Determining your optimal body fat percentage is essential for reaching fitness goals. Learn how to measure body fat using calipers or scales and understand the difference between burning fat and carbohydrates.
If you're concerned about your body fat levels, you have a few options that could help you figure out where on the scale from "healthy" to "obese" you are. Body mass index, or BMI, gives you a very rough estimate of whether you're at a healthy weight or not.
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While you can hardly turn on the television or open a magazine without reading about the dangers of obesity, your body fat percentage -- the amount of your weight that comes from fat vs. lean mass -- is actually a better look at your disease risk.
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The more lean body mass you have, the higher your metabolism is likely to be. Having a healthy percentage of lean body mass may make you less likely to become sick or to develop health problems such as heart disease or diabetes.
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Adolescent obesity poses a public health risk and, as of 2012, more than 20 percent of teenagers were obese, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. However, some teenage girls may suffer from body image problems and believe they are overweight, even if they're not.
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Although it's more common in the United States to have too much body fat than too little, make sure you don't go too far in your weight-loss efforts. If your body fat drops too low, it can have health consequences, just as when your body fat is too high.
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Skinfold measurement equations can help produce a relatively accurate estimate of body fat as long as the measurements are taken correctly. Two equations are required for this process -- one to estimate body density and one to estimate percent body fat from the body density.
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Having a body fat percentage that's higher than recommended can put you at an increased risk of heart disease and other health problems. Losing 1 percent of your body fat may mean losing just a couple of pounds if you're only slightly overweight.
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Weight loss is helpful for lowering your disease risk, but if you go about it the wrong way, you may end up with a higher body fat percentage than when you started.
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Being healthy doesn't only mean you're at a healthy weight, it also means you have a healthy body composition without too much body fat. Having a body that's too high in body fat can put you at an increased risk for disease, including diabetes and heart disease, even if you're at a healthy weight.
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Some types of body fat -- such as the visceral fat that lies deep in your abdomen and surrounds your internal organs -- are more harmful to your health than others. Visceral fat increases your risk for certain health conditions, including breast cancer, heart disease and type 2 diabetes.
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Body fat percentage for elite athletes can vary based on many factors, so no "typical" guideline exists. Although elite athletes in some sports are often slim and muscular, this isn't the case with all elite athletes.
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To reduce body fat and stay at the same weight, you would need to build muscle at the same time as you lose fat, which isn't possible for most people.
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