This is why we have a team of trained Nutritionists that carry out these tests, so they can provide context to your given situation. Too low body fat, and for a long period of time, may have a devastating effect on your health. Obviously, the degree of how low body fat is and for the duration, impact symptoms.

Exercise performance and recovery will be impaired by too low body fat, with excessive cramping, fatigue and higher risk of injury.

Nutrient deficiencies, electrolyte imbalances and reduced energy availability ultimately affect every organ in the body. Other manifestations may be, hair loss, constipation, dry skin, mood swings, poor concentration and low blood pressure.

Non-essential functions suffer first, to preserve life — so levels of different hormones become altered, sex hormones drop, resulting in loss of libido to loss of menstrual cycle. Immune function will also be impaired and bone density is reduced, with increased risk of fractures to long-term development of osteoporosis.

Ultimately every organ in the body is affected, with impairment to the endocrine, cardiovascular, reproductive, skeletal, gastrointestinal and renal system.

Severely too low body fat levels can result in death and prolonged durations of too low body fat will result in premature death. If you have any potential signs that your body fat is too low, begin taking action to change this or enlist some support. Our Nutritionists are on hand to support you with your goals.

A lack of calories consumed on a regular basis in relation to energy expenditure is common in more athletic populations. However, this can be overcome with appropriate support, nutrition, and training management. If you have had feedback from your doctor that you may be under or overweight, it might be worth further investigating this.

The use a body composition assessment that looks at fat mass in kilograms, body fat percentage, your fat mass index, visceral fat, muscle levels and water levels to give us a clear picture. This also allows us to set appropriate body composition goals for our clients and guide their nutrition and training accordingly.

Have a think about your diet — how do you approach it and does it provide you with the sustained energy your require for your lifestyle? Equally, if you are always doing HIIT high intensity training workouts and skimping on your energy dense foods, maybe change up of your HIIT for something of lower intensity and introduce additional calories.

There are so many ways to find appropriate energy balance to optimise body composition. Its really about understanding your demands, establishing your preferences and then formulating a realistic plan of action.

Whilst there is nothing wrong with valuing physical appearance and aesthetics, balancing it with what makes us feel good on the inside and is best for us in the medium and long term and overall health and well-being is also important.

Whilst average body fat percentages can be helpful information for one to be aware of, remember that you are unique and to ultimately follow what is right for you. Try to avoid chasing numbers for numbers sake! Combining body composition assessments, blood testing, symptoms and physical and mental health status is a far more appropriate when determining where someone is on their body composition journey.

Whilst it is assumed that BMI is strongly positively associated with body fat percentage, studies indicate that this relationship may not be so strong Meeuwsen et al. Research indicates that there is only a weak association at a lower BMI, and that the association is not strong within the desirable range and is greatly affected by a variety of factors such as age Meeuwsen et al.

There may be a high degree of variability in body fat percentage within the same BMI values, which is especially evident when BMIs between different ethnicities are compared Ramel et al. Research indicates that health and risk of death increase at a lower BMI and at a higher BMI Lee et al.

There is an increased mortality risk at a lower BMI, which may be due to either a too low body fat percentage or low lean body mass. There is also an increased mortality risk at the BMI range of As BMI is merely a height and weight-based measurement it should be used with caution. Body fat is essential for health and well-being: having both too low body fat levels and too high body fat levels are associated with severe health complications.

however, this really does depend on the sport an of course your muscle and water levels. Meet the team behind Steve Grant Health and understand their areas of speciality and how they can help you achieve your goals. We Specialise in Optimising Cardiometabolic Health, Digestive Health, and Human Performance using Nutrition, Lifestyle, and Functional Medicine.

Learn about our process from enquiry to consultations as well as the support packages that we offer. Get in touch today and book a free discovery call with one of our clinicians to learn more about how we can support your goals.

