Zomato co-founder Deependra Goyal is going to make a wearable device that can measure all those things. For this, he is going to hire for many roles, in which he will also include people who are fitness freaks. In this he will select those people who should have 16% (men) and 26% (women) body fat. In such a situation, the question arises that how much fat should be there in the body of a man and a woman, i.e. what is the standard BMI (Body Mass Index). How can you identify whether there is idle fat in your body or not and what is the function of fat in our body. How important and how bad is this?
Often in today’s time, people are worried about increased fat, but before that you should know how much fat you need to reduce, because fat is not always bad. But it is also very important for you to stay healthy. This wearable device is being made especially for elite performance athletes. For now, let us know what BMI is and how much body fat should be there in the body.
How to calculate body fat %?
The most common way to measure the percentage of body fat is skin fold calipers. These are instruments that measure skin thickness. This is one of the most popular options to find out your body fat percentage. Apart from this, you can get the percentage of body fat calculated from a certified trainer or any other trained professional. Of these two options, the second one is best if you get body fat measurement done by a certified trainer or professional only.
Measuring BMI (Body Mass Index)
According to the American Heart Association, BMI is the numerical value between your weight and your height. To put it more precisely, it is your weight (in kilograms) divided by your height (in meters), which gives you your BMI.
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Women’s Ideal Body Fat
The calculation of BMI is based on your height and weight, so it does not make much difference whether you are a man or a woman. However, if we talk about a standard, then there is a difference in the percentage of body fat according to gender. For women, body fat percentage is divided into many different categories.
See this table given by the American Council on Exercise (ACE).
| Categories | Percentage |
| essential fat | 10% to 13% |
| Athletes | 14% to 20% |
| fitness | 21% to 24% |
| average | 25% to 31% |
| Obesity | ≥32% |
amount of body fat in men
In general, men have a lower ratio of lower body fat to lean tissue than women, which also creates a difference in categories. Actually, reproduction plays an important role in the percentage of fat in the body of women. For this, see this table given here.
| Categories | Percentage |
| essential fat | 2% to 5% |
| Athletes | 6% to 13% |
| fitness | 14% to 17% |
| acceptable | 18% to 24% |
| Obesity | ≥25% |
How to recognize 16 and 26 fat%?
If a man has 16 percent body fat then it is often considered as athlete weight, in which light lines or muscle structure i.e. abs are visible on the stomach. Especially when the stomach is slightly pulled inwards, but the ‘six-pack’ is not clearly visible. It mostly has a V shaped body i.e. the shape of the waist is much less than that of the chest. In this, some veins are also visible in the shoulders, chest and arms.
If women have 26 percent body fat, then this is a normal health range. If we talk about the visible structure of the body, there is a lot of balance in the muscles like neither too thin nor too heavy. There will be more fat on the hips and thighs than on the stomach. The stomach is flat, but abs are not visible. Hulk curves are visible in the body, but there is not much fat visible.
The connection of low fat and productive brain
Does having body fat make the brain more productive? We talked to dietitian Geetika Chopra about this. Regarding this, she says that it is not directly so, but having very less fat is also not good from health point of view. The brain needs an ideal fat to maintain hormonal balance and proper neurotransmitter production. When body fat is in the healthy range, i.e. neither too much, nor too little, then insulin balance is better, inflammation is reduced and energy remains. Because of this, focus and productivity improves, but too strict dieting or too little body fat can also cause fatigue and mood changes.