The percentage of body fat. What is the normal percentage of body fat for health
Everyone who is at least somewhat interested in a healthy lifestyle and losing weight knows that it is a big role for appearance body fat percentage. The fashion for a magnificent figure has long passed, and by modern standards, beauty lies in a slender, fit, athletic body. Accordingly, the lower its percentage in the body, the more aesthetic a person looks.
But here, too, there is a norm, neglecting which you run the risk of obesity or anorexia instead of beauty. Also, the fat content in the body within normal limits is extremely important for health. Deviations in one direction or another can lead to disastrous consequences, sometimes not even fixable. The fat layer is accumulated not only on muscle tissues, but also on internal organs, which is especially dangerous. You probably have heard such a thing as “visceral fat”. So what is the optimal body fat content? How to reduce its percentage and not harm health? Where is the line between beautiful slimness and excessive thinness and where to “take” the desired relief? To understand how to determine the percentage of body fat, find out the answers to questions, read the information below.
If you are overweight and with the naked eye you can see that the percentage of fat is above normal, then you do not need accurate measurements. They are necessary for athletes who carefully monitor their nutrition and loads. It’s hard to determine something “by eye”.
There are many methods for determining its percentage in the body, but, unfortunately, not all of them are accurate:
- caliper - a specialized device with a scale - has a high error;
- x-ray - minimum deviations;
- special scales and other gadgets - the error is about 6% (strongly depends on the current state of the body);
- bioelectric resistance - there is an error too;
- “By eye” - the error is large, but the method is the simplest and most common.
Let us dwell in more detail on each. Caliper measures the thickness of the skin on the fat fold. Measurements are taken in several places, and then the results are summarized and applied in several equations. The disadvantages of this method: the equations are not accurate initially, pinching less skin you get an underestimated result, and holding more, respectively, overpriced. So, calculate the correct coefficient on it. X-ray has a smaller error than the previous method, but still not accurate, this has already been proved by a number of studies. Moreover, much depends on the apparatus itself, the state of the body, gender, weight, and many other factors. The error ranges from 4 to 10%. The most accurate method for determining the percentage of body fat is a four-section analysis.
Here the body is conditionally divided into four components:
- bones;
- water
- muscle
- fatty tissue.
All this is separately “weighed”, and the results pass through a special formula. This method will help to reliably calculate the percentage of body fat for women and men. Judging “by eye”, about 10% of fat in a relief body is already up to 20% in a slender body without relief. Well, if there is obesity at any stage - then there is no less than 50%.
Practical advice: When determining the percentage by this method, you need to remember the role of muscle mass. The same indicator will be at the “pitching” and lean. The difference is only in the relief.
Body fat calculator
Result: There is approximately fat (or) in your body.
What is the minimum percentage of fat
It is completely impossible to get rid of the fat layer, since it is also necessary for the normal functioning of the body.
Please note: For men, the minimum content is 5%, for women - 13%. If the percentage is below normal, internal organ failure will follow.
There is such a case in history. A bodybuilder who overdid fat loss died. A small portion of fat is and should be in all organs and systems of a person.
In addition to it, there are 2 more types:
- subcutaneous;
- visceral.
The latter accumulates on the internal organs and it is more difficult to get rid of it. A small amount of fat is provided for the normal functioning of the body, but its excess leads to many serious diseases.
Normal (healthy) percentage of fat
Fullness cannot be healthy by definition. The World Health Organization has a table that indicates a healthy percentage of fat content.
Men | ||||
Age | Low% | Healthy% | Tall % | Obesity |
20-40 years old | Below 8 | 9-19% | 20-25 | Above 25 |
41-60 years old | Below 11 | 12-22% | 23-27 | Above 27 |
61-79 years old | Below 13 | 14-25% | 26-30 | Above 30 |
Women | ||||
Age | Low% | Healthy% | Tall % | Obesity |
20-40 years old | Below 21 | 21-33% | 33-39 | Above 39 |
41-60 years old | Below 23 | 23-35% | 35-40 | Above 40 |
61-79 years old | Below 24 | 24-36% | 36-42 | Above 42 |
As mentioned earlier, a low content of subcutaneous (and not only) fiber leads to death, and high to many diseases. There is a norm of fat content in the body and it should be adhered to.
