Thursday, December 22, 2011

What is a Healthy Body Fat Percentage?

Age-Adjusted Body Fat Charts for Men and Women

If you look around the Internet, you will see a lot of different recommendations for body fat percentages. As far as I can tell, this is the most authoritative, as it is based on World Health Organization and National Institutes of Health recommendations, and takes age into account. Please do not confuse these numbers with the BMI (Body Mass Index) scores, which are not the same thing.

Age-Adusted Body Fat Percentage Recommendations

Women


AgeUnderfatHealthy RangeOverweightObese
20-40 yrsUnder 21%21-33%33-39%Over 39%
41-60 yrsUnder 23%23-35%35-40%Over 40%
61-79 yrsUnder 24%24-36%36-42%Over 42%


Men


AgeUnderfatHealthy RangeOverweightObese
20-40 yrsUnder 8%8-19%19-25%Over 25%
41-60 yrsUnder 11%11-22%22-27%Over 27%
61-79 yrsUnder 13%13-25%25-30%Over 30%

Source: Gallagher et al. Am J Clin Nut 2000; 72:694-701

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