Despite its negative connotations, not all body fat is bad. Body fat regulates, insulates, cushions and is a major energy storage center. Without sufficient body fat, your body will not function properly. Too much body fat, however, leads to obesity and the potential for serious risks to your health. To assist you in determining where you stand, the American College of Sports Medicine developed a range of recommended body fat percentages you can use as a starting point for a weight loss and fitness program.
Identification
Body fat percentages compare adipose, or fat, tissue to lean body mass that includes tissue, bones, muscle, organs and blood. Recommendations define two standards of comparison, both of which take into account your sex and age range. Health standards are a threshold that defines a “safe” body fat percentage. Staying at or under this recommendation means you should not develop weight-related health problems. Fitness standards are recommendations for athletes and include a lower percentage of body fat as compared with lean body mass.
Characteristics
Both sets of standards use the age of 40 as a cutoff and group body fat percentage in ranges. With regard to Health standards, body fat percentage recommendations for women less than 40 years of age are between 20 to 35 percent. Recommendations for women over 40 are between 25 to 38 percent. For men less than 40 years of age, the recommended body fat percentage is between 8 and 22 percent and for those over 40, body fat percentage should be between 10 and 25 percent.
Fitness standards for women less than 40 years of age are between 16 percent to 28 percent. Recommendations for women over 40 years of age are between 20 to 33 percent. For men less than 40 years of age, fitness standards recommend a body fat percentage between 5 and 15 percent and for those over 40, body fat percentage should be between 7 and 18 percent.
Significance
Body fat percentages above these recommendations indicate obesity and a greater risk of developing health issues such as heart disease, high blood pressure, type 2 diabetes or suffering from a stroke. Body fat percentages below these recommendations can result in serious health issues, as well. The Student Nutrition Wellness Campaign of the University of California Los Angeles cautions that women who drop below 16 percent and men who drop below 5 percent can suffer health and performance issues. The Center for Human Nutrition defines these as chronic fatigue, constantly feeling cold, greater susceptibility to illness and injury, decreased endurance and in women, irregular menstrual periods.
Methods
Determining body fat percentage is not something you can do at home. Measuring devices, available at sports medicine clinics, gyms and other workout facilities, require the services of someone with experience. Even then, readings can vary as much as plus or minus 3 percent, says the UCLA student health staff. Methods for determining body fat percentage include the use of calipers, underwater weighing, or by using machines such as a Bod Pod, Dual X-ray Absorptiometry scans or Bioelectrical Impedance.
Considerations
There is no absolute standard for body fat percentage recommendations. Because of this, recommendations at gyms, sports facilities and in magazines can, and will, vary from those set by the American College of Sports Medicine. The SNWC at UCLA cautions that while the American College based their recommendations on research, many others do not. As a result, recommendations may not be a true reflection of a healthy, fit body.
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