Negative of getting lean

Hey Jordan,

Is it true that once your body crosses below a certain level of body fat, which is different from person to person, the body rapidly increases its desire for food by increasing cravings, hunger signals and also more overall fatigue, eventually leading to one having to eat more food in order to not be miserable?

If true, is this irrespective of how fast someone gets there? For example, if I reach 10% body fat by being in a large daily deficit (>500 cals) vs small deficit (<200 cals) would these side effects be of equal magnitude even though I’m eating more food but am the same body fat?

Thanks for your time.

I wouldn’t say fatigue is reliably associated with this, but for most, reducing body fat stores past some level (likely a range) does increase hunger, decrease feelings of fullness, and a host of other changes. Rate of weight loss doesn’t really affect when this comes on.

I think knowing what you’re planning to do and why may be helpful at providing some advice here.

So you would not expect someone to feel lower on energy throughout the day when in a deficit compared to maintenance/surplus?

I was 102kg beginning of May, around 35ishinch waist, now 86kg (no clue on waist size). If I had to guess, I’d say I’m around 13% body fat, pretty vascular with ab veins in good lighting. Consuming ~2500 cals a day and seem to be dropping about 0.5kg a week.

Im currently trying to get as lean as possible (10% or lower) to then maintain between a range (likely 80kg-85kg) year round so I stay in decent shape, with short term cuts ready to deploy if needed.

Depends how big of a deficit and for how long. If it’s a modest deficit, I wouldn’t expect that at all, no. I would also not expect a surplus to make people feel higher energy, unless they were restricted for a long time, e.g. RED-S or LEA. In your case, no, I wouldn’t expect to be super run down all the time at that level of intake. Individuals can certainly vary though.

I suspect maintaining a body fat in the 12-15 range is likely to be where you end up, maybe a bit higher if/when trying to build muscle. I would definitely expect some hunger given the amount of weight loss, though you might be doing just fine too.