What is an Ideal Body Fat Percentage?

Fat phobia starts in women when young girls developing natural feminine curves often spend countless hours of hand wringing over something they can do little about. Although this used to be only a female problem, it now affects many boys. At its worst, this preoccupation causes eating disorders, all too common in today's teenagers. The situation does not end with the self-conscious, lack of maturity years, but often extends throughout people's entire lives. Unfortunately, many teens today are obese, which can be blamed directly on improper diet and lack of exercise. 

However, this is not an article about over fat and under fit teens, but rather directed toward adults who may want to lose body fat to reach a more ideal body fat percentage and may be considering fat burning supplements as a quick fix. Due to my bodybuilding background my idea of normal levels of body fat are probably not the same as the figures your doctor will give you, those listed in insurance tables or in some mainstream magazine.

I'm most definitely not going to tell the ladies that it's okay to have their butt hanging over their hammies and their hammies draping down over their knees; or tell guys it's permissible to have such a large gut hanging over a belt buckle so they can't see their feet. Not only is this sort of fat unsightly, it's downright unhealthy and becomes more so as one ages. What I am telling you is that once teen girls drop their layer of baby fat and men get past their huge growth spurt and reach young adulthood, neither is very likely to be a twig. And that also goes for mature adults who have normal body fat levels, which I consider to be between 15 and 20 percent for women and 10 to 15 percent for men, give or take a few points depending on your time of life and genetic propensity. As far as what your exact body fat percentage might be, listen to someone who agonized over this for years and finally wised up - me!

There is no way in the world that anyone can give you a totally accurate body fat percentage figure. Who really cares what your body fat percentage is anyway? Are you going to lose your job, your home and your loved ones if the calipers register 18% instead of 15%? I doubt it! Body fat tests are very inaccurate and only serve to upset you and add stress to your life. Assuming you don't have an eating disorder (in which case you need medical care), look in the mirror. It never lies.

Then get real. There is nothing wrong with trying to improve one self, but a sensual looking body with underlying functional strength cannot be built by starving, nor can it be found in a bottle of "energizer bunny" fat burning pills which are more harmful for your health more then anything else.