Keeping track of your body fat percentage
is a much more useful assessment tool than the scale or
the tape measure, especially if you're exercising regularly
to lose weight. It is simply the percentage of your body
weight that consists of fat. Once you know that, you also
know the approximate weight of your lean mass (muscle, blood,
tissue, etc.) and the approximate weight of your fat.
Here's a calculator that should give you a
pretty good idea of where you stand, fat wise. It's not
as accurate as some of the more high-tech methods such as
hydrostatic weighing and using skinfold calipers, but it
should be pretty close. If you're interested in lowering
your body fat, I highly recommend bookmarking this page
and checking your stats twice a month or so.
Below the calculator are charts that give
basic guidelines for men and women, which can be very useful
in setting realistic goals. Please keep in mind that becoming
TOO lean is just as unhealthy as becoming overweight,
so if you're a regular person, it's probably wisest to shoot
for a number in the "ideal" or "average"
category, depending on your current status.
Select Sex
Your body fat percentage=>
Your lean weight is =>
You have
of fat on your body
Women
Men
Minimum
amount to stay alive - (this is not a healthy
range for most people)
10-12%
2-4%
Lean
- mainly found with serious athletes
14-20%
6-13%
Ideal
- indicates a good level of fitness - a healthy range
for most people to shoot for
21-24%
14-17%
Average
- most people fall somewhere into this category