Visceral fat
For a long time, the accumulation of visceral fat in adults was attributed to genetics - predisposition and so on. But scientists still proved that a fat aunt is not to blame for your fullness. The content of visceral fat increases with subcutaneous tissue, and genetics has nothing to do with it.
It becomes harmful when kept:
- in men, from 20%;
- in women from 40%.
Decrease in body fat percentage
Losing weight is a difficult but doable task. On the first couple of kilograms go faster than the last. At first glance, everything is simple - you need to eat less (kcal) than you spend. So the body begins to take energy from fat stores, burning them. But the slimmer you become, the more difficult it is to get rid of a couple of extra pounds.
Please note: The greater the initial body weight (fat), the faster it leaves from the first weeks of training. Further more difficult. As fat mass decreases, more and more effort is required to achieve the following result.
For example, an initial weight of 100 kg. For the first month of training and proper nutrition You can lose 5-10 kg. For the second month, it takes 3-7 kg at the same loads, and so on. Therefore, you need to increase the load as weight decreases. An experienced trainer can help with choosing the right initial and further exercises, and it is better to consult a nutritionist for the selection of a diet. The percentage of body fat in both losing weight and in professional sports is more important than calculating BMI (body mass index). The latter shows only the ratio of height and weight, there are even calculators for calculating it. But for a full assessment of the physical development of this is not enough.
What to do to get the desired relief
When losing weight, it is important not only to get rid of fat, but also to achieve tightness and muscle relief, albeit not very pronounced. Below are recommendations on what is and what is not worth doing every day in order to move from one "fat category" to another.
% fat in men | % fat in women | What to do | Limitations |
From 20 | From 30 | To dial: there are semi-finished products; large portions; consume food fast |
Lead a sedentary lifestyle; eat few fruits, vegetables, and other healthy foods; Do not monitor the balance of the diet; sleep as little as possible. |
15-20 | 25-30 | +2 servings of food with a lot of protein per day; + 2 small servings of vegetables; training or active exercises 3-5 times a week |
Reduce the amount of (slightly) processed carbohydrates; consume slightly less high-calorie drinks. |
13-15 | 23-25 | Add protein in 2-3 meals a day; +3 servings of vegetables per day; activity of 45 minutes a day; 1-2 workouts per week; sleep from 7 hours a day; fight stress. |
Desserts up to 3-5 times a week; drinks with a lot of calories 3-5 times a week. |
10 - 12 | 20-22 | Fully control your diet; protein and vegetables daily in 1 serving; + a small amount of omega-3 fatty acids; + some processed carbohydrates; 50 minutes of activity every day; 4 workouts per week; sleep for at least 8 hours; fight stress. |
Desserts no more than 1-2 times a week; 1-2 calorie drinks per week, not more. |
6 - 9 | 16 - 19 | Full power control + protein, vegetables, healthy fats; calorie / carbohydrate cycling; activity of 75 minutes every day; 4-5 training sessions per week; sleep 8-9 hours; fight stress. |
Carbohydrates only on special days; desserts up to 2 times a week; up to 1 high-calorie drink per week; restaurants up to 2 times a week. |
Output
A normal percentage of fat requires constant maintenance: proper nutrition, physical activity. Above the norm can lead to many diseases, including diabetes, problems with the heart muscle and the entire vascular system, joint diseases and so on. The list of possible complications is too long.
Regular determination of the percentage of body fat is the best way to evaluate the effectiveness of a diet or fat burning workout. The usual figure on the scales and weight in kilograms can distort the real situation, because during the period of weight loss the body tends to replace part of the lost fat with water.
