Getting shredded or under 8 percent body fat can cause some negative side effects. This video reveals the ugly truth behind shredding, cutting, and extreme weight loss. There are also tips to get shredded and deal with some potential side effects. Whether you're a bodybuilder or just a regular person on a lower-calorie diet this video will help you understand the process your body will go through when cutting.
getting shredded is associated with ripped looking ABS defined muscle striations and attractive physiques that turn heads but there are many costs that come with getting shredded that most people don't realize some of these are actually really negative effects that nobody likes to talk about.
In this blog you'll find out exactly what comes along with getting your body fat percentage low enough to be considered shredded and how to avoid the negative effects Associated.
1. You're actually very likely to get weaker
first you have to realize that even though people that are considered shredded look extremely muscular and strong you're actually very likely to get weaker as you drive your body fat percentage further and further down.
There are really only three exceptions to this rule so if you're relatively untrained or a beginner you can maintain or even gain strength simply because your muscles and nervous system aren't adapt to lifting weights.
Another exception is if you're taking steroids which I definitely don't recommend but if someone is taking steroids that could potentially negate big strength losses because you'll maintain more muscle as you cut.
The third exception is if your workouts or or your form sucked beforehand but now you fixed it you can gain strength simply as a result of Performing your exercises more efficiently.
those three aside, however there's no way around it losing weight and body fat tends to go hand in hand with losing strength this is because of two main reasons.
first reaching a state that's considered shredded means that your body fat percentage will most likely be lower than 10 to 12 percent as a male, this low body fat percentage tends to pair with muscle loss. that's what happens even if you train and eat right as you cut down.
the second reason essentially boils down to the fact that mass moves Mass even if the increase in mass is just fat tissue simply because it improves leverage during movements. so when you're leaning down don't be surprised if you aren't able to maintain the same strength levels as before. The goal is you lose body fat should be to maintain your strength as much as possible because that helps you prevent muscle loss, but know that you probably won't be able to negate all the adverse effects entirely.
2. Libido which is very very likely to go down
when you're dieting to get shredded your testosterone levels will drop and as a result your libido will also take a hit, this is because when the amount of calories consumed is lower than what the body needs to function. it'll shut down or slow down non-essential functions in order to save energy for the more vital functions. and reproductive system activity is one of the first things that slows down when this happens because it's less important from a survival standpoint compared to let's say beating your heart or sending energy to your brain. on top of that when you're in a calorie deficit your body will view that as a form of stress which leads to an increase in the levels of distress hormone cortisol.
research shows that when this stress hormone rises in the bloodstream testosterone starts to drop pretty much dose dependently or in a one-to-one ratio. interestingly in a one-year case study on contest prep for bodybuilders it was found that testosterone levels fell to one-fourth their Baseline values three months into their six month preparation period. fortunately the testosterone levels did did recover after three months of a recovery period, which included an increase in calorie intake but there's no denying that strenuous dieting will lower testosterone levels and reduce your libido.
3. Nutrient deficiencies
even though shredded people may look healthy from the outside, dropping your body fat lower and lower will leave you more likely to develop nutrient deficiencies. there's no way around the fact that if you want to get rid of body fat you need to be in a calorie deficit, in the process of creating that deficit there will be likely many types of foods that you'll have to get rid of or at least reduce your exposure to significantly.
for example nuts they're highly nutritious but they're also loaded with calories which is why you won't be able to eat that much of them if at all when you're trying to reach a shredded level.
another example is meat when aiming for a very low body fat percentage many people will resort to only eating lean cuts of meat instead of fatty cuts which can make it harder to reach your daily intakes of certain fat derived nutrients, in combination with our foods not being as nutritious as they once were due to things like soil depletion it should come as no surprise that over 50 percent of bodybuilders do not meet the recommended daily intakes of several micronutrients and then that doesn't even account for their higher requirements than average people that don't exercise.
so what is the solution. first of all aim to follow a diet that is as nutritious as possible, this means consuming foods that are low in calories but high in micronutrients such as vegetables fruits beans and fish. many people also resort to taking a multivitamin while they're cutting to ensure that their bases are covered when you do that however it's important that you select a very good product because the majority of them are a complete waste of money. and they're packed with cheap micronutrients like iron while not having enough of the nutrients that people are often deficient in like magnesium and vitamin K.
so if you're not sure if your diet is providing all the micronutrients you need you can track your meals with a tracking tool like MyFitnessPal or chronometer and if you see your deficient in any nutrient you can supplement with them individually.
4. Feel tired
throughout the day for a couple reasons the first is associated with what I just mentioned if you consume less food you're more likely to develop micronutrient deficiencies which in turn can increase fatigue, but aside from that cutting your calories and slimming down causes your metabolism to slow down as well because there won't be enough energy available to optimize all the processes in your body.
a lot of people also find it harder to sleep well at night when they're in a decent or significant calorie deficit this is once again due to cortisol. Normally cortisol levels are high in the morning because that gives you the energy you need initially to start your day and then those cortisol levels drop significantly at night when it's time to go to sleep, on the other hand when you're dieting for a while especially when you're dieting with a significant calorie deficit, cortisol levels can stay elevated at night making it harder to fall and stay asleep.
