Body Fat Percentage

It consists of essential body fats and storage body fats. Essential body fats are needed by your normal body functions, including reproductive and hormonal functions. This is about 3-5% in men and 8-12% in women. If essential body fats fall below these levels, some of your body functions will be negatively affected. You are likely to get health problems. Storage body fats consist of all other body fats like those in your skin (called subcutaneous fats) and those protecting abdominal organs (called visceral fats).

Healthy levels of body fats differ from average people to athletes, body builders, and so on. Body builders have less body fats. They follow a different diet discipline.

Lean body mass is composed of your muscles, body organs, bones, and so on, excluding your body fats.

You can get your BFP using a body fat analyzer. Some weighing scales have this built-in functionality. There are even devices that can measure your visceral fats (or abdominal fats). This is a helpful tool since excess visceral fats pose greater risks to your health.

This is the general formula to compute BFP.

These are the different BFP values according to the American Council on Exercise.

Some people are surprised to know that one-third to one-half of their body is fats. This simply shows how people are not monitoring their health. They carry excess baggage everyday. This is extra load for their spines and hips. This means extra work for their hearts. No wonder people who are overweight and obese easily get tired.

As you lose weight, your body fat percentage typically decreases. With a healthy diet, you can experience more energy and get a better body shape.

Return from Body Fat Percentage to Measure Yourself.