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| Amazing Pictures & Photography.® |
Here is the generally accepted chart for women and men when it comes to body fat percentage:
Women
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Men
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Essential fat
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10-12%
|
2-4%
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Athletes
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14-20%
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6-13%
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Fitness
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21-24%
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14-17%
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Acceptable
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25-31%
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18-25%
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Obese
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32% plus
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26% plus
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In what I’m sure is news to nobody, body fat is essential to survival - fat protects your internal organs, provides you with necessary energy stores in times of peril, and more.
“Essential fat” means the minimal amount of fat required for survival - Anything less than this amount would mostly likely result in organ failure, but even approaching this amount of body fat is dangerous. It’s for this reason that bodybuilders, who can minimize their body fat to the “essential fat” level only do so when prepping for a show – during the rest of the year they maintain a higher body fat percentage so that they can stay healthy and function properly.
If you are looking to have that “ripped” look (dudes) and “toned” look (ladies), you’ll want your body fat percentage to hover in the “athletes” section.
If you’re looking to look healthy, I’d argue that you’ll want to be in the fitness range. Once you get into the upper ends of “acceptable” and “obese,” a decrease in body fat percentage would benefit your health.
