How much body fat is too much?

Skinny Fat

We all know that too much body fat is associated with a variety of health issues from heart disease to diabetes and even some cancers.

What constitutes too much body fat varies from person to person.

For instance, some men who may be slender in stature overall, but have a disproportionately sized belly, are known to be at risk of heart disease.

Yet, their total body fat percentage may still be lower than average.

In the U.S., it has been estimated that the average percentage body fat among men is about 28% for men and 40% for women.

Based upon one particular study, this means that the average man and woman in the U.S. has at least one cardiovascular risk factor (CRF).

That study indicates that men with over 25% body fat and women with over 37% body fat present at least one CRF.

“BF% relationships with single and clustered CRFs proved strong and, except for dyslipidemia, regardless of gender, BF% above the established cut-offs increased the chance of cardio-metabolic disorders by 2–3.5 times. As evidenced by our study, controlling BF% below the established thresholds may effectively prevent approx. half of CRF cases in men, and approx. one-third in women.”

Body fat percentage can be estimated/measured in a number of ways such as waist/height ratios, with skin fold calipers, body mass index (BMI), underwater weighting, and body scans.

Women tend to have a higher body fat percentage than men for a variety of reasons, the main one being the female body preparing for pregnancy.

Opinions vary in regard to the ideal body fat percentage.

First it should be noted that the body needs a certain amount of body fat to maintain a healthy body.

In men this amount is estimated at 2-5% and in women 10-13%.

The typical male athlete will have a body fat percentage of 10-15% depending upon the sport, and the typical female athlete will have 15-20%.

Some athletes obviously have much lower levels (bodybuilders and endurance athletes) while some have considerably higher levels (heavyweight power lifters).

For us regular folks, it appears that a body fat percentage of 15-20% is generally healthy for men and 25-30% is generally healthy for women.

You can find plenty of images in a Google search that will provide you an idea of what these percentages look like on an average person.

With all that in mind you should probably pay as much attention to your bloodwork as much as anything.

Cholesterol levels, triglyceride levels and the amount of sugar in your blood will give you more information about whether or not you need to lose some body fat.

If any of these levels are out of whack and you are carrying too much weight, particularly around the stomach, then it’s probably time to make some lifestyle changes.