Not sure if this is the right f orum, but here goes.
What type of fat is human bodyfat? I know it’s near Halloween but I’m not asking due to cannibal tendancies - just curiosity. Is it saturated, mono or polyunsaturated. My guess is it would depend on diet. If I’m on a fat burning (cutting) phase am I getting rid of bodyfat in it’s current ratio or does the body prefer to use one type of fat over the other?
Old Dax
From Lyle Mac Donald UD2 ebook - which I strongly recommend!
First is essential bodyfat, which exists in small quantities (about 3% of the total in men,
and 9-12% of the total in women) in the brain, spinal cord, etc. You can’t lose it, and if you did
you’d be dead. The amount of essential bodyfat sets the ultimate lower limit for bodyfat
percentage. So that should be 3% for men and 9% for women.
A second type of fat is brown fat (brown adipose tissue aka BAT) which is a specialized
Page 31
http://www.bodyrecomposition.com
type of fat that actually burns up the other types of fat, producing heat in the process. In
contrast to white fat (all the other types), which is primarily triglyceride with a little bit of other
stuff, brown fat is made up mainly of mitochondria (the powerhouse of the cell), with very little
triglyceride.
Next up is visceral fat. This is a type of fat that surrounds your internal organs. In excess
it gives you a pregnant look because it makes your gut stick out. Visceral fat has a number of
different characteristics from subcutaneous fat (which I’ll discuss next chapter) which has some
consequences for both health and dieting.
The type of fat most dieters are concerned with is subcutaneous fat which is found under
the skin. In men, subcutaneous fat tends to accumulate around the midsection and low-back; in
women, it tends to be on the hips and thighs. This occurs under the influence of the hormones
testosterone/cortisol and estrogen/progesterone in men and women respectively. This is why kids
before puberty have the same bodyfat patterns and kids after don’t.
Shotgun,
Thanx for the in depth reply!
You have to thank Lyle! 