - and is probably quite individual.

There are some studies that will hint to what is healthy and sustainable for the average population. Something like 12 % is probably right up there.

[dazitmayn]

going into single digits for most people isn't sustainable, even the most juiced up ifbb pros don't maintain such a low bf percentage year round

nor is being that lean optimal if you want to continue to gain more muscle and get stronger. and most people at that BF% without having trained for 5-10 years and built a strong muscular foundation are just going to look like a poster boy for UNICEF

[Oleg1975K]

Optimal numbers in the table

[xsquid99]

Not to name or shame just to point out how it can be difficult to conclude everything from what is believed on the internet Eric Helms is not a lifetime natty (not that matters IMO). He even talks about it himself which is perfectly fine IMO (although he used it a very long time ago):-

https://forum.bodybuilding.com/showthread.php?t=550850

https://forum.bodybuilding.com/showt...#post546220893

https://forum.bodybuilding.com/showt...#post957257513

Doh! I had no idea he ever used or was on this forum. I follow a lot of his videos and podcasts, and just assumed (wrongly, my fault) based on everything he says now that he was a pure natty. Thanks for the links!