How much of a difference does body fat % make?

[viking22]

I read a study the other day suggesting the optimal body fat percentage for men is around 12%.

Easy to achieve perhaps when you are 18-21 with a very high metabolism and low stress levels. Much harder towards middle age.

I was probably around that at that age but did not get much female attention. I get more these days but I think that is a function of generally being more mature and confident and also filling out and adding more muscle as I was pretty skinny in my teens. I have fluctated between perhaps 17%-23% body fat but haven't noticed any dramatic difference in the level of female attention or success with women.

Bodybuilding.com has a lot of "transformation" photos of guys who got down to very low body fat %. But as far as I could see it only made a significant difference to facial attractiveness where the guy had a really good bone structure underneath the fat. In some cases the guys look worse because losing the fat reveals their weak bone structure. Then again I am a man so perhaps girls see it differently.

Has anyone got really lean and noticed a significant difference to success with women?

 

[BackInTheGame78]

Not as much as most people think.

Unless you are walking around with your short off or have abs popping through your shirt, most women just have two categories for that which are "muscular that looks good" and "muscular that looks bad" (for many, bodybuilder level).

Being 18% or 8% makes almost ZERO difference. In fact, some of the best looking women I've ever dated (non-DJ times) were when I was what I would consider "fat", but muscular, probably around 20% or maybe even slightly higher.

The women didnt see the fat at all...they saw the obvious strength and muscles that were there under it when they touched me or hugged me or felt when I picked them up effortlessly. They would tell me how muscular I was and I'd be like "no, I'm fat" and they would be like "I don't see it" or "you are crazy", etc.

This is a "mirror" obsession for guys and I can promise you there will be very little difference between what you can get if you are generally in shape and muscular versus lean and jacked unless you are at places with your shirt off regularly and then maybe that might help.

But for dating app purposes and meeting women IRL, they will just see you as either "Muscular that looks good" or "muscular that looks bad" and will respond accordingly.

I've had abs that literally show thru my tightly hugging Dri-fit shirts that looked like they were those fake plastic ones people can buy, and it did not much in terms of increasing either the number or looks of the women who were interested.

The most gains will come from your abilities in other areas...being fun and interesting, non-lame/boring conversations, proper escalation, maintaining proper frame early on, not acting needy/desperate, not being a weirdo, etc

In other words, let's say as a simple example that every women has 10 "buckets" where you range on a 0-10 scale. These can be things like physical attractiveness, muscles, funny, conversation ability, etc... the total of all of those makes up 100 points and is your "score" in her mind. I know this is a way oversimplified example, but I'm trying to make a point.

If you are in the "muscular" category, you are automatically an 8 for "muscles" at minimum most likely, and let's say take me for example...even at 22% BF I was still probably an 8.5 in that category. When I got ripped and jacked, I had almost no room to move up so I probably went to like a 9.5, a gain of a point. Since the max points in any category is 10, the closer you are to that, the less any continued improvement in that area will have on results. Me getting jacked and ripped didn't somehow give me 15/10 points, that's not possible. It had diminishing returns...the more and more "ideal I got", the less impact it had since I was so close to the top.

Why am I bringing any of this up? Because instead of focusing so heavily on something that is not going to make much difference, you probably should be focusing on an area of those categories where you might be a 2 or 3 right now and try and bring that up to a 7...which would mean it would have 4-5x as much impact on your overall "attractiveness" to a woman as trying to maximize an area that is already viewed as very close by most women to the top anyway so that it will have minimal impact.

I hope I explained it well enough so that it makes sense, but that's essentially what I found.

 

[pipeman84]

I read a study the other day suggesting the optimal body fat percentage for men is around 12%.

Those kinds of studies are BS as they ask women to rate photos of guys in shorts with varying BF percentages ... in real life you're a human being and not walking around in shorts (unless at the beach).

I think the best scenario is when you look like you work out (you have a V-taper and 4pack). That's visible under most circumstances (unless you're wearing like a winter coat) and by how you walk/carry yourself. Any more than that and it signals high maintenance and issues (low self esteem, steroid and other illegal substances use).

 

[HaleyBaron]

I definitely looked bigger when I was 15% bf. It's noticeable since I dropped to 12. My muscles are more visible, but the mass I had from a bit of fat helped fill out my clothing.

But I was still seeing a bit of flab in the wrong places so I would rather remain lean. I also have a lot more energy.

 

[plumber]

as an older guy... there is a huge diff between old skinny, old fat, old in shape. not as much for younger men. old fat/old skinny, no chance. old in shape with clear markers of muscles moves you into maybe category when fat/skinny is a hard no... this is all before you open your mouth and either choke or fly.

also changes self image, and that is priceless..

others, men and women often open to me with comment on me being in shape. i always make a joke about it and move on to other topic..

 

[Manure Spherian]

Not much. Plenty of pot bellied men have women.

 

[Hal9000]

Being in good shape definitely helps, however theres a bit of a diminishing return beyond a certain point. Going from chubby to fit will have a much larger impact than going from fit to cut or lean or whatever.

Women want a guy who appears to be in shape and looks good in whatever hes wearing. Most of them aren't overly invested in your body fat percentages or how ripped you look after a workout, although some of them absolutely are.

 

[tksniper]

Body fat % was made popular by the body building community.

 

[HaleyBaron]

I like to use as a case study Sonny Corleone from Godfather. He's not fit like today's standards. He has a reasonable amount of body fat. But you can also tell that he isn't someone to screw with. He's tall and build stocky, showing he doesn't mind getting rough. He's also hairy and doesn't wear any makeup like the men today.

However, he was one of the most feared men in the movie. And he didn't have to look like a low bodyfat % guy to do it. Now his leanness obviously helps with his attractiveness. If he was fat like Clemanza, he would lose lots of points in that department. But he also dressed well in clothing that fit. And of course, his attitude was the very definition of someone who doesn't give af about anything. He flirted and banged women in front of his own wife.

The package is what made him attractive. Some guys stop at looks and think that's it. They use looks to compensate for the other things they lack.

 

[BPH]

@viking22 to answer your original question, I have a story...

When I was in college, I was probably somewhere between 210-215lbs, and probably around 12-13% bodyfat. I was in pretty great shape all four years. In my junior year, I started hooking up with this girl who was something of a groupie at our frat's parties. It went well for a while...but she admitted she had a crush on another one of my fraternity brothers.

I didn't pay it much mind. The guy she was referring to was tall, decent-looking, but had the skinny-fat body like Vince Vaughn. Probably around 20-22% if I had to guess. I remember one night she got really drunk with me on some sort of date night party, and complained that she wished she could've been his date. And that's when I stopped seeing her.

The point I'm trying to make is that every woman has preferences, and they don't have to make sense to YOU, in terms of what you might expect them to consider attractive.

Another example, one of the hottest women I'd seen on Instagram, @gabimfmoura has been dating @joshrichards for years. I wouldn't be surprised if she weighs more than him.

My suggestion would just be to get yourself in the type of shape you want to be in, then choose from the women who are interested in that version of you.

 

[Hamurabimbi]

When my BF was higher. I was unattractive and my ex-wife found me sexualy repellant. When I got my BF back down. She wanted me back. BF is probably the top 3 factors. .