Normal body fat content. What is the normal amount of fat in a woman’s body? Minimum and normal percentage of fat in the female body

Probably everyone understands that the percentage of body fat is an important indicator.

It should not be overlooked, focusing only on kilograms and the arrow on the scale when losing weight. Because we want to get rid from fat, not muscle.

In addition, people with the same weight can look completely different. Therefore, knowing exactly how much fat is in the body is much more useful.

Subcutaneous and visceral

How to determine the amount of visceral fat? Excess is easy to notice by the disturbed proportions of the body: the stomach noticeably protrudes forward.

What percentage of internal fat should women and men have? No more than 15% of total body fat, regardless of gender. You can also understand that the norm of visceral fat is exceeded by simply changing your waist. For women, the dangerous figure will be 80 cm, for the stronger half of humanity - 90.

Of course, these are not ideal and not completely reliable methods, but they are the only ones available to people at home!

Why is it necessary to know?

Muscle is heavier than fat, so even with the same weight, two people can have completely different body quality. The lower the percentage of body fat and the higher the percentage of muscle, the more prominent the body will be. So beautiful, athletic body - not kilograms on the scale, because the “quantity of the body” does not always correspond to its “quality”. Women, for physiological reasons, have more fat cells than men, so it is always more difficult for women to build muscle mass.

A beautiful body really means a lot of work on yourself. Not a search for “miracle diets”, magic pills or the cunning technique of the third wife of the Chinese Emperor Tsin, but daily nutrition control, regular exercise in the gym and the desire to understand how it all works. Like the work of a sculptor who calmly and methodically carves a beautiful statue out of shapeless stone.

If you are losing weight and monitoring the quality of your body, then try to measure your body fat percentage at least once a month. This will help you not mindlessly lose extra pounds, but systematically improve your body composition.

Besides:

• You can track changes in your fat mass both while losing weight and while gaining muscle. This is much more revealing than the arrow on the scale.
• Knowing the weight of your lean muscle mass can be used to find out your calorie intake.

The norm for women and men: what should it be

So, what is the normal percentage of body fat for a woman?

• up to 30 years – 15-23%;
• from 30 to 50 years – 19-25%;
• from 50 years old - 20-27%.

Normal body fat percentage for men:

• up to 30 years – 11-18%;
• from 30 to 50 years – 14-20%;
• from 50 years old – 16-22%.

If there is more than 32% fat, a person develops obesity.

More visual tables:

How to find out on your own at home?

There is no exact way to find out how much fat is in the body. There are more accurate methods, there are simple methods that show this approximately.

How to determine from a photo

Cheap and cheerful: to determine your body fat percentage, you need to find a body shape that is as similar as possible to yours:

For girls and women, an athletic build is characterized by 14-20% body fat, good physical shape - 21-24%, average body fat - 25-31%. At the same time, a fat level below 10% is extremely dangerous for the female body and leads to the cessation of .

For men, 6-13 percent body fat means a toned, athletic physique and fairly defined abs, 14-17% means good physical shape with a small amount of fat in problem areas, 18-25% means an average level of shape, and above 25% means obesity.

On the positive side: This is the fastest, free and easiest way. To determine your body fat percentage, you need to find a body shape that is as similar to yours as possible.

From the negative: requires your assessment of yourself, which is not always objective. We may unconsciously “throw off” a few pounds in our minds and compare ourselves to the slimmer version in the photo. In a word, with a probability of 80% this method is a “finger in the sky.”

How to measure with a caliper

Caliper- a special device that measures the thickness of the skin-fat folds in different parts of the body. Based on the obtained figures, the percentage of subcutaneous fat is determined using special tables or formulas.

How to measure body fat with a caliper -!! only for women!!

1. Posterior shoulder: The fold is taken vertically in the middle between the shoulder joint and the elbow.
2. On the side: The fold is taken from the side diagonally in the middle between the lower rib and the hip bones.
3. On the stomach: The fold is taken vertically at a distance of +-2.5 cm away from the navel.

