Body fat

http://www.weightlossforall.com/fat-percentage-ideal.htm

Age-Adusted Body Fat Percentage Recommendations

Women

Age Underfat Healthy Range Overweight Obese
20-40 yrs Under 21% 21-33% 33-39% Over 39%
41-60 yrs Under 23% 23-35% 35-40% Over 40%
61-79 yrs Under 24% 24-36% 36-42% Over 42%

Men

Age Underfat Healthy Range Overweight Obese
20-40 yrs Under 8% 8-19% 19-25% Over 25%
41-60 yrs Under 11% 11-22% 22-27% Over 27%
61-79 yrs Under 13% 13-25% 25-30% Over 30%


just what I found, very simalar to most charts I've seen I added spaces to make it easy to read, but MFP stole them..maybie my spacebar has calories?!?

I always wonder about those higher body fat % numbers just because I person is older. Is it really needed for health, or is it just settling for older people being fatter?

Ya know... Google isn't giving me a good answer except that as estrogen levels decrease, fat depisits shift in location and head more to the waist, witch would affect a body fat analisis done with tape at home the way most people can track it on a regular basis. It's a VERY inaccurate thing, especially the one we use in the Army for females (This is my experience/reference point for body fat measurements. It's the neck/waist/hips one.) All I really have to do is get a bigger neck to "lower" my body fat. Most of the ones I've seen are the same, there are ways to trick them- ie huge glaring flaws.
Females, even more than males, are built differently, trust me- there are so many things...Breast size, how big is your butt porportioned to your waist , tiny neck? big one? it goes on and on.
Neck/waist/hip says 10 inches difference is right. HA! at 150 lbs, I still had 14! this, with my 11inch-at the time-neck put me at 37% body fat. With a six pack and being a distance runner? Doubt it.
So unless your forced to, I wouldn't actually depend too much on what tape says your body fat is, I'd just watch and see the numbers decrease to track progress, personally. It would help a bit to know how the body fat % was obtained...
Still, however it was done, and whatever the charts say, they have one thing in common, losing fat means losing inches, should help the numbers tick down from the original. I wouldn't put too much emphasis on any one measurement of health-especially if you plan on packing on muscle. My scale throws off my bmi, my butt throws off tape... And I'm hardly a bodybuilder :laugh:
Take it all with a grain of salt. No, actually, make that a salt lick. If its the way that particular trainer uses to measure progress, hey, I can be pritty sure that it will go down as you progress. As long as s/he is helping you with your goals, its all good. Don't get too hung up on the number though!