Posts Tagged ‘ideal body fat percentage’

Understanding Your Ideal Body Fat Percentage

Sunday, January 10th, 2010

In a perfect world, we would all hit right in the area of our body fat percentage that is considered to be perfect on the charts.  In reality, however, the ideal body fat percentage varies quite widely and it really depends on what you are trying to achieve as an individual.  There are also several determining factors that would make the ideal body fat percentage different, depending on who you were, your age and a few other things.  That is why it is necessary for you to look at any of these body fat charts that you are viewing with a grain of salt and understand that you really just want to be somewhere in the healthy range.

When trying to determine your ideal body fat percentage, you are going to need to know a few things that will help you to do so.  First of all, you’re going to need to know your own body fat percentage and depending on how you do this, the number may vary quite a bit.  You’re also going to need to know where you can find one of these body fat percentage charts in order to compare yourself with the national average.

As far as checking your body fat percentage is concerned, there are a number of different ways that you can do this.  Some people will go through the trouble and take the time to go to the doctor in order to have their body fat tested.  This is the most accurate way for you to do so but unfortunately, is also the most expensive.  If you need to know exact measurements, however, this is really one of the only ways for you to do it.  For the rest of us, we may be able to pick up a pair of body fat calipers at the drugstore and get a fairly good idea of our overall percentage.  Unfortunately, the more body fat you have, the less accurate these calipers are going to be.

Some people also use bathroom scales that are supposed to calculate your body fat percentage as well.  These can do a fairly good job of giving you your body fat percentage but there are a lot of determining factors that will sway the numbers considerably.  For example, dehydration can cause the numbers to change rapidly and you often have to wait until you are up for a little while until you get accurate results.  It is best for you to average your results over the course of a few days in order to know exactly what your body fat percentage is.

Once you have these numbers in mind, you can find your ideal body fat percentage by looking at a chart on the Internet.  You will notice that the numbers vary, according to age and the sex of the individual.  You may also be interested in pushing your numbers down below what the average is for competitive purposes or to look your best.  Regardless, knowing your ideal body fat percentage is one of the measurements that can help you to maintain your health.

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Measuring Your Ideal Body Fat Percentage

Sunday, January 3rd, 2010

If you’re concerned about your overall health, one of the numbers that you may want to keep your eye on is your ideal body fat percentage.  Being able to identify exactly how much body fat you have and to compare it with where it should be in order for you to be healthy according to the average can give you a benchmark of your overall health in general.  Here is a little bit of information about the ideal body fat percentage, where you can find the information and how you can use it to your benefit.

There are a number of different ways for you to find out what your ideal body fat percentage would be.  The easiest way for you to do so is to look up a body fat chart on the Internet and compare it with your own standing.  These charts tend to be divided into groups according to age and sex.  As you get older, the body fat percentage that you are going to be holding onto is going to rise proportionately.  That is why it is necessary for you to look at one of these charts, as the ideal body fat percentage for somebody that is 10 years younger than you is going to be less than what yours is.

Another interesting thing about the ideal body fat percentage is that it is different for women than it is for men.  Women tend to carry additional body fat and their ideal percentage is generally about twice as high as it is in a male.  This additional body fat helps to keep them healthy for childbirth, along with a number of other reasons.

Being able to measure the amount of fat that you have on your body is a little bit trickier but there are also some tools online which will help you to do this.  Typically, you would enter in your age, bone structure, height and weight.  This would give you a general overview of your body fat percentage although it may not be as accurate as if you had it measured at a doctor’s office.  Comparing this against the ideal body fat percentage would help you to see whether you needed to gain weight or lose weight in order to be healthy according to the average.

If you need to lose body fat, and the majority of us do, the easiest way for you to do so is to go on a healthy diet and to get some exercise.  In particular, you would want to do strength training exercises in order to build lean muscle mass on your body.  Each pound of muscle that you have on your body is going to add to your overall weight but it is going to burn fat efficiently.  Doing this regularly can help you to reach the ideal body fat percentage rather easily and to maintain it for the long term.

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