Body Fat % for Women

Red Cortina

I am female, 5 6" and have gone from approx 64kgs to 59kgs and from approx 24% body fat to 18% body fat (measured with calipers).

My question for you fitness gurus is this: How low in body fat do I go before I lose all my womanly curves (iykwim)?

Khannie

Entirely subjective really. I don't think you're gonna get a straight answer on that.

Red Cortina

Right, I thought that there might be some general guidance out there...

EileenG

Depending on your age, 18% is pretty good.

With women, it seems to vary more than for men. I would try to go with your own body. For instance, do you have a six pack (subtler than the male version)? How about visible veins on your biceps? Do you want them? How about veins on your abs?

Khannie

Red Cortina wrote: »

Right, I thought that there might be some general guidance out there...

Generally, I'd say 18% is pretty decent for a woman alright. Are you happy with your current shape?

Red Cortina

EileenG wrote: »

Depending on your age, 18% is pretty good.

With women, it seems to vary more than for men. I would try to go with your own body. For instance, do you have a six pack (subtler than the male version)? How about visible veins on your biceps? Do you want them? How about veins on your abs?

I am 29. Definitely don't want visible veins on biceps or abs but wouldn't mind having a 6 pack.

Khannie wrote: »

Generally, I'd say 18% is pretty decent for a woman alright. Are you happy with your current shape?

Overall am delighted with my new shape. I am aiming for 16% body fat, if at all possible, and then later in the year was planning on trying to get lower than that (again if possible) as long as I don't lose all my curves entirely :-)

EileenG

You'll get the popping veins before you lose your curves.

amacachi

I know some women who as soon as they lose weight it all comes off their breasts, others lose it off the belly. I know some with no fat other than their belly. Only way to find out in each person's case where it's going to come off is to do it.
18% sounds pretty ideal to me, but that's just opinion.:o

EileenG

For what it's worth, I had veins on my biceps, and 36DD boobs.

Red Cortina

EileenG wrote: »

For what it's worth, I had veins on my biceps, and 36DD boobs.

What body fat percentage were you at then?

g'em

Generally you need to get under 12%-ish before a six-pack emerges (although at this point your menstrual cycle will almost certainly be affected which can be very disconcerting). Maintaining anything under around 16% bodyfat whilst also maintaining decent msucle mass is hard and there's few who could do it year round. 18% bodyfat is, generally speaking, a very, very healthy level to have.

Transform

g'em wrote: »

Generally you need to get under 12%-ish before a six-pack emerges (although at this point your menstrual cycle will almost certainly be affected which can be very disconcerting). Maintaining anything under around 16% bodyfat whilst also maintaining decent msucle mass is hard and there's few who could do it year round. 18% bodyfat is, generally speaking, a very, very healthy level to have.

to be honest from my experience testing clients day in day out it actually really depends on height - the taller you are the higher your body fat can be and you will look good, the shorter you are the lower it will have to go before you look your best so you can't really compare you just have to have a trainer thats good enough to tell you where you are and where you need to go or stop at.

I would get almost all my female clients under 16% and some start at that level and need to go as low as 12% before they will be looking their best (always very short and small boned women e.g. last week i had a woman in at 13% and still was holding some fat on waist but she was very short and small boned and my fat test can be differtent from another trainers methods)

So at your height getting to below 16% is great but make sure the same person tests you every time - post up your current diet and program asap

g'em

I would be very sceptical about a woman truly being 13% bodyfat and being healthy. Essential bodyfat in women is subjective obviously, but by and large anything between 13 - 17% is as low as you go before you begin to interfere with regular hormonal functioning.

Transform

hormone function is again a factor of fats taken in and individuality not just said body fat. As i said my testing can vary from another so you cant really compare.

Also, period regualrity and high good fat intake is something that i would discuss with clients with an aleardy existing low body fat

Red Cortina

Transform wrote: »

to be honest from my experience testing clients day in day out it actually really depends on height - the taller you are the higher your body fat can be and you will look good, the shorter you are the lower it will have to go before you look your best so you can't really compare you just have to have a trainer thats good enough to tell you where you are and where you need to go or stop at.

I would get almost all my female clients under 16% and some start at that level and need to go as low as 12% before they will be looking their best (always very short and small boned women e.g. last week i had a woman in at 13% and still was holding some fat on waist but she was very short and small boned and my fat test can be differtent from another trainers methods)

So at your height getting to below 16% is great but make sure the same person tests you every time - post up your current diet and program asap

Thanks for everyone replying, it is good to get all your feedback. I didn't know that height came into play when you are talking about body fat. I am definitely holding some fat around my waist and ass that could probably go. What I am doing right now is (obviously enough) with a personnel trainer.

Diet
Week-day Breakfast:
Peppers, tomatoes, cucumber etc with tin of salmon or tuna with balsamic vingear, olive oil and lemon juice
or
Leftover dinner from night before

Weekend Breakfast:
3 egg omelette with spinach
or
3 scrambled eggs with smoked salmon with a tomato

Lunch:
Lettuce, tomatoes, cucumber, beetroot, sweetcorn, coleslaw, and either 2 slices of turkey or 2 slices of ham or a chicken breast

Dinner:
Chicken stir fry with veg and rice or Bolengese sauce with mince served with carrots and parsnips and butter or Fish with veg or Steak with veg

Snacks (trying to vary these):
Mid-Morning: Normally an apple
Mid-Afternoon: Pumpkin and sunflower seeds
Night time snack: apple with cashew butter
Other snacks: Rice cakes with butter and blueberries or cottage cheese with tuna or humus with celery or carrots

Working on trying to incorporate Fish Oils into my diet right now and trying to get to sleep before 11pm. Also wheat and any wheat products do NOT agree with me (before anyone starts saying that I need to start eating wholegrain pitta breads)
Have a cheat meal every week just so I don't go mad and this meal would defo incorporate alcohol.

