Found this while surfing around. Now that I have met my 23% body fat goal, I am looking for more info. on a healthy body fat percentage. Found this on About's Sports Medicine site.
What should your body fat percent be?
A better question might be, "What is your ideal weight? Body fat percent varies considerably for men and women, and age. However, there are some standards. The minimum percent bodyfat considered safe and acceptable for good health is 5% for males and 12% for females. The average adult bodyfat is closer to 15%-18% for men and 22%-25% for women.
How Much Is Too Much?
Just as too little body fat can create some pretty devastating physiological complications, too much body fat can have equally harmful effects. Once men creep up over 25% and women over 32% fat, there is a dramatic correlation with illness and disease.
I started at 37.8%! Eek!
And from Yahoo:
According to an article from Medscape.com, the American Dietetic Association recommends that men have 15-18% body fat and women have 20-25% body fat.
Dr. C. Everett Koop's site, ShapeUp.com, breaks down healthy body fat ranges by both gender and age. Men under 39 years of age should have 8-19% body fat, and women under 39 years of age should have 21-32%. Older men may range from 11% to 24%, and older women may range from 23% to 35%.
So my goal of 20% is actually quite doable.
Ooo, I'm already in the "ideal" range on this chart:
http://www.linear-software.com/online.html#women
Do you know your body fat percentage? If not, since it is more important than weight, why not?
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