YOU'RE OVERWEIGHT! does it always say that ? =[

[greenmedic88]

KingArthur said:

greenmedic88 said:

Many professional (or high level competition) athletes have body fat percentages in the single digits, almost down to the essential body fat levels (under 5% for men). With that little fat, it takes a lot of muscle tissue to put an athlete into the "overweight" category, even according to the BMI system.

But these are the individuals for which the BMI system does not really apply to, rather than the guy who may lift a lot of weights, but still has a significant amount of body fat (over 20% is considered unhealthy). It's still possible to be "normal" weight under the BMI system and still have an unhealthy percentage of body fat if you have very low muscle mass.

Actually body fat percentage of 20 is normal. Not many professional athletes have single digit fat percentages.

20% is the upper limit of normal.

I'm overweight at 152lbs even though my body fat percentage is between 16-17% with a water percentage of 60+%. And by no means am I anywhere near what I'd need to be to fight at my weight class of 145lbs.

In the photo posted, Overeem is definitely in the single digits; you can tell by how cut he is. And even though he weighed in at 225lbs, he probably still weighed over 240lbs the day of the fight when the photo was taken.

GSP is definitely in the single digits as well when he fights. Same for Matt Hughs in his prime. Plenty of other examples.

Virtually all professional boxers in the lower weight classes (feather, bantam, etc.) are without a doubt in the single digits when they fight. There simply isn't any room for excess fat without having to give up muscle mass.