What Is a Safe Amount of Fat for Women?

Regular exercise can help you lower your body fat to a safe level.

Many women might cringe when they think of their body fat, but having a low amount of body fat isn't necessarily optimal. For a woman to be healthy, she must carry a minimum body-fat percentage that might be greater than she expects. If you have more body fat than is healthy, developing a healthy lifestyle with positive diet and exercise changes can help you keep your fat under control.

Essential Body Fat

According to the American Council on Exercise, women must carry at least 10 percent to 13 percent body fat to keep healthy. This minimum amount of body fat is called essential fat. It's significantly higher than the essential fat for men, which is only between 2 percent and 5 percent. A woman's essential fat is higher than a man's because women need extra fat for reasons related to child bearing.

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Lifestyle Influences Body Fat

You shouldn't automatically try to lower your body fat to between 10 percent and 13 percent. Depending on your overall lifestyle, your body-fat percentage can be higher without jeopardizing your health. Athletes, for example, can have 14 percent to 20 percent body fat, while women who are fit can have body fat within the range of 21 percent to 24 percent. If your body fat sits between 25 percent and 31 percent, you're average. When it climbs to greater than 32 percent, however, you're considered obese, which carries its own set of health risks.

Calculating Your Body Fat

Testing your body-fat percentage to better understand your physical health isn't as simple as stepping on the bathroom scale to determine your weight. The skin-fold method is a standard way of calculating your body-fat percentage; this involves using calipers to measure your fat in certain areas of your body, such as your thigh and abdomen, and then inputting that information into an online calculator, along with your gender, age and weight. If the idea of testing your body fat yourself sounds daunting, visit your doctor to ensure an accurate reading.

Building a Healthy Body

If your body fat is in the average or obese range and you wish to build a slimmer body, make dietary adjustments and increase the amount of physical exercise you get. You can address either part of your lifestyle in myriad ways, but your caloric intake must be less than your caloric expenditure for weight loss to occur. Aim to lose 1 to 2 pounds a week. If you continue to practice a healthy lifestyle, your body-fat percentage should steadily decline.

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