What is a healthy body fat percentage?
Ask the doctor
Q. At my fitness club, they used an electronic device to record my sex, age, weight, height, and percent body fat. The reading was 14% body fat. Is that considered normal?
A. It depends on whether you are a man or a woman. A 14% reading for body fat is generally considered excellent for a healthy male. For a female, 14% would be unusually quite low, unless the woman were an athlete.
However, there really is no absolute normal for percent body fat, just as there is no ideal body weight. The "right" weight and fat percent for an individual depends upon multiple factors, such as:
- General health: A very low percentage of body fat and low body weight in someone who is not exercising regularly can indicate a medical problem.
- Distribution of body fat: Even if your weight is close to the normal range, a large waist size may mean you have an unhealthy amount of belly fat (visceral fat). Increased amounts of belly fat increase the risk of diabetes and heart disease.
- Metabolism: How your body handles excess calories plays a large role in whether those calories get deposited in fat or turn into energy used in physical activity and body heat.
- Amount, type and intensity of physical activity: You not only burn calories during exercise, you continue to burn calories afterward as muscles need to replenish their energy stores. Also, doing regular strength training can add a bit of weight that is actually healthy.
Rather than just relying on one measurement of whether you are overweight, I suggest using a combination of measurements:
- Waist size: There is no consensus on normal for this measurement either. Women should strive for 30 inches or less and men for 35 inches or less.
- Ratio of waist size to hip size: Use a measuring tape to find the size of your waist just above your belly button. Then measure the size of your hips around the widest part of your buttocks. Divide the waist size by the hip size. The ideal waist to hip ratio for women is 0.7. For men, it is 0.9. If your number is higher than this, you may have too much belly fat.
- Body mass index (BMI): For most people, this one probably is the least helpful. If you have a BMI of 30 or over (obese) or less than 18.5 (underweight), BMI is more meaningful.
Image: © Patricio Nahuelhual/Getty Images
About the Author
Howard E. LeWine, MD, Chief Medical Editor, Harvard Health Publishing; Editorial Advisory Board Member, Harvard Health Publishing
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