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- Fat. Men often gain weight steadily starting at around age 30 and continuing until roughly age 55. Throughout life, a man’s excess weight tends to be carried as belly fat, which increases his risk of heart disease and other conditions.
- Muscle. As your male hormones begin to decline around middle age, you’ll naturally lose muscle mass. Although your body will respond less dramatically to strength training as you get older, it’s important to keep it up over the years because it can slow muscle and bone loss, and actually boost testosterone levels.
- Heart. Heart disease is relatively rare in men in their thirties and forties, but risk factors can creep up quickly with age. For example, more than half of men have hypertension by the time they are age 50 to 64.
- Prostate. This small organ tends to get larger as you get older. As it presses on your urethra or bladder, you may find yourself urinating more often—or feeling like you need to go but can’t.
Nov 14, 2024 · According to the American Council on Exercise (ACE), a body fat range of 25% to 31% for women or 18% to 24% for men is typical for the average nonathlete. A BF below 14% for women or 6% for men may be considered dangerously low and can lead to health risks.
- Laura Dorwart
- Overview
- How to calculate body fat
- Ideal body fat percentage for women
- Ideal body fat percentage for men
- BMI calculator
- Issues with calculations
- When to talk with a pro
- The bottom line
Your ideal body fat percentage can depend on your age, sex, and activity level.
No number is a complete picture of your individual health. How you treat your body and mind are often better indicators of your overall health and well-being.
However, we do live in a time where doctors and other experts need to use charts, data, and other measurements to create a standard definition of health. That’s why your doctor or healthcare provider will often chart your body mass index, or BMI, during routine physicals.
While BMI and other measurements such as body fat percentage do serve a purpose, it’s also important to remember that moving your body and making purposeful choices about the foods you eat also contribute to your overall health.
Skinfold calipers
Most of us don’t have access to the methods listed above. That’s why using skinfold calipers for assessing body composition is so popular. With this method, you can measure your own body fat or have a certified trainer or other trained professional take the measurements and calculate your body fat percentage. Of the two options, having a trained professional handle the process will likely result in a more accurate result. If you plan on using the skinfold method more than once to measure progress (and you should), try to have the same person take the measurements each time. This can increase the validity and reliability of the results.
Other methods
If seeking out a trainer or taking your own skinfold measurements isn’t an option, there are a few ways you can track your body fat at home. Body circumference measurements and body fat scales that use bioelectrical impedance are both methods you can do on your own. While not as accurate as skinfold measurements taken by a trained professional, these methods do have some merit and can be a helpful tool when tracking progress.
Since a BMI calculation is based solely on your height and weight, being female or male doesn’t factor into how that number is calculated. That said, there are differences between men and women when it comes to body fat percentage ranges.
Body fat percentages for women fall under a few different categories. Some charts will divide the percentages by categories, such as athletes and acceptable ranges, while others divide the ranges by age.
The American Council on Exercise (ACE) has a body fat chart that’s more like the adult BMI chart because it doesn’t factor in age and breaks it up in the following categories:
For ideal body fat percentages based on age, Beth Israel Lahey Health Winchester Hospital gives the following guidelines for a healthy body fat percentage for women:
In general, men have a lower body fat to lean tissue ratio than women, which explains the differences in the ranges. Reproduction plays a role in the higher body fat percentages for women.
With that in mind, the ACE chart gives the following ranges for men:
BMI is a numerical value of your weight in relation to your height, according to the American Heart Association. More specifically, it’s your weight in kilograms divided by the square of your height in meters.
Many doctors use the results to help categorize your body weight as either:
•underweight
•normal or healthy weight
•overweight
•obese
If you think of BMI and body fat measurements as one tool you have available to help you track your progress, you may be less likely to get fixated on the results.
In other words, rather than being driven by reducing a particular number, you can be motivated to enhance your health by fueling your body with nourishing foods and taking steps to include some form of exercise into your daily routine.
Tracking your body fat percentage is one way to measure progress when you’re trying to lose weight or gain lean muscle mass. But it isn’t the entire story of your overall health. Eating healthy and being active is where you need to focus your energy.
If you have any questions or concerns about your BMI or body fat percentage, consider talking with your doctor, a certified personal trainer, or registered dietitian. They can help you understand your individual results and work with you to design a plan that fits your needs.
BMI and body fat measurements are two methods you can use to assess your body weight and composition. While they can provide some useful baseline data, they shouldn’t be the main focus when it comes to improving your well-being.
Eating nourishing foods, staying hydrated, exercising, and caring for your mental and spiritual health all play a critical role in shaping your journey to better health.
Aug 3, 2010 · According to this paper, men between 20 and 40 years old with under 8% body fat are considered “underfat,” whereas a “healthy” range is between 8 and 19%. For women in this same age group, any level under 21% is “underfat,” and 21-33% is considered “healthy.”
Jun 29, 2024 · Here are some common age-related body changes you might experience as you age. Between age 30 and 40, lean body mass starts to decline. That means your body's production of muscle cells is slowing down. By the time you hit 50, you may have 10% less muscle mass than you did at age 30.
Aug 1, 2020 · Healthy body fat percentage chart - What each body fat level looks like. Classification table: Male and Female, by age. Women: 15%-18%: Ultra Lean (athlete). 18%-22%: Lean. 22%-30%: Moderately Lean. 30%-40%: Excess Fat. Above 40%: High Body Fat Risk. Men: Under 5%: Low Body Fat Risk
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Jan 14, 2023 · Generally, people will fall into one of five standard body shapes: Apple: Rounder in the middle. Pear: Fuller bottom half. Inverted triangle: Wider in the shoulders and chest with a narrow waist and bottom. Ruler: More-or-less straight up and down. Hourglass: Proportional chest and hips with a smaller midline.
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