Thanks for adding your comments, Kim. I think they're right on target. I was a little floored by some of the body fat % that are being recommended in this thread - 12-17% as "normal" for a women is insane to me.
I went to WebMD and found the follwing guidelines for men and women. These come from the American Council on Exercise (pardon the formatting):
----------------Women----Men
Essential fat..10-12%...2-4%
Athletes.......14-20%...6-13%
Fitness........21-24%...14-17%
Acceptable.....25-31%...18-25%
Obese..........32% plus..26% plus
According to this we need 10-12% just to have normal bodily functions (menstruation, etc). I work at a college with a pretty strong PE department, and have had my body fat % checked a few times by one of the professors using skin fold calipers. It's always come in at 21-23%, which he has told me is well within the normal range for a fit, healthy woman. I've also had it checked with the bioelectrical impedance analysis, with the same results. I'm told that to get really accurate results, you need to use more complex methods like water displacement.
It's so easy to get hung up numbers, whether its weight or bf%, in a really unhealthy way. Been there...done that...and it was bad.
I went to WebMD and found the follwing guidelines for men and women. These come from the American Council on Exercise (pardon the formatting):
----------------Women----Men
Essential fat..10-12%...2-4%
Athletes.......14-20%...6-13%
Fitness........21-24%...14-17%
Acceptable.....25-31%...18-25%
Obese..........32% plus..26% plus
According to this we need 10-12% just to have normal bodily functions (menstruation, etc). I work at a college with a pretty strong PE department, and have had my body fat % checked a few times by one of the professors using skin fold calipers. It's always come in at 21-23%, which he has told me is well within the normal range for a fit, healthy woman. I've also had it checked with the bioelectrical impedance analysis, with the same results. I'm told that to get really accurate results, you need to use more complex methods like water displacement.
It's so easy to get hung up numbers, whether its weight or bf%, in a really unhealthy way. Been there...done that...and it was bad.