There are many methods for calculating the percentage of fat in the body, but most of them have an extremely high level of error. Trust is recommended only by professional methods - if cheap floor scales have shown you have 2% fat, this does not mean anything.
Ideal fat level
For men, 6–13 percent of body fat means a toned-up athletic build and a fairly bumpy press, 14–17% - good physical condition with a small amount of fat in problem areas, 18–25% - average level of form, and over 25% - obesity.
For girls, athletic physique is characterized by 14-20% of body fat, good physical shape - 21-24%, average fat level - 25-31%. At the same time, a fat level below 10% is extremely dangerous for the female body and leads to the termination of the menstrual cycle.
How to calculate the percentage of fat?
Calculating the percentage of fat in the body is simple - to do this, you need to divide the fat mass in the body by the total weight. For example, if you have 10 kg of fat with a weight of 70 kg, then the percentage of fat will be 10/70 \u003d 14.3%. However, the key difficulty is that you need to know how much fat you have.
There are several methods for determining the amount of fat in the body. Only one of them - hydrostatic weighing - is direct and shows a real figure for your body. All other methods are indirect and based on a comparison of statistical data.
Hydrostatic weighing. The only measurement method showing the real figure of the content of adipose tissue in the body. It is based on the simplest laws of physics - first, the body is immersed in a bath of water (the volume of “leaked” water is equal to the volume of the body), then the volume is compared with the weight and the percentage of fat is calculated.
Electronic body analysis systems
The action of electronic systems for analyzing body composition is based on passing very weak and safe electric currents through tissues and the subsequent analysis of the transmission speed and the percentage of signal loss. Adipose tissue delays the signal, while water and muscles conduct it almost entirely.
Note that such systems do not determine the fat content in your body, they only compare indicators with average numbers and show an approximate result. Their error depends on the number of measuring electrodes, as well as on temperature, the presence of food in the stomach and other factors.
Body Analysis Scales
Floor scales with body analysis are one of least accurate methods for measuring body fat. By sending a weak current through one leg, the balance “waits” for it on the other and determines the percentage of losses. However, the resulting signal loss can be caused by many reasons.
The only way to use such weights is to track the trend - even if the figure is lying, but it is important to increase or decrease with time. The presence of handles reduces the error and allows you to determine the fat content more accurately - however, such scales are quite expensive.
Caliper Fat Measurement
The measurement method consists in measuring the folds of subcutaneous fat with a device similar to a vernier caliper (“caliper”) and comparing the result with a table. The table contains a comparison of the thickness of the fat fold in millimeters and the estimated percentage of fat in the body.
Caliper measurements are more accurate than electronic scales, because the thickness of the folds of fat on the stomach is directly related to the total amount of fat in the body. An important advantage of the method is that the role of a caliper at home can be performed by a regular caliper.
How to measure fat level with a caliper?
The measurement technique for determining the level of fat with a caliper is simple - you need to stand up straight, find a point 10 cm to the right of the navel 3-4 cm above the edge of the protruding femur, snap on the skin and fat in this place, then measure the thickness of the clip with a caliper.
The measurement result in millimeters and your age is compared with the table below - at the intersection there is a figure showing the predicted fat content in your body. The table also shows whether this indicator is in a high, medium or low zone.
To calculate the percentage of fat in the body, you need to know the physical mass of fat. The only direct method for determining this figure is weighing in a special bath, all other methods are indirect and may contain a significant measurement error.
The percentage of fat in the body is an excellent indicator of health and an indicator that you can focus on when losing weight. The average percentage of body fat in men and women is different, as in different age groups. On the table below, you can see the different percentages of fat for men and women, with an image of how all these percentages of fat look. Try professionally measuring body fat, or use it to estimate your body fat percentage.
