Your body fat percentage tells you how much of your body is fat compared to lean body mass such as muscle, bone, fluids and organs. Lowering your body fat typically will get you closer to being in shape. There is, however, a minimum amount necessary for you to be healthy though. This essential amount of fat is determined by your gender. Men should have a minimum of 2 to 5 percent body fat and women should have at least 10 to 13 percent, according to the American Council on Exercise (ACE). It is especially important to lower your body fat percentage if it is over 32 percent if you are female or 25 percent if you are male. Even a 1 percent reduction can get you closer to a healthy range.
Step 1
Divide your current weight by your body fat percentage to determine how many pounds of fat you have. For example, a 200-lb. person with 20 percent body fat would have 40 lbs. of fat and 160 lbs. of lean body mass.
Step 2
Multiply your current weight by your desired body fat percentage, which would be 1 percent lower. In the example, multiply 200 by 19 percent, which is 38 lbs.
Step 3
Subtract your current pounds of fat by your goal pounds of fat to estimate how many pounds you will have to lose. In the example, 40 lbs. minus 38 lbs. is 2 lbs.
Step 4
Multiply the amount of pounds you need to lose by 3,500. One pound of fat is made of 3,500 calories. In the example, this would be 7,000 calories.
Step 5
Cut your daily intake of calories and do cardio exercise to create a caloric deficit and lose weight. Burning calories will burn fat because fat is made of calories.
Step 6
Reduce your daily intake of calories by between 250 and 1,000 calories, as recommended by the American Obesity Association. Keep track of your calories by using a food diary (see Resources). Cut sweets, sodas, alcohol and fatty foods.
Step 7
Exercise for 30 minutes a day, five days a week, as recommended by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Use an activity calculator (see Resources) to estimate the number of calories you burn daily or use the calorie counter feature on a piece of cardio equipment such as a treadmill. The harder you workout, the more calories you will burn. Any form of exercise will burn calories but running will burn more calories than walking because you are working harder, just as running hills will burn more calories than running on flat surfaces.
Step 8
Subtract the number of calories you burn combined with those you have cut from the total number of calories you need to lose. Following the example, if you burn 250 calories running on Monday and you cut 500 calories from your diet, then subtract 750 calories from 7,000 calories to get 6,250 calories. If on Tuesday you burn another 250 calories exercising and cut another 500 calories, then subtract an additional 750 calories.
Step 9
Retake your body fat percentage with the hand-held device once you have used up the goal number of calories for fat loss (i.e., 7,000). Keep exercising and cutting calories if you have not yet lost one percentage. Since your calories are all estimates, and because it is possible that you may lose or gain some muscle throughout this process, it is impossible to know exactly when you will lose one percentage of body fat.
Things You'll Need
- Calculator
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