Why we should ALL carry body fat

Do you remember the series Bear Grylls Celebrity Island? A group of celebrities were stranded on a desert Island for 14 days to fend for themselves.

In this particular series, they were barely surviving by the end of the first week (thank god they were only on there for two weeks). By day seven due to their inability to forage or hunt they had not eaten more than 200 calories a day.

Tom Evans the ex Scotland Professional Rugby Player and Fitness Model was one of the Islanders. He arrived weighing 94kg and 5% body fat.

His perfectly chiselled body was obtained through rigorous training programs, strict nutritional plans and countless hours in the gym. And yet after 7 days he had to be taken off the Island due to being too weak to carry on and weighing only 81kg (13kg / 1 stone, 12 lb lost).

So what did all that training and nutrition do for him when put in a “real life” situation? Did all that strength training mean he added the most value when building shelter on the Island? Did all the cardio mean he led expeditions across the Island to hunt and forage? Did all that whole-food nutrition put him at an advantage when only basic food sources were on offer? Sadly not.

It was humbling to see individuals with various body sizes and fitness levels step up in the most challenging circumstances. And eye-opening to watch the aesthetically “fittest” person on the Island turn out to be physically the weakest.

We are constantly pushed to reduce body fat and increase muscle composition. Whilst there are many advantages to being physically strong and maintaining a healthy weight, it's crucial to strike a balance.

Fortunately, the majority of us will never find ourselves in Tom’s situation; being stranded on an Island and having to fend for ourselves. However, we may find ourselves in other life-threatening situations where our body fat is essential to our survival, illness being the most common.

Depending on the type of illness, our body will burn more calories whilst fighting infection which could result in a lack of appetite and inability to take on or keep down food. This is normally when our body turns to fat stores to provide the energy to keep fighting back to health.

So, unless we are training for a bodybuilding comp that specifically needs low body fat % we want to ensure we have something to hold on to… in case of an emergency!

Here is a guide for ensuring you have a healthy amount of body fat, staying within fitness level seems sensible.

Women

Essential Fat: 10 - 13 %

Athletes: 14 - 20 %

Fitness: 21 - 24 %

Average: 25 - 31 %

Obese: 32 + %

Men

Essential Fat: 2 - 5 %

Athletes: 6 - 13 %

Fitness: 14 - 17 %

Average: 18 - 24 %

Obese: 25 + %