Average fat levels for athletes
Low to High Fat Percentage
Fat percentage |
Women |
Men |
Essential Fat: |
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Slim (athletic): |
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Medium (Fitness): |
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Acceptable: |
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Obesity: |
Slimming and the minimum percentage of body fat
It is not possible to lower fat levels to zero. Fat in the body can be divided into essential fat and fat storage. Essential fat is necessary for the proper functioning of the immune and hormonal systems and is located in the main organs of the body, such as the heart, lungs, bone marrow and muscles. Low levels of essential fat negatively affect physical and physiological health. Women have additional irreplaceable fat on the chest, pelvis and hips, which is a biological necessity for childbearing. Essential fats are at least 10 - 13% in women and 5% in men of total body weight.Accumulative fats, on the other hand, are used, if necessary, as fuel for the body, and are also necessary for health. They protect the internal organs of the chest and abdomen. The percentage of this fat varies, as does the weight, which changes when we gain or lose it.
Essential fats and some storage fats are essential for the body to function properly. This is especially true for women in whom a very low level of body fat can cause irregularities / loss of the menstrual cycle (amenorrhea), which in turn can lead to estrogen deficiency, infertility, hair loss, decreased bone density and premature osteoporosis. As a rule, any woman who seeks to maintain her fat level below 12-15% and / or overtrains will experience these disorders. However, much also depends on how it is supported. The point at which amenorrhea can occur is different for all women, for some it can be at the level of 18%, for others at 16% or 12%. It is important to understand that even with the resumption of normal menstruation, some of the changes that occurred may be irreversible. For example, the loss of bone minerals (increased risk of osteoporosis - bone fragility). Especially it concerns adolescence, during which 60 - 80% of the bones of the skeleton are formed and fixed. A low estrogen level during this time will cause inhibition and suppression of normal sexual growth and development.
Amenorrhea is never healthy, desirable or acceptable. This is a sign that something is wrong. If you have stopped menstruating after a period of weight loss, then perhaps you have gone too far. Try to gain some weight and see if it will restore your menstruation, and consult your doctor.
Obesity and too much body fat
- The percentage of fat in the body is 30% - for women this is the edge, 35% is already clinical obesity. While in men the margin is 25%, obesity is 30%.
- High body fat is a risk factor for many diseases, including cardiovascular disease, stroke, high blood pressure, diabetes, certain types of cancer, and osteoarthritis.
- Excess fat makes it difficult to achieve results in sports. A high fat content in the body is a kind of “dead weight”, which leads to a decrease in productivity in speed, stamina, efficiency of movements, dexterity, balance and ability to jump. However, being overweight, you should not avoid exercise, just follow some simple exercise tips on this site.
About fat cells
Fat in the body is deposited in fat cells, and all are born with a certain amount of fat cells. And this amount does not change. When we gain or lose weight, all that changes is the size of these fat cells - they can grow or shrink. However, there are exceptions to each rule, and there are two points when the number of fat cells can increase:
- During puberty, when the number of fat cells increases.
- With severe obesity (when more than 60% of body fat, i.e. 170% normal weight body), fat cells can no longer grow more, and store more fat in themselves, because have reached their size limit, so additional fat cells begin to be produced.
When an adult loses fat, fat cells are reduced in size. The only way to reduce the number of fat cells is by surgical removal, i.e. liposuction. However, liposuction does not affect the size of the remaining fat cells and does not guarantee the arrest of their growth. Thus, liposuction cannot guarantee the prevention of weight gain. Liposuction, like any fat removal procedure, is limited only by the fact that it removes a relatively small number of fat cells.
For proper and more effective weight loss, it is necessary not only to strictly observe diets and the regularity of physical activity, but it is also very important to have an idea of \u200b\u200bwhat excess fat is and where is healthy. This ratio is quite different in each particular period of a lifetime.