Get in touch today. When I was just about to turn 19 years old, I started suffering horrible symptoms from what was shortly after diagnosed as ulcerative colitis a chronic autoimmune inflammatory bowel disease. I had considered myself a healthy fit individual, I was a personal trainer, strong, fast, could run all day and I had considered myself a healthy fit individual, I was a personal trainer, strong, fast, could run all day and muscular build.

But the disease took a strong grip and started controlling my life completely. Symptoms included urgent and frequent sometimes painful bowel movements which were often very loose and bloody. I was told id be put on medication for the rest of my life to keep the disease under control.

It destroyed relationships I had and shattered my self-confidence. After a few years of stumbling through life and going around in circles with this. I was trying everything and looking into what I could do to try and beat this on my own without the need for aggressive medication or possibly even having my bowel removed completely.

Desperate and frustrated I found Steve Grant Health and thank god I did. Most recently he is assisting me in putting together a long-term strategy for life long remission and is also helping me obtain even better body composition coinciding with my health goals.

Its comforting to know I have his support and amazing resourceful wealth of knowledge to fall back on if I shall need. I was required to undergo an emaciation process for a role. Steven Grant expertly facilitated this with incredible results, achieving it not only quickly but safely.

It had the potential to be both physically and psychologically challenging, and Steven offered attentive support and advice throughout. Not only did we achieve Not only did we achieve our goals, but we worked together to come out of this extreme period and go back to a healthy, sustainable weight.

He provided great duty of care above and beyond what was required. I would highly recommend Steven to anyone, and look forward to working with him again. I bounced around from doctor to doctor until I was recommended by a personal trainer to see Steven.

He was the first one to really help me rebalance my gut naturally and work on having a healthier relationship with food. I have been working with Steve for a year now and I am delighted to say my entire eating and sleeping habits, my attitude to exercise, and my energy levels and stamina are totally transformed.

Since being coached by Steve I am more focused about my life and business goals and Since being coached by Steve I am more focused about my life and business goals and I have a much better knowledge and attitude to healthy eating. He has enabled me to make healthy choices in everyday busy life to reach my goals.

He has helped me set and push my own limits and surpass them with great insightful practical steps tailor made for me. I then had the good sense to ask him to He is able to provide the most personal and bespoke care wherever I travel. I have referred several colleagues as well as my own daughter.

I will certainly to continue this as I am in awe of his knowledge, ability and manner. Steve has truly been a life changer for me and I am forever grateful. During filming on Snow White and the Huntsman I was told all about Steve and how During filming on Snow White and the Huntsman I was told all about Steve and how this diet was making such a big difference to so many not only physically but especially mentally.

I was immediately interested as i thought i could do with the extra energy boost to help with the long hours and the run of the film. It was amazing to hear just how knowledgeable Steve was. What I thought were unimportant symptoms were major signs of Gluten and Dairy intolerance which were addressed.

It was then that I realised how little I knew about nutrition and how grateful I was to have been put in touch with Steve. I was young and cared only about how much I could lift.

I did not think of the implications this may have on my health and how this would affect me long term. I was unable to walk up the stairs without feeling out of breath and suffering symptoms of I was unable to walk up the stairs without feeling out of breath and suffering symptoms of asthma.

I realised I had to change my lifestyle and eating habits and take more pride in caring for my body and mind in general. Steve Grant in collaboration with my Personal Trainer Mark Alcock have been absolutely fantastic! I was shocked at how a little bit of commitment and hard work had helped me achieve this.

I owe immeasurable amounts of gratitude and thanks to these guys. They empathised with my situation and strived to help me achieve my goals in becoming more muscular and lean.

It was hard but I humbled myself and listened; 2 years later I have nothing but respect and admiration for these guys.

Training has always been a way to focus my energy but after consulting with Steve and learning a fraction of his vast knowledge and putting this into practice I was able to take advantage of my training capability and understand how I could transform negative experiences in my life of illness and hardship into pushing further and making me stronger both mentally and physically.

