Body Fat Percentage

Diets tend to focus on the number of pounds a person weighs and the number of pounds a person wants to weigh, with very little regard for much of anything else. While that often makes sense to dieters, it doesn’t really work over the long haul and it doesn’t lead to sustained weight loss or general good health.

The problem with this weight-focused approach is that not all pounds are created equal. A pound of fat takes up more physical space and requires fewer calories to maintain than a pound of muscle. Taking into account a person’s body fat percentage as well as total weight gives a much more accurate picture of how healthy that person’s body really is.

Professional athletes can carry as little as 5% body fat, but most people would not function well at this low number. For women under 40, a healthy body fat percentage is 19% to 26%, and for women over 40 it is closer to 23% to 30%. For men, who tend to carry less body fat naturally, the healthy ranges are somewhat lower. Men under 40 can carry 10% to 20% body fat, and men over 40 can carry 19% to 23% body fat.

Body fat percentages are important when it comes to good health because excess body fat has been linked to several chronic diseases such as diabetes, heart disease, high blood pressure, stroke, dementia, and even some forms of cancer. Storing body fat in the belly area has been found to be especially dangerous, and is often linked to changing hormonal patterns and to high stress conditions.

Cortisol, a substance produced by the human body in response to stress, has been shown to lead to accumulation of body fat around the waist and midsection of the body, even in normal weight people. A person can be of normal weight and in seemingly good health and still carry a dangerously high percentage of body fat.

By contrast, an athlete can be quite heavy but have a very low percentage of body fat and therefore be at very low risk for the kinds of diseases associated with accumulation of midsection body fat.

Healthy weight and exercise programs always focus on a wide range of factors and then tailor the desired results to each individual person. Each person has a weight and body fat percentage at which he or she looks and feels best, and what feels healthy and good for one person might be too much or too little for another.

Any weight loss program that takes body fat as well as total weight into account will also build in exercise as a regular part of each day; especially weight bearing exercise and resistance training. Increasing muscle mass in addition to decreasing calorie intake is the key to losing weight and keeping it off.

A normal weight body with a lower body fat percentage and more muscle burns more calories than a normal weight body with a higher body fat percentage and less muscle. Carrying more muscle and less fat means a person can eat more without gaining unwanted pounds.

Who doesn’t want that?