Healthy bodyfat %

Doctor_Socks

I had a conversation with some mates today and a point came up about healthy bodyfat levels. Someone said that while having a high bodyfat is unhealthy its also very unhealthy to be below a certain percentage.

The point that interested me is that men can go down to approximatly 3-4% while still being within a healthy range but that women can only go to 10-12%?

Is the above true or was my mate just talkin out of their ass, if it is true could someone enlighten me to why it's true?

Thanks

Khannie

Women and men do have differing bodyfat levels. It is harder for women (compared to men) to drop to very low body fat levels. 3-4% sounds fairly extreme to me though (like bodybuilder at competition level type extreme). Where did you / they get that figure from?

danlen

Doctor_Socks wrote: »

The point that interested me is that men can go down to approximatly 3-4% while still being within a healthy range but that women can only go to 10-12%?

Is the above true or was my mate just talkin out of their ass, if it is true could someone enlighten me to why it's true?

Yes it is true that men can achieve much lower body fat levels than women while remaining healthy, due to fact that they are built to be able to bear children, among other hormonal factors.

The figures you have quoted are those given for essential body fat levels. However, these are bare minimums and may even cause trouble. I think for men a body fat of around 8 % would be much safer. In fact I think the U.S. olympic wrestling team require members to have a body fat % no lower than 7 %, i think! (sorry I dont have a link available but you can double check it yourself!)

Doctor_Socks

Sorry, I should have been clear that I know that going to 3-4% bodyfat isn't ideal at all, frightened about even thinkin of the effort to get to that extreme! My main question was just why there is such a large difference between the lower extremes for both men and women.

Hanley

Doctor_Socks wrote: »

Sorry, I should have been clear that I know that going to 3-4% bodyfat isn't ideal at all, frightened about even thinkin of the effort to get to that extreme! My main question was just why there is such a large difference between the lower extremes for both men and women.

Tits, for one.

sharky86

Hanley wrote: »

Tits, for one.

Monounsaturated,


Polyunsaturated?


or
Trans

Mellor

One thing to bare in mind, a woman at 15% will look roughly just as "toned" as a guy as 10%.

for example, hazard a guess at the following two pics

The first is 17% and the second is 14%