% fat = (A-B+C) + 4.03653, where:

• A = 0.41563 x (sum of all three folds in mm),
• B = 0.00112 x (sum of all three folds in mm squared),
• C = 0.03661 x age in years.

Measurement common for women and men

We add the resulting numbers in mm and find out the percentage of subcutaneous fat using the table:

On the positive side: inexpensive, fast, you can do it yourself at home, fairly accurate indicators.

From the negative: You need practice to learn how to use it correctly or someone else's help, calculations using formulas are required.

How to calculate online

There are also many fat percentage calculators online based on different body measurements. So you can easily calculate online. For example, these:

On the positive side: fast, does not require any activity.

From the negative: the calculation is unreliable.

How to calculate with scales and analyzer

How scales determine the amount of fat and muscle in the body: the device passes a weak current through you and calculates tissue resistance.

On the positive side: fast, suitable for regular home use.

From the negative: the same as for bioimpedance - not always accurate indicators, since the figure can be affected by water balance (edema). High-quality scales will cost more than 10,000, but it’s better to refuse cheap ones - it’s a waste of money. When repeated measurements, fluid loss may show on the scale a decrease in the percentage of fat mass, although in fact it has remained unchanged. The only way to use such scales is to track the trend - let the number lie, but what is important is its increase or decrease over time.

How to Calculate Body Mass Index from Lyle MacDonald

The method is only suitable for untrained people, i.e. for beginners who have not yet started strength training. For the lucky owners of visible muscles built in the gym beyond the “norm”, this method is not suitable.

To determine your body fat percentage, you need to know your body mass index: BMI = weight in kg/height in square meters

How to check with professionals

How to calculate quantity by bioimpedance analysis

For athletes, and ordinary people who think about their health and those who want to lose weight, it is very important to know the percentage of fat in the body. After all, when trying to get rid of extra pounds, people have in mind precisely fat accumulations, and not muscle or bone tissue. Many people simply ignore this indicator, focusing only on the arrow on the scales, but in vain.

Knowing the percentage of fat accumulation in the body is much more useful in order to correctly carry out procedures to eliminate it. Further in the material we will present methods how to determine body fat percentage, which is a constant process when losing weight, cutting and building muscle tissue. The methods presented below can be used independently or by contacting a specialist - a nutritionist or fitness trainer. These specialists will be able to determine exactly what the person seeking help needs to do. By studying individual characteristics, you can achieve the desired results.

When you step on the scale, you can see every time that your weight changes in one direction or another, even if it’s a small amount. But this does not mean that the content of fat accumulation has decreased - it could be simple dehydration or a decrease in muscle mass. If you really want to lose weight, then you need to get rid of the subcutaneous fat layer.

This is important: As a rule, people who want to lose weight tend to go on a fast-acting diet. This leads to positive results, but in fact a person loses water and muscle mass - fat remains unchanged, or slightly leaves the abdomen.

The subsequent transition to a normal diet leads to a sharp replenishment of water and muscle mass - this happens in even larger quantities (which is why a person gains even more after a diet). To make the formula for good weight more accurate, you need to know exactly the percentage of fat contained in the body. That is why it is necessary to find out this indicator, for which several determination methods have been developed.

Normal for humans

For normal functioning of the body, it must contain an optimal percentage of fat. A minimum percentage of body fat is required for survival: men should have 3-5% body fat, and women should have 8-13%. You cannot get rid of it completely, since fat cells are necessary for the functioning of the body, otherwise you can simply die. Fat that is part of the nervous system and that surrounds the internal organs cannot be eliminated.

The bulk of body fat is found in the adipose tissue located under the layer of skin and around the organs - this is visceral fat. A small part is found in tissue cells throughout the body. All fats play an important role in the functioning of the body, but excess can lead to the development of heart and vascular diseases, hypertension, type 2 diabetes, cardiac ischemia, and some types of oncology. Fat deposits in the body should be optimal because they maintain body temperature, protect internal organs from damage, promote the synthesis of hormones and other chemical compounds, and also perform other functions.

