The recommended percentage of body fat varies from person to person. It's not only based on your gender, but also on your age as well as level of fitness. However, body fat percentages can be difficult to determine without a medical professional, so many people rely on body mass index or waist circumference to help establish whether someone is normal weight, overweight or obese. This is largely due to the fact that people with higher body mass indexes or waist circumferences tend to carry more body fat than those with normal values in either of these two measurements.
Body Fat Percentage
A certain amount of fat is essential to the proper functioning of the body, but too much increases your risk of weight-related health problems, such as type 2 diabetes, heart disease and high blood pressure. If you're 175 lbs with a body fat percentage of 15, this means you're carrying roughly 26 lbs. of fat and 149 lbs of lean body mass, which includes muscle, bone, blood and other tissue, according to Health Check Systems.
Gender and Age
The World Health Organization breaks out body fat percentages by gender and then age. For women, a healthy body fat percentage is anywhere between 21 and 33 percent from ages 20 to 40, 23 to 35 percent from ages 41 to 60 and 24 to 36 percent at 61 to 79 years old. Men generally have much lower body fat percentages than women. A healthy range is 8 to 19 percent from ages 20 to 40, 11 to 22 percent from ages 41 to 60 and 13 to 25 percent from 61 to 79 years old.
Level of Fitness
While age can contribute to recommended body fat percentages, the American Council on Exercise has a different grouping of ranges based on your level of fitness and then gender. Athletes tend to have relatively low body fat percentages. Women have anywhere between 14 and 20 percent while men carry 6 to 13 percent body fat. Fit individuals have a bit more body fat, yet much lower than the acceptable level. Fit females carry 21 to 24 percent and fit males carry 14 to 17 percent body fat. Acceptable body fat percentages are 25 to 31 percent in women and 18 to 25 percent in men.
Determination
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) explains that body fat is often calculated through skinfold thickness, waist circumference, waist-to-hip ratio, ultrasound and other measurement systems. This is why many health care professionals turn to body mass index, or BMI, to help establish weight status. It's a very simplistic equation that divides your weight in pounds by your height in inches squared and multiplies that number by 703 to estimate your body composition. The recommended BMI for both men and women is 18.5 to 24.9.
Waist Circumference
Women with a waist circumference higher than 35 inches and men with a waist circumference beyond 40 inches are at a greater risk of developing weight-related health problems. Weight loss is typically recommended to reduce this risk. This includes an increase in physical activity coupled with a low-calorie diet rich in fruits, vegetables, whole grains and lean protein. Always discuss any exercise or weight loss program with your doctor.
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