There is no single statistic that can accurately show the overall health of your body. The way you treat your body and mind can often be a much better indicator of the direction you are taking in your health than stats.
As you know, doctors and nutritionists prefer to use measurements, charts, tables, and calculations to give estimates of one’s appearance and health. So it is not surprising that the answers to questions such as how to reduce the percentage of body fat mainly come down to the use of various indexes and calculators for measurement.
In this text, we will explain how and in what way you can calculate the percentage of body fat, without the use of a calculator.
Table of Contents
Why Is It Important to Know the Percentage of Body Fat?
Although it is not a small number of those who believe that body weight is a key factor in determining the goal in the diet, it is true that the percentage of body fat is mostly ‘asked’ on that topic.
Body fat percentage is a parameter that helps you successfully choose your diet goal. For example, a person’s body weighing 80 kg will not look the same when its percentage of fat is 20 % or 10 % at the same weight. Also, professional athletes and ordinary people will not have the same body fat percentage so don’t compare to them. For instance, NBA basketball players (on whose matches you can bet at bookmakers here) have between 6-12 % body fat percentage on average which is far less than the lower limit for men in general (you will learn more about that below).
What’s the Body Mass Index (BMI) And How Does It Differ From the Percentage of Body Fat?
Body mass index (BMI) is an indicator of your diet for which a BMI calculator is used, which does not measure the percentage of body fat.
The percentage of body fat is obtained when the total amount of fat is divided by the total body weight and then multiplied by 100. Thus, the difference between the body mass index is reflected in the fact that BMI refers to total body weight, while the percentage of body fat shows the amount of body fat.
How to Properly Measure Body Fat Percentage?
Many fitness experts believe that the percentage of body fat is a measure of the condition of the body, which is calculated in several ways.
The percentage of body fat can be properly measured with the help of calipers, analyzes and blood sampling, and the use of special digital scales. We advise you to calculate the percentage of body fat using all these methods and to compare the results, in order to obtain super-precise data.
Measuring the Percentage of Body Fat With a Caliper
Despite the fact that you can measure the percentage of body fat with an expensive 3D body scanner, an easier and cheaper way to get results is by using a caliper.
The caliper is an instrument used to quickly and easily measure the percentage of adipose tissue in the folds of your body’s skin. It is interesting that the caliper looks like a wrench and its advantage is that you can use it for home measurement of subcutaneous fat.
The caliper is used by gently pinching the fold of skin in certain places on the body, which is still best done by a personal trainer or a certified expert. In order to make it easier to calculate the percentage of body fat, along with most of the purchased calipers, a table for estimating the percentage of adipose tissue is obtained.
Measurement of Body Fat by Analysis and Blood Sampling
Another way to measure body fat requires an individual’s blood count and necessary tests.
Blood counts and blood draws can detect the presence of body fat in the body. A blood test for body fat levels can help you find out if your cholesterol and triglycerides are high. If blood tests show that you have high cholesterol, we recommend that you do not leave things to chance and change your diet in order to maintain good health and appearance.
Measurement of Body Fat Percentage Using Special Digital Scales
The last way to measure the percentage of body fat that we will list involves the use of special digital scales, which measure the bioelectric impedance of the foot.
Quality digital scales for measuring the percentage of body fat can help you determine the percentage of fat in your body. For example, manufacturers of certain medical digital scales claim that visceral fat, as well as the percentage of fat and muscle tissue, can be accurately calculated in this way.
By the way, bioelectrical impedance analysis (BIA) is a method for measuring body composition based on the speed at which an electric current travels through the body, where adipose tissue slows down that speed.
What’s the Ideal (Healthy) Percentage of Body Fat?
The ideal percentage of body fat is the amount that is not written in the stone, and that number should be adjusted to the needs and desires of each person.
For example, the best percentage of body fat for a bodybuilder before a competition and for a person working on increasing muscle mass will not be the same, which will be shown by the difference in their abs.
Interestingly, the popular abs are visible to the naked eye in men who have 10 % body fat and women who have 20 % body fat. Many argue that the percentage of body fat is balanced if the abdominal muscles on the body are clearly delineated, although this may not be the case. And yes, women have a slightly higher percentage of body fat than men.
The Best Percentage of Body Fat for Men
In general, men have a lower percentage of body fat than women, which you will clearly see in the tables below. The best percentage of body fat for men is as follows:
| Age | Percentage (%) |
| 20-39 | 8-19 % |
| 40-59 | 11-21 % |
| 60-79 | 13-24 % |
It is useful to know that reproduction and childbirth are the main reasons why women have a higher percentage of body fat than men.
The Best Percentage of Body Fat for Women
Regardless of whether they decide to become mothers or not, women at the evolutionary level have a greater need for fat intake than men. The best percentage of body fat for women is as follows:
| Age | Percentage (%) |
| 20-39 | 21-32 % |
| 40-59 | 23-33 % |
| 60-79 | 24-35 % |
The best percentage of body fat for women and men can be achieved with an adequate diet plan and regular physical activity for members of both sexes.
What Affects the Total Percentage of Fat?
Although body fat percentage is a popular topic, it is rarely written and talked about factors that can affect the overall body fat percentage.
The percentage of body fat in men and women is affected by a combination of several different items. The most important factors that affect the total percentage of fat in the body include:
- Essential fats by gender
- Morphotype
- Age
- Muscle mass
- Hormonal status
- Health hygiene
The results of measuring the total percentage of body fat will depend on each of the listed individual criteria, as well as on their common combination.
How to Choose the Right Goal in the Diet Based on the Percentage of Body Fat?
The percentage of body fat is often a signal that can indicate whether you are eating healthy and exercising properly, or you need to change something. It is important to know that you can reduce or increase the percentage of body fat by creating a diet and training plan that suits your needs.
The mentioned measurements and reference values from this text represent good guidelines in the process of choosing the right dietary goal. If you think that you have excess fat in your body and want to lose weight, then we advise you to choose weight loss as your goal in your diet. On the other hand, if you look too thin and want to gain weight, then we recommend that you order a personal diet plan for fattening.
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