The table clearly shows that normal fats are not so little required if a person is not an athlete. If you try to reduce the amount of fat below the lowest level, then the body in general, and especially the internal organs, will suffer from this. You won’t be able to recover quickly - it’s quite difficult to return the optimal percentage of fat.

This is important: Too low a percentage contributes to the cross-section of the muscles, which makes them appear dissected and “striped,” dividing the muscle into small ridges. Everyone can achieve an ideal body through exercise and diet, but maintaining oneself in ideal shape for a long time is quite difficult. To do this, it is necessary to constantly monitor calorie intake, and this is too difficult, especially if the body constitution is not conducive to being slim.

You need to stay in the healthy fat range and try not to go out of there. For normal well-being and reducing the risk of chronic pathologies, it is necessary to monitor the accumulation of fat cells and try to avoid overdoing it.

Expert opinion

Egorova Natalya Sergeevna
Dietitian, Nizhny Novgorod

The normal ratio of visceral and subcutaneous fat is 1:9. That is, in the body of a healthy person, 10% of fat should be localized around internal organs, and 90% in subcutaneous fat. Violation of this ratio can have adverse consequences for the body.

Visceral fat is located around the internal organs and supports them. When its quantity is insufficient, these same organs begin to react painfully to increases in intra-abdominal pressure (for example, when coughing). And this can cause prolapse of the kidneys, spleen, liver, gallbladder, and intestines.

An excess of visceral fat is even more dangerous than a lack of it, because visceral obesity is the main risk factor for a number of dangerous diseases: atherosclerosis, coronary heart disease, arterial hypertension, etc.

Thus, it is important to determine not only the total amount of fat in the body, but also its location, that is, how many percent of it is localized around the internal organs.

How to find out your fat percentage

There are many ways to determine the percentage of fat in the human body.

The simplest of them are presented in the following form:

• Scales with determination of body fat mass. It is important to know that such measuring instruments always have an error factor.
• Take a good look at yourself in the mirror and visually determine excess fat deposits.
• Use a centimeter ruler to measure the size of your waist and forearm. If your waist size has decreased and your forearms have increased, it means that fat has begun to be burned and muscle tissue has begun to grow.

All methods are easy to perform and accessible to everyone, but they do not give a specific result. Using these methods, you can find out the general condition of the fat layer.

Ideal weight formula

Having learned this, you can look at the result in the table:

This method is usually used by girls to determine the size of the fat layer.

Online calculator

The calculator, which is easy to find on the Internet, will quickly and correctly determine your indicator using five formulas. The results of the checks will be reflected on the graph of fat content categories in the table, where the percentage of fat and age will be expressed. In the gallery you can find photos of bodies with different levels of fatty tissue in the body. You just need to go to the online calculator page and fill out all the fields and click on the “calculate” button.

Result: Your body contains approximately fat (or ).

The result will be calculated using all formulas if all fields are filled in correctly. If you ignore something, the calculation will be made using an incomplete number of formulas. When completely filled out, the result will be immediately displayed on graphs, photos, and tables.

Please note: The online calculator determines the percentage in five ways and then gives the average value. Any of the methods produces an error in the range of +- 3%. The more methods are used, the more accurate the result will be.

Each method gives an indicator in percentage and its weight in kg. The methods have their own graphs, where the result of the test is highlighted with a yellow line. The second level of the graph, which is visible on the outer circle, highlights the scale, according to which the results are assessed as percentages. Next are two summary graphs, the first one shows the results of all formulas and the average value. The second graph shows a more accurate estimate of the percentage of fat, which was carried out taking into account age. In addition to calculating the percentage of body fat, the graph gives recommendations on further actions.

Other calculation methods

What other ways can you calculate your fat percentage?