With my change in body composition it also inspired me to learn Callisthenics a type of gymnastics. I had grown in confidence and learnt a lot from Steve and Mark. To me they are truly inspirational people. They may not see themselves as mentors but to me; how they have conduct themselves and how they have helped me, this is how I see them.

Steve was able to help me even with my personal dietary requirements and I have been able to build lean mass and continue to grow in strength.

Steve helped me to understand how, even with my dietary restrictions that I could still surpass my wishes and excel in my training and well being.

It has inspired me to help others as Steve has also helped me realise my passion for training again and the way he has helped me achieve my goals, I also wish to help others. Training has helped me during work, relationships and as a person. I am grateful because this would not be the case if Steve had not helped me to realise my potential in training and what I could achieve if I just focused.

Meeting Steve was one of those tasks that I kept meaning to do and kept not getting around to it. Finally I found myself face to face with Steve and talking our way through the challenges I was having.

I needed I needed to lose weight to get fit enough to enjoy my active business life. Steve humoured me and took notes, he listens well. I could tell he had heard this story many times before. Patiently he coaxes me on to the scales and talks to me about the challenges people have weighing themselves.

Thus, highly muscular people are often classified as overweight. The rate at which body fat accumulates is different from person to person and is dependent on many factors including genetic factors as well as behavioral factors such as lack of exercise and excessive food intake.

Due to varying factors, it can be more difficult for certain people to reduce body fat stored in the abdominal region. However, managing diet and exercise has been shown to reduce stored fat.

Note that both women and men store body fat differently and that this can change over time. After the age of 40 or after menopause in some cases for women , reduced sexual hormones can lead to excess body fat around the stomach in men, or around the buttocks and thighs of women.

The World Health Organization WHO classifies obesity as one of the leading preventable causes of death worldwide that is estimated to claim , to , deaths per year in the U.

This has been a growing cause for concern because adults are defined as obese according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Obesity is associated with a reduction in quality of life, poorer mental health outcomes, obstructive sleep apnea, as well as multiple leading causes of death worldwide such as cardiovascular disease, stroke, certain cancers and diabetes.

All of these potential complications have the ability to reduce a person's life expectancy, and as such, obesity is a medical condition that is studied by many researchers. As previously mentioned, fat produces a number of essential hormones that affect a person's body. An excess or a lack of critical hormones can have negative effects that preclude proper body function.

On a related note, studies have found that excess body fat, particularly abdominal fat, disrupts the normal balance and function of some of these hormones.

Furthermore, body fat, specifically visceral fat, has a role in the release of specific cytokines, which are a broad category of proteins involved in cell signaling, that can potentially increase the risk of cardiovascular disease.

Visceral fat is also directly associated with higher levels of low-density lipoprotein LDL cholesterol, lower high-density lipoprotein HDL cholesterol, and insulin resistance. LDL cholesterol is commonly referred to as "bad cholesterol" while HDL is referred to as "good cholesterol.

Insulin resistance involves cells not properly responding to the hormone insulin, which can lead to high blood sugar levels, and eventually to type 2 diabetes. As can be seen, excess visceral fat can have measurable negative impacts to a person's health.

There are many specific techniques used for measuring body fat. The calculator above uses a method involving equations developed at the Naval Health Research Center by Hodgdon and Beckett in The method for measuring the relevant body parts as well as the specific equations used are provided below:.

Once these measurements are obtained, use the following formulas to calculate an estimate of body fat. Two equations are provided, one using the U. customary system USC , which uses inches, and the other using the International System of Units, specifically the unit of centimeters:.

Note that the results of these calculations are only an estimate since they are based on many different assumptions to make them as applicable to as many people as possible.

For more accurate measurements of body fat, the use of instruments such as bioelectric impedance analysis or hydrostatic density testing is necessary. Another method for calculating an estimate of body fat percentage uses BMI.