Ideal Body Fat Percentage - What Level Is Right for You?

Many people want to know what their ideal body fat percentage is.  The problem with trying to answer this question is that that there is no straight answer that applies to every individual person.  The ideal body fat percentage can vary quite a bit in between various individuals depending on body type, heredity, age, eating habits, gender, and normal activity levels.  All of these can effect what a healthy body fat percentage, as 6% might be healthy for one individual, but 15% is healthy for someone else.  However as a general rule of thumb, once you get up to 25%, that’s unhealthy for anybody.

The ideal body fat percentage also varies greatly depending on gender.  For example, most males who have 5% body fat are considered in excellent health because that’s the safe lower limit for most men.  Women, on the other hand, have a minimum of 12% to be at safe levels.  A woman aiming for 5% body fat is not only being unrealistic, but is probably aiming for a goal that would actually make her unhealthy.

Active people tend to have lower body fat, while individuals with a more sedentary life style are obviously more likely to have a high level of body fat.  In addition to this, age has a lot to do it.  For example, males who are 20 are often considered to have too little body fat if they are below 8% (obviously there are exceptions, like hard core athletes).  But at 70, you would have to be below 13% to have too little body fat.  The healthy range for a 30 year old male is 8-19%, while for an 80 year old it is 13-25%.

Figuring out your ideal body fat percentage and working to keep it in that range is a very important part of staying healthy and is a better indication of overall health than the body mass index (BMI).  Going to a doctor for a test can be a good idea, and there are body fat monitors that help you to monitor your progress as you diet and exercise your way to an ideal body fat percentage.

This is one of the most important things you can do to in order to stay in good health.  Your ideal body fat percentage should be one of your main goals in working out and becoming healthy.  Taking another measurement every three weeks to steadily keep track of your progress towards your ideal body fat percentage can help you to stay motivated and stay with a workout and diet program.

There are actually a wide array of body fat monitors available, giving consumers multiple choices.  Aiming for the body fat reduction can be encouraging, as sometimes you may be staying at the same weight but gaining muscle while losing fat, or you might be losing weight but your body takes longer to show it.  By keeping track of your progress, you will get healthier and may find it easier to reach your ideal body fat percentage.

Body Mass Index - A Way to Measure Weight & Height

The body mass index, more commonly known as the BMI, is a way of measuring a person’s weight in proportion with their height, assigning a statistical number that represents both.  While the BMI in general can be a good way to estimate the average healthy body weight for a person’s height, this is not an exact science and one common misconception is that the BMI is a measurement of body fat, which is not true.  While the BMI is an estimate of healthy body weight for height, it’s not exact at all.  The BMI of a professional bodybuilder, for example, could be high in the “extremely unhealthy” range because of all the extra weight from muscle, but that would not be an accurate description of the bodybuilder’s actual health.

The body mass index is often used in lieu of actual body fat measurements because it is easy to measure and figure out, making it more popular.  The body mass index was first used between 1830 and 1850.  The BMI is figured out by taking the person’s body weight and dividing it by the square of the height.  For weight use kilograms, not pounds, and for height use meters.  So to get the right BMI number you want to take kg/m2.  That measurement will let you figure out your BMI.

The body mass index isn’t perfect, but for average individuals it is often a relatively reliable estimate of where your weight sits health wise.  The BMI measurement became most popular in the 1950s and 1960s when obesity first started to become a serious and common problem in developed Western societies.  The Body Mass Index has come under fire recently, mostly because of its misuse.  While the BMI is a good estimate, it was never intended to be used as iron clad figures, or to be used by doctors for medical diagnosis of health.  A more accurate use of BMI’s purpose is to have it used as a simple easy to estimate means of seeing how physically active or inactive the average individual is as measured by weight in relation to height.

There are several factors that can really through off the accuracy of a BMI report.  Two of the obvious are heavy weight lifting, like bodybuilding, and extreme height.  Because of the simplicity of the math, the taller a person, the more likely the BMI is to be off.  There are several “ranges” that BMI scores fall into.  It’s generally accepted that:

BMI Categories within the healthy range:
Low 18.5-19.8
Med-Lo 19.9-21.1
Medium 21.2-22.4
Med-Hi 22.5-23.7
High 23.8-25.0

Scores under 18 are dangerously underweight, while scores over 25 indicate obesity, and go all the way up to morbidly obese.  These are once again, just general measurements that compare the weight and heights of average individuals, but it’s still a good way to get at least a general idea of how you’re doing in regards to weight and health.