• US Navy method. When recruited into the US military, everyone's body fat percentage is checked; weight doesn't matter. For this purpose, height, hip, waist and neck circumference are taken.
• Covert Bailey method. The results are based on age. For the calculation, the size of the hips, thighs, legs, wrists and age are taken.
• Using BMI. The calculation is based on height, weight and age. It is important to know that after 30 years the accuracy of the indicator decreases.
• Additional method. Its calculations are based on a larger number of parameters. Weight, wrist, hip, forearm and waist circumference are taken.

The resulting numbers are summed up and the average is calculated, which will be closer to reality.

Caliper Application

Women who diet to perfect their body are required to frequently calculate their body fat percentage. After all, health can suffer significantly from fluctuations in the fat layer. A special device called a caliper will help you quickly and accurately calculate the percentage of body fat for women. It is designed to measure the thickness of the fat layer anywhere on the body.

How can you determine the indicator using this device:

• Measure the thickness of the fold of fat at the back of the shoulder.
• Do the same between the ribs and the thigh bone.
• Measure the thickness on the stomach, slightly away from the navel.
• Calculate the indicator using the following formula: (Sum of all folds in cm + the same amount, but squared + 0.03661 x number of years lived) + 4.03653.

This is a difficult calculation, but with practice it can be done easily. This device can also calculate indicators in men.

Correcting the amount of fat in the body

According to the law of energy balance, the more energy is spent, the more fat is burned. But this is up to a certain point, after the main burning of the fat layer it becomes quite difficult to achieve its destruction. If you are planning to lose 10 kg, then burning the first half will be much easier and faster than the last 5 kg. To bring your body to the desired slimness, you will have to use additional methods - playing sports. As the amount of fat decreases, each kilogram lost will become increasingly difficult.

Please note: Visceral or internal fat accumulates in adults as the total number of fat cells in the body increases, and not due to a genetic predisposition. In men, it begins to accumulate when the body fat percentage reaches 20.6, and in women – from 39.4.

To move from one fat indicator to another, you need to follow some rules.

Gain fat

• What to do: eat processed foods and other fast food, eat more food at a fast pace.
• Restrictions: move little, do not exercise, exclude vegetables and fruits, healthy foods, sleep less.

Reduce fat

• What to do: eat 2 servings of protein foods per day, 1-2 vegetable dishes, and exercise 3-5 times a week.
• Restrictions: Eat fewer processed carbohydrates and drink less high-calorie drinks.

It is not recommended to burn fat to a critical point, because the whole body will begin to suffer from this, and most of all the internal organs. It is recommended to lose weight in small steps, gradually approaching the cherished number on the scales. The body should not experience stress during the weight loss process, otherwise it may malfunction and it will be difficult to recover.

Dietetics does not stand still. To calculate your ideal weight, it is not enough to take into account only your individual structure and height. Standards for body fat content have been created for both sexes, as well as for three body types, height and age.

We will not consider such simple options as weighing yourself on an electronic scale that will show you the % fat. Let's consider more interesting options.

How to calculate the percentage of fat by body volume? There are two special formulas, one for men and one for women. As you know, men and women accumulate fat in different ways: in men it is usually on the stomach, in women, as a rule, on the thighs and abdomen.

Formula for men: 495/(1.0324-0.19077(log(Waist-Neck))+0.15456(log(Height)))-450

Formula for women: 495/(1.29579-0.35004(log(Waist+Hip-Neck))+0.22100(log(Height)))-450

How to estimate the ratio of waist and hips? There is a simple method, although it does not give exact numbers, but it shows whether you have excess fat. Divide your waist size by your hip size. If you get a number greater than 0.8, you have excess fat, if less, your fat percentage is normal, everything is fine.

However, this method will not always show the exact amount of excess, so it can be used by not very obese people in order to prevent excess numbers and respond in a timely manner.

Calculation of body fat percentage based on skin fold thickness

Some fat measurement methods are only carried out by professionals, as the accuracy of the assessment depends on this. Let's look at them in more detail. As a rule, such methods are used in health centers and fitness clubs. The most popular of them is the method of measuring the thickness of the skin fold. A special device is used to pinch a fold of skin, the thickness of which is measured according to the applied scale. Typically, the thickness of the fold is measured on the abdomen, hips, chest, and upper back.

