What is an ideal body fat %?
I checked my body fat % last night and it's 20.1%.... I would like to get down to 15%, but my mom thinks that is way too low. Maybe 17%? What would you consider on the low end of healthy body fat %? I'm 23 years old...
Public Comments
- I heard for girls it's like 16%
- I'm 17% and the calculator said that was below average so yours is probably perfect "The average body fat percentage for U.S. females is around 32%, with the ideal at 22%. Athletic females should be around 15-20%"
- The ideal percentage of body fat varies between each individual depending on various factors such as body type, hereditary, age, activity levels and eating habits. However for any one person there’s no reason why body fat percentage should be above 25 percent if the general lifestyle provides adequate activity. Overweight people generally develop a higher body fat percentage due to either a sedentary lifestyle or a regular consumption of more energy than the body requires, often though it is the combination of both these factors over time that allow the body fat percentage to push to high levels. How much body fat is healthy? Body Composition is the technical term used to describe the different components that, when taken together, make up a person's body weight. The human body is composed of a variety of different tissue types. The so-called 'lean' tissues, such as muscle, bone, and organs are metabolically active, while adipose (fat) tissue is not. Standard scales can tell you a total weight, but can't determine the lean-to-fat ratio of that weight. By the old height-weight charts, an athlete can be "over-weight" and not "over-fat." A bodybuilder, for example, may be 8% body fat, yet at 250 pounds may be considered "over-weight" by a typical weight chart. In general, charts are not a good indication of a athlete's ideal body weight for general health or for athletic performance. There are several different methods of assessing the percent of fat and lean mass of an individual. These methods are referred to as Body Composition Analysis. The gold standard of body composition analysis is hydrostatic weighing or hydrodensitometry. Although, because it is complex and complicated most physiologists use simple skinfold measurements to determine body fat percent. The American College of Sports Medicine says that when performed by a trained, skilled, tester, they are up to 98 percent accurate.
- for women 20-25% is good. Women's body fat percentage is higher than men's because you have breasts. If you got down to 17%, it wouldn't be healthy.
- 15% is pretty low, at 12% a women usually stops her menstrual cycle because the body wants to prevent a pregnancy due to low body fat levels. It would be unsafe for a foetus... I think 17% would be a great achievement... it will require quite a bit of work but at 20.1%, your already well below average...
- you are fine remmeber if you lose your body fat percentage you will also be losing boobs LOL 20 percent is perfec tfor grown women 15 is a bit low... i'd recommend you stay where you are right now
- You are in a perfect range!! :) 18% or lower is considered underweight just to let you know. you would look emaciated if you were 15% lol. check out this website to determine your BMI: Good luck!
