How much fat should be in a healthy body and how to count it

How much fat should be in a healthy body and how to count it

The number on the scale is not the main indicator.

Candidate of Medical Sciences, doctor of integrative, preventive and conventional medicine, nutriciologist

What percentage of fat should be in a healthy body? How to calculate it?

One of the conditions for a healthy and long life is the correct ratio of fat, bone and muscle tissue in the body. This indicator is affected by age, gender, physical activity, place of fat accumulation (depending on the type, fat deposits affect the body differently).

What percentage of fat should be in a healthy body

You shouldn’t rely solely on the information on the scale to measure your body fat percentage. The density of fat tissue is less than that of muscle and bone tissue, and therefore it will take up a larger volume.

By the way, we have already written about how much healthy men and women should weigh – see the table in the article at the link.

Accumulation of fat in the body is associated with metabolic processes. The slower the metabolism, the more fat will be deposited. With age, these processes slow down, and the norms of a healthy ratio of muscle and fat tissue change – the volume of the latter increases.

Women have a higher normal body fat content than men. The male body, designed for endurance, builds muscle tissue more easily. In the female body already in adolescence, the fat layer develops more actively, while muscle tissue is not as actively built up as in men.

Norms of the percentage of fat in the female body:

• 15-30 years – 17-28%;
• 30-50 years – 19-31%;
• over 50 – 21-33%.

Norms for percent body fat in males:

• 15-30 years – 12-23%;
• 30-50 years – 13-26%;
• over 50 years of age – 16-28%.

How to calculate body fat percentage

There are various methods of measuring body fat percentage. Among the most common is to check the size of the subcutaneous fat layer using a caliper device, it can be replaced by a ruler or caliper. With their help, a fold of skin and fat is measured 10 cm to the right of the navel. The results are compared with a special calculation table, for men and women the indicators are different. Read more about this in the article at the link.

However, this method will not give accurate information about the percentage of fat in the body and its type. Specialists, as a rule, use a special analyzer – bioimpedance – to measure the percentage of fat. It can be found in specialized clinics, sports clubs. The device passes safe currents through the tissues of the body and analyzes the passage of these signals. Muscle and water easily pass them, while fatty tissue retains them. This is how the device gives data on the percentage of fat and muscle.