After this, the data is entered into the computer. The percentage of fat is calculated by a special program.

Answering the question “what % of fat is normal,” we can say the following:

Professional bodybuilders increase their body fat percentage before competition to 3-4%. This percentage of fat only lasts during competitions and then the fat mass increases, because 3-4% is negligible for the body, especially for women. This leads to hormonal imbalances and deterioration of the skin and hair.

The minimum fat mass index is considered to be 5% for men and 10% for women. But this is precisely the minimum index, which is also achieved for some purposes for a short period. It is undesirable for health to have a constant percentage of body fat at such a low level.

The normal amount of adipose tissue in men is considered to be 12-20% and in women - 18-25%. In this case, the person looks athletic and fit, without excess fat, with beautiful relief.

A clear excess of adipose tissue is when the percentage of fat in men exceeds 30%, and in women - 35%. Clear signs of overweight and obesity: underdeveloped muscles, excess fat deposits, health problems.

Calculation of body fat percentage using ultrasound

When using ultrasound, an ultrasound scan is performed in several areas of the body, since fatty tissues have different densities, after which the total amount of fat in the body is calculated. This calculation is made only in medical institutions that have special equipment.

Calculation of fat percentage from the picture (visually)

You can estimate your body fat percentage approximately. Look at the pictures and at yourself in the mirror and decide which option looks most like you.

In addition to those described above, the BES (bioelectric resistance) method is also used: a weak electric current is passed through your body through electrodes attached to your arms and legs. It is known that fat tissue does not conduct current, so it is believed that the faster the current passes through the body, the less fat you have. This method is used in portable devices that are similar to scales. This device is called a fat analyzer, and it can even be purchased at a very affordable price.

Modern electronic scales also have this function, however, they do not always give an accurate result, since the measurement is only taken in the feet, where the percentage of fat is small. Therefore, the readings may not be entirely accurate.

The last known method for measuring body fat percentage is water weighing. This type of measurement is carried out under water for 10 seconds on a special chair. Several approaches are made, the result is derived based on the three maximum results. This is a rather labor-intensive and inconvenient method; it is used exclusively for research purposes.

So, we have looked at several ways to measure the percentage of body fat. You learned that men and women gain weight in different ways, how to correctly measure volumes using a measuring tape, how to estimate the ratio of waist and hip volumes, you became acquainted with methods for assessing fat used for research purposes, this is: the method of measuring the thickness of the skin fold, ultrasound method, BES (bioelectric resistance) method, as well as weighing in water. You have the opportunity to assess the amount of fat in your body and take appropriate measures in time.

Today's topic of the article will be dedicated to girls who are not completely happy with their figure and would like to change it a little or more thoroughly. When we talk about excess weight, we mean those extra fat deposits that prevent us from feeling comfortable and liking ourselves in the mirror. Those ugly extra pounds are defined by nothing more than percentage of body fat. Today we will find out what should be the norm of fat in the female body, and also determine what percentage of body fat is in a woman is the lower threshold, after which problems with health and reproductive function begin. In general, in this article we will analyze in detail and bit by bit how the female body and its nature reacts to changes in the percentage of fat and a decrease in the fat layer on its body. I think it will be interesting for every girl to know what normal body fat which is acceptable and which is dangerous...

Minimum percentage of fat in the female body

In fact, there is no one value that would accurately state that “this” indicator or “this” is the ideal percentage of fat in the female body (and in the male too). Fat norm for each person is determined individually and is based on many factors - gender, age, activity level, lifestyle, genetics, dietary habits and others. But despite this, scientists were able to determine minimum range of female body fat percentage, below which women should not go, due to the appearance of significant disturbances in the vital functions of the body. This percentage varies from 13 to 16 depending on age differences (Table 1).

Table 1 Minimum acceptable fat content depending on the woman’s age

As we can see, the lower threshold of a woman’s normal body fat percentage increases the older she gets. This is due to a decrease in her motor activity and metabolism in general.

