Ideal Body Fat % Question
juliemouse83
Posts: 6,663 Member
Hey, y'all...I've been lurking on and off for some time and learning bunches from this group, and have a quick question about how to determine a good body fat percentage for me.
I popped over to fat2fitradio.com and was noodling around with some of their calculators, and one of them was to determine ideal body weight. There is a graph that shows age ranges for males and females and the too little/healthy/overweight/obese categories.
I am a 48 year old female, and according to this chart, below 23% is considered unhealthy for my age and gender. Seriously? I looked at several other resources online, and they say pretty much the same thing.
I strength train four times weekly. I'm currently doing the program, "The Ultimate Female Training Guide" at simplyshredded.com, which is an upper/lower body split. Been lifting since February (started with Strong Lifts), and try to get some cardio in several times per week, either by HIIT on my elliptical, or climbing stairs at work. Or both, lol.
Is under 23% really going to be unhealthy for me simply because of my age or are they basing all of this on people that just drop weight and don't move/exercise at all?
Is there a physiological reason I shouldn't try to get below that? I'm confused, and would love some clarification.
Thanks tons in advance. :happy:
ETA: want to add that while the numbers appear to be the same, the labels change on different bf% charts. One I just saw said lean as opposed to too little, while others label the same areas athletic, or competitive, and don't pay any mind to age. (Obviously, I like that a lot better...haha.)
I popped over to fat2fitradio.com and was noodling around with some of their calculators, and one of them was to determine ideal body weight. There is a graph that shows age ranges for males and females and the too little/healthy/overweight/obese categories.
I am a 48 year old female, and according to this chart, below 23% is considered unhealthy for my age and gender. Seriously? I looked at several other resources online, and they say pretty much the same thing.
I strength train four times weekly. I'm currently doing the program, "The Ultimate Female Training Guide" at simplyshredded.com, which is an upper/lower body split. Been lifting since February (started with Strong Lifts), and try to get some cardio in several times per week, either by HIIT on my elliptical, or climbing stairs at work. Or both, lol.
Is under 23% really going to be unhealthy for me simply because of my age or are they basing all of this on people that just drop weight and don't move/exercise at all?
Is there a physiological reason I shouldn't try to get below that? I'm confused, and would love some clarification.
Thanks tons in advance. :happy:
ETA: want to add that while the numbers appear to be the same, the labels change on different bf% charts. One I just saw said lean as opposed to too little, while others label the same areas athletic, or competitive, and don't pay any mind to age. (Obviously, I like that a lot better...haha.)
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And I probably SHOULD have mentioned that I'm not shooting for a specific number. I just want to go till I am happy with the way I look, but if I should happen to be under 23% when that happens, am I going to be causing myself health-related issues that could be avoided?
I apologize for not articulating the question properly... :blushing:0