Slightly ridiculous body fat question

[August]

I'm trying to get a better grasp of what body fat %s look like so I can go about setting some goals.

From what I understand, professional runners have the body fat of about 9 - 12 %.

What would you guess a Swimsuit Calendar/Victoria's Secret model's body fat might be around?

Thanks for any guesses!

 

[Jcrew3082]

I think that is hard to guestimate. Obviously, they are all pretty thin, but just because you are thin doesn't necessarily mean you have low body fat.

 

[atiman]

>I'm trying to get a better grasp of what body fat %s look
>like so I can go about setting some goals.
>
>From what I understand, professional runners have the body fat
>of about 9 - 12 %.
>
>What would you guess a Swimsuit Calendar/Victoria's Secret
>model's body fat might be around?
>
>Thanks for any guesses!


I read somehere that swimsuit models usually have a bodyfat level between 12-14%.

Namita

 

[LauraMax]

I would guess a little higher for VS models & the like, probably around 15%. There's no way they could have those boobs w/bodyfat any lower. Naturally that is.

From what I've read, women should not let their body fat drop below 11%, that's dangerously low & can effect things like reproductive health. I know bodybuilders get down to like 7-8%, but only during the competition season, which lasts for about 6 weeks during the winter. The rest of the year they're up to at least 15% b/c they need carbs/fat/calories to build muscle.

 

[eminenz2]

It's probably impossible to tell the BF% of a swimsuit model when they've airbrushed the s&!t out of them! Hee-hee!

 

[kathryn]

I think they have higher bodyfat, because they don't have much muscle tone at all, and are curvy.

Maybe 18-20% (I always remember that Rachel McLlish used to be 18% on off-season, and 12% on season).

 

[August]

Thanks everyone for your answers!

 

[Luv2WorkHard]

Some of them are toned, but a lot of them look like the type that Tom Venuto refers to as "skinny fat people". They are very thin but that thinness is not because they have low body fat...it is because they eat like birds and hardly work out and therefore, are *skinny*, but composed a higher fat% than athletes would be. My guess would be measurements of about 35/23/33 and about 20% body fat. Also, since muscle weighs more than fat, they are probably 5'9" and 115 lbs.
A person at that same height with lower body fat would probably weight around 135-140 lbs. Big difference!

Again...I am not referring to ALL of them - some of them probably have a lower body fat (like Giselle, for example). She has some good, lean muscle tone. At least...that's how she looks in the pictures.

That's just my guess! I could be way off.