Calculating Body Fat

( 4 Votes )

Body fat is an important element in successful weight control. Body fat requires fewer calories than muscle. So the less fat/more muscle we have, the more calories we can eat before gaining weight. Body fat is often expressed as our "Body Fat Percentage" or "Body Fat Percent." Body fat percentage is the amount of body-fat-tissue as a percentage of total body weight. If your total body weight is 160 pounds and you have 32 pounds of fat, your body fat percentage is 20 percent.

Fat Level	Men	Women
Very Low	7-10%	14-17%
Low	10-13%	17-20%
Average	13-17%	20-27%
High	17-25%	27-31%
Very High	>25%	>31%

Why Calculate Body Fat?

The higher your percentage of fat above average levels, the higher your health risk for weight-related illness, like heart disease, high blood pressure, gallstones, type 2 diabetes, osteoarthritis, and certain cancers. Also, the higher your percentage of fat (and the smaller your percentage of muscle) the less calories you need to maintain your weight and therefore the easier it is to gain weight. This is because muscle is more metabolically active than fat tissue.

Accurate Ways to Calculate Body Fat

Home Body Fat Scales
Skinfold Calipers (Callipers)
Hydrostatic Weighing

Comments

0#7Umm...kinda suspicious — lilialovexx2012-04-15 15:14

My BMI is normal weight but apparently my body fat is very low. I'm not too sure if this is accurate

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0#6RE: — Maggie2012-02-27 15:51

I've got to say that after looking at these numbers, I'm not feeling too good about myself! I see how it works, though, since my motivation to keep up my diet is a long stronger than it was a few minutes ago. Maybe I’ll even see if I can step things up a little bit.

If you’re not in the healthy zone for your body fat, you really do feel like a big gross blob after using this resource :(

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0#5feel pretty good! — suzieq2012-01-24 19:25

I actually thought that I was going to score higher than I did, but I’m doing pretty well.
I’ve been working hard to lose weight and now I feel like I am really making a difference.
I also calculated how much body fat I would have had before I dieted and it’s a big difference. Go me! :lol:

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0#4I feel like a blob! — tara2012-01-09 19:38

I don’t think I’m happy knowing how much of me is made out of fat. I realize that women are supposed to be made up of a certain amount and that it’s higher than men, but now that I see where I am, I feel like I’m just a big lard ball!
I think I’ll stay away from this calculator as long as I want to stay motivated to continue with my weight loss plan haha

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0#3pretty cool — char2011-11-08 19:34

I've never seen a calculator like this on the internet. It's pretty interesting that something so simple can tell you how much of your body is made up of fat. I guess this is a pretty good complement to knowing your weight, height, BMI, and other data to help you understand how to diet properly.

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0#2I'm not sure this works — tiff2011-11-04 16:51

My BMI says that I'm overweight and I've been working on dropping the extra 50 pounds I have on my body, but this calculator says that my fat level is 16% (very low). I think this might not work for pear-shaped women who have smaller waists, but bigger butts and thighs like me.

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+2#1Can't say I liked my result — treehuggertodd2011-11-04 16:37

When I first used this tool I was feeling a bit rough about myself so this didn't exactly help my depression over weight loss. But now I’m using it along with other tools on the site to try to motivate myself to get better, look better, feel better, and not give up.

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