What does 50 percent body fat look like?

In this brief article, we will answer the question, “What does 50 percent body fat look like?” and provide information on what can be the ideal fat percentage as well as how to lose fat through diet and exercise.

What does 50 percent body fat look like?

At 50 percent body fat, the skin looks like cottage cheese. This means that you can observe skin looking more wrinkled. 50 percent body fat can appear different in both men and women. 

In men, the fat is accumulated more in the stomach and the waist area. Individuals can experience difficulty bending or even walking stairs because of high abdominal fat. In women, the skin can appear looser and wrinkled.

What is an ideal fat percentage?

An ideal fat percentage for men lies between 10 to 22 percent whereas, for women, it can lie between 16 to 31  percent. However, for male athletes or bodybuilders, 5 to 9 percent of body fat can be more desired.

How can you lose 50 percent of body fat?

If your body fat percentage is more than 40, it can take a lot of time and effort to reduce body fat. If you wish to lose body fat, it is important to focus more on your diet and exercise. 

If you follow a healthy diet and exercise regimen, you can lose around 1 percent or more fat in a month. Do not settle for crash or fad diets to lose weight quickly. This is because you might regain your weight as quickly as you lost it.

How to reduce body fat percentage with diet?

• Consume foods that are high in fiber. Some fiber-rich foods include whole grain cereals, whole pulses, fruits, leafy veggies, nuts, and seeds. Both soluble and insoluble fiber are beneficial. Fiber can reduce appetite by promoting satiety.

Apart from this, fiber can also help in reducing cholesterol, blood pressure, and prevents glucose levels from quickly peaking. 

Fiber slows down the digestion of food and the food is absorbed slowly. This can reduce appetite. Consume whole fruits and veggies instead of juices as they contain fiber.

• Water is a major part of the diet. Aim to consume around 2-3 liters of water each day. Water can also fill the stomach and reduce appetite.

Make sure to consume plain water. Ready-made juices or beverages contain high levels of sugar added to them. This can further cause weight gain. 

• Protein in meals can be another way to promote satiety. Protein can especially fill up a person’s stomach especially when they are on a calorically restricted diet. 

Protein can be found in lean meat, seafood, pulses, soy, peas, eggs, milk/ milk products, nuts, and seeds.

Commercially, there are protein powders or drinks made of whey, soy, or peas available in the market.

• Control the consumption of fats. Reduce consumption of fried foods. If you love consuming fried foods, instead consume foods that are shallow-fried. Use healthy oils for cooking.

Some examples of healthy oils are the ones that contain high levels of monounsaturated fats. These are olive oil, canola oil, rice bran oil, and groundnut oil. Polyunsaturated oils like sunflower and safflower oil can be consumed once in a while.

Consume low-fat foods. For instance, you can opt to drink skim milk over whole milk as the whole milk is high in saturated fats. 

You can also switch to consuming plant-based milk as they contain lesser fat. However, commercially prepared plant milk might contain too much sugar. Choose unflavored and fortified plant milk.

• Opt for baked, boiled, or steamed foods. 

How to lose fat through exercise?

Cardio-based exercises can aid in losing fat, especially around the abdomen. Indulging in at least 30 minutes of cardio per day is necessary.

Some of the cardio-based exercises are walking, cycling, rowing, and swimming. If you feel lazy to exercise alone, enroll yourself in group fitness classes. You can also go with your friends to the gym too.

Brisk walking for 15-20 minutes can be another simple way to lose fat. HIIT (High Intensity-Interval Training) is a kind of exercise that combines short bouts of intense exercise and low-intensity exercise.

Some of the HIIT that you can perform are pushing, squatting, pulling, and dead-lifting. Apart from this, jumping jacks, push-ups, and jump squats can be other exercises that you can be involved in.

Weight and resistance training can ward off excess fat too. Some of the exercises that you can indulge in are lunges, squats, and bicep curls.

Conclusion

In this brief article, we have answered the question, “What does 50 percent body fat look like?” and provided information on what can be the ideal fat percentage as well as how to lose fat through diet and exercise.

References

https://kubexfitness.com/blog/body-fat-percentages-actually-look-like/

https://www.webmd.com/fitness-exercise/top-exercises-belly-fat#1