Ideal Body Fat Percentage for a Woman

Obesity is a common problem nowadays and obesity is nothing but fat stored in the body. The human body is made up of muscles, bones, ligaments, fluids and cartilage. The amount of fat in a woman's body decides the shape of the body. You may have come across cases, where a woman weighing 135 lb is much slimmer in appearance, than a woman having same weight and same height. This can happen, and the only difference between these two is that the slimmer woman performs daily exercise and her muscles weigh 135lb. The other woman has more fat accumulated, as compared to the slimmer woman. This is where the fat percentage concept arises. The percentage of fat accumulated in the human body, is called fat percentage and according to the fat percentage, it is decided whether you are just overweight or obese. A woman is categorized according to the fat percentage whether she is overweight or obese. For deciding this, you must know the ideal body fat percentage for a woman.

Ideal Percentage of Body Fat for a Woman

Many a time, you are doing you exercise and diet regularly, but you cannot see the expected change in your weight. The reason for this is, that sometimes, when you exercise and diet, your body fat percentage decreases, but at the same time, your muscles get toned and built up. Therefore, when you are on a weight loss program, you must also refer to the ideal body fat percentage, which is different according to the gender and the age. If you are losing body fat and not seeing any significant change in your weight, you can see the change directly in the fat percentage. This is very motivational for weight loss. Moreover, motivation is very important in weight loss program.

There are different methods of calculating the body fat percentage, viz., bioelectric impedance and infrared interactance. In bioelectric impedance, a low intensity electric signal is passed through the body. When the electric signal passes through the lean tissue, it is a good conductor of electricity. On the other hand, fat is a bad conductor of electricity and does not pass the electric signal. Through this, the body fat is calculated. In the infrared technique on the other hand, a infrared light is focused on the skin and the body fat is calculated.

Ideal Body Fat Percentage Chart

Age	Very Less	Healthy Range	Overweight	Obese
20-30 yrs	less than 21%	21-33%	33-39%	more than 39%
31-40 yrs	less than 21%	21-33%	33-39%	more than 39%
41-50 yrs	less than 23%	23-35%	35-40%	more than 40%
51-60 yrs	less than 23%	23-35%	35-40%	more than 40%
61-70 yrs	less than 24%	24-36%	36-42%	more than 42%
71-80 yrs	less than 24%	24-36%	36-42%	more than 42%

Significance of Measuring Body Fat Percentage for a Woman

It is very important to calculate the amount of body fat you have. There are certain health risks which can occur due to high body fat. According to a research, if the body fat of a person is greater than 32%, then there is a risk of many diseases and disorders. These diseases include heart diseases, diabetes and cancer. On the contrary, the fat percentage must not be less than 12%, otherwise, it can prove to have dangerous effects on the human body. Women performing regular exercises have fat percentage of 21-24%. Athletes must have a fat percentage of 14 to 20%. Lastly, if you are not performing any kind of exercise or not playing any kind of sport, you will have body fat percentage less than 31%.

This was all about the ideal body fat percentage for a woman. Along with the weight, you must also consider the body fat percentage, while on a weight loss program.