Regards training, I am doing 2 weights sessions in the gym every week. My PT gives me a new program after I have completed each program 6 times. These programs generally work the entire body and I am doing the first 2 at a lower weight/higher rep, then the second 2 at a higher weight and lower the rep and so on. I also do 2 HIIT sessions each week. Again I do 6 of each of these sessions and then I get another new one.

Just doesn't seem to be enough time to ask my PT all the questions that I have during the weekly session cause I'm too busy concentrating on working through my program. So that's why I am on here trying to get answers from you guys!

g'em

Your fats look ok, (although if it was me I'd be eating more) but your protein is a little sparse. Have you tried investigating what the macro-nutrient breakdown is yourself with something like fitday.com?

Your diet is extremely healthy, and I'm absolutely not criticising it, but if you want to go that extra mile and get the 6 pack there's just some minor tweaks you could afford to make.

Red Cortina

g'em wrote: »

Your fats look ok, (although if it was me I'd be eating more) but your protein is a little sparse. Have you tried investigating what the macro-nutrient breakdown is yourself with something like fitday.com?

Your diet is extremely healthy, and I'm absolutely not criticising it, but if you want to go that extra mile and get the 6 pack there's just some minor tweaks you could afford to make.

But I'm having protein with every breakfast, lunch and dinner???

Would appreciate any suggestions that you have on my diet...

j@utis

I went to approx 18% of BF few years ago and my periods were all over the place. It took me a year on a pill to get them back to normal.

g'em

You do indeed have protein at each meal, just not a huge amount. A tin of salmon has, what, 20-22g of protein? A couple of slices of turkey or ham (from a packet or *actual* slices?) will have 10g protein, if even that. A regular chicken breast has anything from 20-30g depending on the size.

Let's estimate that you're getting (a very generous) 100g of protein per day. That's only 400 calories of your overall intake. Assuming that your diet has about 1600 cals per day ( a rough guesstimation based on what you've posted) that means your overall protein intake to calorie ratio is quite low.

But these really are just guesstimations - go to a calorie tracker like ftiday.com and try to figure out what your macronutrient breakdown is.

To get super-low bodyfat you're really looking at getting 30-40% of your daily cals from fats, 40-50% from protein and <20% from carbs.

This, I have to say, is from my experience though and I'd be interested to hear what Transform thinks.

Red Cortina

j@utis wrote: »

I went to approx 18% of BF few years ago and my periods were all over the place. It took me a year on a pill to get them back to normal.

I'm ok on that front, in fact I have found that my periods have regulated themselves a lot better since I have lost weight.

g'em wrote: »

You do indeed have protein at each meal, just not a huge amount. A tin of salmon has, what, 20-22g of protein? A couple of slices of turkey or ham (from a packet or *actual* slices?) will have 10g protein, if even that. A regular chicken breast has anything from 20-30g depending on the size.

Let's estimate that you're getting (a very generous) 100g of protein per day. That's only 400 calories of your overall intake. Assuming that your diet has about 1600 cals per day ( a rough guesstimation based on what you've posted) that means your overall protein intake to calorie ratio is quite low.

But these really are just guesstimations - go to a calorie tracker like ftiday.com and try to figure out what your macronutrient breakdown is.

To get super-low bodyfat you're really looking at getting 30-40% of your daily cals from fats, 40-50% from protein and <20% from carbs.

This, I have to say, is from my experience though and I'd be interested to hear what Transform thinks.

Thanks very much for taking the time to critque my diet-it is appreciated and I would appreciate any other comments on my diet also. Think it is fair to say that I will not be in a position to try and reduce my BF much further until after my wedding in September..

aye

Red Cortina wrote: »

Just doesn't seem to be enough time to ask my PT all the questions that I have during the weekly session cause I'm too busy concentrating on working through my program. So that's why I am on here trying to get answers from you guys!

I have no problem you asking questions here, but i think you should be able to ask your PT quesions after your session, or even email him/her outside your workout times. They should make time to answer your questions, thats what a PT is for IMO. They should be much more than someone who counts your reps in the gym.

Red Cortina

aye wrote: »

I have no problem you asking questions here, but i think you should be able to ask your PT quesions after your session, or even email him/her outside your workout times. They should make time to answer your questions, thats what a PT is for IMO. They should be much more than someone who counts your reps in the gym.

I know, I hear you!
I try and go in with 2/3 questions that I can ask but I end up forgetting them because I either 1.) get caught up in my training or 2.) end up analysing why my skin pinch measurements are the way they are.

I agree that a personnel trainers job is not to count my reps, I can count for myself. What I do want from my PT is a critque of my form when I am doing the various exercises, especially since I am new to lifting weights. And I want him to give me new training programs. He also critques my food diary if my BF measurements have either 1.) not changed or 2.) gone up.

To be quite honest, I would much prefer to spend my time with him assessing my form than answering the million different Q's that I have as I know that when it comes down to it, the results I get from working out are the most important thing, not standing around chatting/discussing my queries.