Normal percentage fat in the female body

Now let's move on to looking at the average normal body fat percentage for women. As we already know, there are no two completely identical organisms, therefore this indicator will not be one specific number, but a range of several values, which will characterize the acceptable percentage of fat for the female body. In Table 2 you can see what these values ​​are for different age groups of women.

Table 2 Normal percentage of fat in the female body

But it is worth noting that even within these values ​​there may be disruptions and irregularities in the menstrual cycle in women.

For example, if for a twenty-year-old young girl the normal fat percentage is 19%, (this is what happened “historically”), and when she lost weight, then the fat percentage dropped to 17%, but still remained within her normal range and fits into the range “safe” minimum fat percentage, then the girl may still develop disturbances in the functioning of the ovaries at a more serious level. And all because normal body fat indicated in tables 1 and 2 or prescribed in physiology textbooks is still more conditional meaning, which only approximately determine this normal percentage . But in fact, the body itself decides what is the ACCEPTABLE percentage of fat for it, what is MINIMUM, and what is EXCESSIVE. And we, unfortunately, do not participate in this distribution.

How to measure your body fat percentage?

There are several ways to measure your body fat percentage. The infographic below shows the most popular (picture clickable).

But keep in mind that the resulting figure will only be approximate, since this method is not the most accurate of all those presented above.

Low or negative body fat percentage energy balance?

There are studies that show that low fat percentage does not in any way affect the absence of menstruation and the appearance of amenorrhea in girls. It's all about negative energy balance, not fat percentage per se. When a girl starts to lose weight and lose her kilograms, she does it by calorie deficit, that is, it spends more energy than it receives from food, thereby creating negative energy balance.

So, it is this factor that is key in stopping menstruation and disrupting a girl’s reproductive function, and not the low percentage of fat itself.

If you believe these studies, it turns out that, in principle, a girl can have 6 packs on her stomach and not have problems with her cycle. Is it really?

If we think logically, then to get the desired muscle definition, just NEED TO REDUCE its fat component, that is REDUCE body fat percentage to its minimum (13-14%). And this in turn can ONLY be done through a calorie deficit, which is created by reducing the amount of calories consumed from food and increasing energy expenditure during training.

And here the question arises: are there girls who perform in the “” or “Body Fitness” nominations and at the same time their cycle does not disappear? How is this possible? After all, most of them bring their body fat percentage below the minimum acceptable norm of 13%.

I allow this option:

 those girls who were able to maintain their menstrual cycle during drying and a strict diet (and there are not so many such girls), they still managed to maintain their energy balance at the proper level, without creating a large calorie deficit due to sports supplements food and .

After all, in order to prepare and compete in bodybuilding and bikini fitness competitions, you definitely need additional help in the form of special help, otherwise there is no other way. Training and strict nutrition deplete the body’s energy reserves so much that sometimes girls not only lose their cycle, they simply faint right on stage. This all shows how illiterate and incorrectly the coach or the girl herself approaches the issue of preparation and preparation for competitions. It is clear that the diet of performing athletes contains the minimum possible amount of carbohydrates (the main source of energy), but, perhaps, some also do not receive the normal amount of proteins and fats from food. We cannot know this for sure, but it is true that sports nutrition supplements can partly reduce the energy balance created in the body of athletes.

Where am I leading with all this? And besides, if you want to have a low percentage of body fat (less than 15%) in order to see your six-pack on your stomach, you need to take this issue VERY seriously! Firstly, you need to find out your minimum percentage of fat with which your body continues to function normally, and secondly, do not forget about additional nutrition for athletes.

remember, that norm of fat in the female body is still directly related to the negative energy balance created. The higher it is, the faster you lose weight and reduce your fat percentage. And if at this time you do not help your body and do not support it in the form of additional sports nutrition and vitamins, then you risk losing your cycle, and subsequently getting even more problems with your health:

And there is one more important point that I would like to mention. After the girl fully realizes that her weight loss is not at all the result she dreamed of, and she decides to increase her fat percentage to her “historical” norm, then this girl will inevitably face the realities of her weight loss. Unfortunately, not all the consequences of this weight loss will go away as completely as they appeared. Yes, she will most likely be able to return her menstrual cycle to normal in a couple of weeks, but, for example, the loss of some minerals that are responsible for bone strength may be an irreversible process for her. The consequences of amenorrhea never go completely without a trace, this is a scientifically proven fact. So, remember this if you suddenly want to lose weight and reduce your normal fat percentage to a minimum.

