Healthy body fat range for women

Currently, the global mainstream medical and sports science circles generally agree that the healthy body fat rate range for adult women is 20% to 25%. The reasonable range for underage women, fitness groups, and menopausal women will fluctuate by ±3% to 5% on this basis.

The core reason why women's healthy body fat bottom line is much higher than that of men (men's healthy body fat range is usually 15% to 20%) is that women have a higher proportion of essential fat - men only need about 3% of essential fat to maintain basic physiological operations, but women need 10% to 13% of essential fat to ensure reproductive function and normal estrogen secretion. I met a young girl who just graduated from my studio before. She wore a tube top skirt for a wedding photo shoot. After two months of dieting and two hours of aerobics every day, her body fat suddenly dropped to 16%. As a result, after the wedding photos were taken, her aunt didn't come to her for three months. She later spent half a year replenishing high-quality fat and reducing her physical activity before she slowly adjusted it back. The gain outweighed the loss.

If we look at it in different fields, the floating space of this standard is actually larger than many people think. The standards of the hospital's clinical nutrition department will be more relaxed. Generally, 18% to 28% is classified as a healthy range. As long as your blood lipids, blood sugar, and liver function tests are normal and you do not have abdominal obesity, there is no need to panic even if your body fat reaches 27%. After all, most ordinary women do not need to compete in bodybuilding competitions or take close-ups of their bodies every day. Comfort is much more important than numbers.

However, among women who maintain systematic training all year round, this standard will be lowered a bit. 18% to 22% is the norm for many fitness enthusiasts. I know a Pilates instructor who has been working as a Pilates instructor for 6 years. His body fat is stuck at 20% all year round. His aunt is always as accurate as an alarm clock. Her muscle mass is 4 kilograms higher than that of an average woman of the same weight. She dares to run outside even if she wears a thin sweater in winter. She has a high basal metabolism and does not increase the scale at all even if she occasionally eats hot pot and barbecue. This kind of low body fat is healthy, provided that you have enough muscle mass and keep up with nutrition, and it does not come from starvation.

Oh, by the way, don’t just stare at the body fat scale that costs tens of dollars at home. I tried to drink a glass of 500ml warm water before standing on it. My body fat increased directly by 2.8%. Just looking at the single value is pure IQ tax. If you really want to refer to it, you can either go to the hospital for a DEXA scan (which is commonly known as a dual-energy X-ray test, which can measure bone density and accurately measure body fat and muscle mass distribution), or you can use the same physical measuring instrument every Monday morning when you are fasting and after going to the toilet. Only the trend of continuous measurements for several weeks is meaningful. Worrying about the numbers on a certain day will completely hinder yourself.

There is still a group of scholars in the field of public health who believe that ordinary women do not need to focus on body fat percentage. Waist circumference, waist-to-hip ratio, and metabolic indicators have much higher reference value. I actually agree with this view. For example, for menopausal women, due to the decline in estrogen, body fat naturally tends to accumulate toward the waist and abdomen. At this time, there is no need to stick to the 25% line. As long as the waist circumference does not exceed 85cm and there is no hyperlipidemia or fatty liver in the physical examination, it is completely fine if the body fat reaches 28%. There are also underage girls who are still in school. Their bodies are still developing. It is normal for body fat to be maintained at 22% to 26%. Don’t follow the “girl group weight loss method” you learn online to lose weight blindly. It will affect your growth and development for a lifetime.

Don’t be fooled by the marketing on the Internet that “15% body fat can achieve a free vest line”. Ordinary people do not have professional nutritionists and coaches to follow. If they forcefully reduce their body fat to below 15%, it will most likely be accompanied by hair loss, bad mood, and reduced immunity. Many people will end up catching a cold for half a month. It is really not a mistake.

To be honest, body fat rate has never been the only criterion for a "good figure", let alone the only criterion for health. I have seen a girl with 26% body fat before, who runs half marathons all year round, has a waist circumference of 67cm, and has excellent physical examination indicators. She is much healthier than a person with 22% body fat who sits for a long time every day, has low muscle mass, and has excessive visceral fat. Numbers are dead, but people are alive. Whether you have enough energy every day, whether your aunt is accurate, or whether you can climb the fifth floor without breathing are much more reliable than the number after the decimal point on the scale. There is really no need to torment yourself for a so-called "standard range".