With the growth of the body, the characteristics of the human body also change, including muscle mass and the proportion of binding fat. Therefore, over time, weight should increase. You should be wary if it constantly falls or remains stable for many years. Everyone tries to regulate their weight in the same way, choosing the easiest and most affordable way - weighing. But it does not always show a reliable result. You can exhaust yourself with workouts and diets, and the result will remain at the same level. Most likely, this is due to the fact that all the fat deposits that were available earlier turned into muscles, so this did not affect the total body weight. Perhaps the combination of diet and exercise. Sometimes the body weight decreases so much that it becomes critical and dangerous to health.
To determine how much fat in a person will help special methods and knowledge of the characteristics of your body. There are many formulas for calculating the required percentage, but only the result will depend on how much a person has a sports, normal or lean physique. Often, skeletal structure and genetic predisposition also play a role here. More recently, to determine the percentage of fat in the human body, the method of weight to height was used. But in practice it turned out to prove that there is no direct connection between the two units. It is worth considering gender, because the characteristics of the body of a man and a woman in terms of fat content are very different. So a man has a higher percentage than a woman. The former are considered to be the norm of 15%, and the latter 25%. Any deviation is a violation and it can negatively affect overall health.
The main feature is the so-called "base" fat, which in women is primarily used to maintain and protect the fetus. It is mainly found in the buttocks, chest, on the inner thighs, in the genital area. In any situation, it is from this fat that it is most difficult to get rid of. It accounts for about 12% of the total body weight. In women, it is 5% more than in men. Body fat in both is found in all vital organs, such as the brain, heart, liver, and others. Its share is approximately 3-4% and 8-9% in women and men, respectively. But in order to lose weight correctly, it is necessary to determine the percentage of fat as a whole, by which it will be seen whether there is surplus or deficiency.
There are several methods to make such calculations, but each of them has its own characteristics and errors. The main thing is not to forget to focus on physique, applying formulas to biometric data: height, weight, volume. It is their complex that gives more accurate indicators.
The method based on measuring a skin fold using a special tool that is very similar to a caliper is quite common in fitness centers and sports facilities. It is used in several areas of the body, for example, on the back, sides, abdomen, chest, hips. Having received the data, calculations are carried out. Thus, the specific percentage of fat accumulations is determined. Now this can be done using computed tomography, but this is a rather expensive service that does not have a wide range of applications.
An ultrasonic measurement method is also common. The technology is the same as with conventional ultrasound. Many experts believe that it shows an unreliable result. This is explained by the fact that often the device is not able to recognize adipose tissue located too close to muscle tissue, taking it one after another. Quite often they use bioelectric resistance. This method is based on the passage of a weak electric current through the whole body. Given that fat is not able to pass such impulses, they make an appropriate conclusion about its presence in a certain part of the body, calculating the percentage. This method has adopted in the modern world a more perfect image in the form of an electronic platform. But at the same time, the error of an inaccurate result is very high.
There are simpler and no less effective ways to determine if excess fat in a person using calculations. You can focus on calculating the body mass index, which will tell you in what condition the body is. To do this, you need to take the ratio of mass in kilograms to growth in square meters. The norm is considered an indicator from 19 to 25. The smaller value is weight deficit, the greater is excess, and after 30 it is obesity. You can find out the amount of fat (QOL) in kilograms by the formula: the main body mass (OMT) is multiplied by BMI, and the difference between OMT and QOL will help determine the net weight.
For the following methods, you can use the means at hand - this is a tailor meter and a ruler. In the first case, it is worth measuring the volume of the hips and waist. This is the most accurate way to find out and further control your percentage of fat. It is necessary to divide the waist volume by the hips, now you can analyze the result, where the starting point is the value of 0.8. For the second method, you need to pinch the skin fold on your shoulder near the armpit and measure its thickness with a ruler. The average should be 2.5 cm.
Knowing the exact biometric data, you can take into account all the features of diets and be based on the principle: spend more calories than the body consumes during meals. This requires eating the right amount of protein and healthy fatty acids.
When calculating the percentage of fat in a person, in addition to the listed parameters, it is very important to take into account the age of each. All these features affect the final result. It should be taken into account that the older the body, the more “base” fat accumulates.