Some solutions are performing breathing exercises like meditation or supplementing with melatonin or l-theanine before bed
5. Belief that they'll be able to look as shredded as the models in Fitness magazines
the truth is that it'll likely be very hard if not impossible to maintain a full-blown shredded physique for a long period of time.
a shredded physique where your body fat percentage as a man is 10 or lower is something that most people only achieve for a competition or a photo shoot before gaining at least some of the body fat back.
this has to do with the fact that by far the most important thing your body cares about is not dying or in other words survival, when you have a very low body fat percentage that means there's less energy available for let's say if a famine were to happen. sure in modern First World countries you probably won't experience a famine but your body doesn't know that. it's gone through thousands upon thousands of years of evolution and throughout that long stretch of Time food wasn't always abundant in fact for much of human history food was not at all easy to come by. as a result when your body fat percentage is low it'll start to signal to your body and your mind that it's time to stock up on more food and gain some fat to prepare for a possible famine in the future.
hunger hormones like ghrelin will shoot up while satiety hormones like leptin will go way down making you feel a lot hungrier, in fact throughout contest prep many bodybuilders experience this Obsession where food is always on their minds. this constant feeling of hunger makes it hard for them to stay on track so even though you might be able to push through this intense feeling of hunger for a while for most people it's impossible to maintain it in the long run.
even without considering all the other negative effects I've already mentioned willpower. will eventually run out and if you continue cutting your survival instincts will take over and lead you to binge.
6. Your Metabolism
next is something that you probably already know the general details of your metabolism will go down. when you get leaner your metabolism drops this is to be expected because as you lose weight and body fat there's less mass for your body to maintain. meaning it will require less energy to keep everything running but aside from that when you're in a calorie deficit your digestive system also expends less energy than normal because you're consuming less food which in itself digestion is a process that also requires quite a bit of energy.
interestingly though this drop in metabolism decreases even faster than you'd predict by the loss of body mass and reduction in energy intake alone.
that's because of something known as adaptive thermogenesis adaptive thermogenesis refers to a change in energy expenditure due to acute or long-term over or under eating.
an example of this is if you're dieting your movement efficiency will actually increase. so you'll fidget less you'll lean against walls or other objects when standing up and you'll be more likely to take a car for a short distance rather than taking a walk.
another example is when you sit in a chair you're going to be more likely to sink down or sit in a slouched position instead of sitting upright. all of these small adjustments which tend to happen subconsciously instead of consciously reduce how many calories you burn leading to a reduction in total energy expenditure.
unfortunately, due to misinformation lots of people believe that this drop in calorie expenditure is permanent. they call it metabolic damage and claim that regardless of what you do after your diet, your metabolism will remain reduced making you far more likely to regain the weight that you lost and become more prone to yo-yo dieting in the future. fortunately however this is not true while adaptive thermogenesis can definitely be permanent if you decide to continue keeping caloric intake low to maintain that lower body fat percentage, if you increase your calorie intake it should completely reverse the so-called metabolic damage.
for example we can draw from a research paper that found that even when it comes to anorexic women malnourished, individuals, bodybuilders. during contest prep and even full out starvation like what was observed during the Minnesota starvation experiment.
in all these cases the participants metabolisms recover when they regain weight by eating more. in other words your metabolism will adapt when leaning down. but even in extreme cases you won't suffer from permanent damage.
7. Temperature
if you get shredded don't be surprised if you're always freezing because you will be more likely to feel cold throughout the day. there are two reasons you're more likely to feel cold when getting shredded.
first body fat functions as a layer of insulation that keeps your body warm, when you get rid of that body fat there's less of a protective layer between your organs and outside forces making you feel much more sensitive to cold weather.
the second reason I've already touched on there are many changes that happen inside your body when you're dieting and reaching very low levels of body fat. one of them is that there will be fewer calories available for your body to burn, which also means fewer calories that can be used for heat generation.
if you've ever fasted you'll know that you can experience this effect after just a 24 hour fast. if you fast for 24 hours and you already have a relatively lean body fat percentage. you can very easily find yourself feeling colder than normal as you near the end of your fast and if you have a very big meal after that fast or even pick picture having a big meal at Thanksgiving dinner right afterwards you'll notice a spike in body temperature, where you may even feel hot. so if you're feeling colder while dieting understand that it's totally normal. fortunately there are steps you can take to combat this such as wearing warmer clothes and drinking hot beverages like coffee or tea.
those are seven things that most people won't think of or talk about when describing what it's like to get shredded.
like I said typically getting to a really low body fat percentage will be something that you do for a very temporary period of time. even the best fitness models and bodybuilders don't stay that lean year round especially if they're natural.