Fat percentage from low to high

Well, let's summarize all of the above.

So, minimum percentage of fat in the female body should be 13-16% depending on the woman’s age. Below this threshold, women begin to experience serious health problems, remember this.

Normal percentage of body fat in a woman ranges from 16 to 25%. Falling into this range, a woman looks and feels good, all her organ systems and, most importantly, her reproductive function are in perfect order.

We didn’t discuss the diagnosis of obesity here, but I will say that more than 32% body fat indicates that a woman is already included in the “overweight” category.

I hope this article was useful to you and you learned a lot of useful and necessary information for you.

And I wish you to be healthy and not focus on six-pack abs, because health is a thousand times more important than some six-pack. We have only one, and it can be easily and irretrievably lost! And we have six cubes, they are with us forever and you can always buy them if you wish =))

Sincerely yours, Janelia Skripnik!

Below is a graph from ACE (American Council on Exercise) and is one of the most commonly used body fat graphs. As you can see, women have a higher percentage of fat than men at the same level. It is higher in women due to differences such as hormones, breasts and genitals. Additionally, women need a higher percentage of body fat to ovulate.

“Essential fat” is the minimum amount of fat required for basic physical and psychological health. There is a lot of controversy regarding the optimal percentage of body fat. A study by Gallagher et al concluded that fat levels that are too low are considered "not enough fat", which is "unhealthy". According to this study, men 20-40 years old with less than 8% body fat are considered "underfat", while a "healthy" body fat level for them is 8-19%. For women in the same age group, levels below 21% are considered “underfat”; 21-33% are considered “healthy.”

In my opinion, body fat percentage is an important health metric, but stating that a certain level of fat is “unhealthy” is only one part of the coin. In fact, some overweight people who exercise may be healthier than their leaner, non-exercising counterparts. In contrast, to claim that anyone with 6-pack abs (below 8% body fat for men) is athletic and well-nourished - "unhealthy" with "not enough fat" - would be an exaggeration. We all have different body shapes, sizes and body fat distribution, but I think the above graph is a good starting point.

A limitation of the ACE graph is that while it takes gender differences into account, it does not take into account age, which the next two graphs accurately account for.

Ideal Body Fat Percentage Chart: Jackson and Pollock

AccuFitness is a manufacturer of popular calipers - devices for measuring % fat in fat folds. They include a chart with their products based on the Jackson and Pollock study (which has become an industry standard) which I believe is the most accurate from an aesthetic and health standpoint.

In this graph, the age column is on the left, body fat percentage is in the table cells, and the colors correspond to the Thin, Ideal, Average, and Above Average body fat percentage ranges. So, if you are a 30-year-old man, a body fat percentage of 10 to 16 is considered “Ideal,” and 18 to 22 is considered “Average,” and so on. I also like the colors in this graph - red for values ​​that are too high and green for values ​​that are perfect. Below are two graphs. The first is for men, the second is for women.

You may have noticed that as you age, your acceptable body fat percentage also increases. You will ask why? In short, these graphs are based on statistical assumptions. Older people have lower body density when measured by skinfolds. This indicates a higher percentage of body fat. However, this is not the case for trained older people, since their body density should not be underestimated.

Going deeper, there are three types of fat in the body:

• subcutaneous
• visceral (around organs)
• intramuscular (a layer inside the muscles, like in a marble steak).

The amount of subcutaneous fat you have may remain the same, but the amount of visceral and intramuscular fat may increase as you age. To visually represent the % fat, use the pictures: