Obesity / Overweight and Body Fat 

How much Body Fat are you carrying? Find out if you are in the healthy range. The body fat could be calculated using the Body Fat Calculator using a formula developed by the US Navy. It could also be calculated using a simple body fat formula

First, your body fat percentage is simply the percentage of fat your body contains. If you weigh 140 pounds and are 10% fat, it means that your body consists of 14 pounds fat and 126 pounds lean body mass (bone, muscle, organ tissue, blood,).

A certain amount of fat is essential to bodily functions. Fat regulates body temperature, cushions and insulates organs and tissues and is the main form of the body's energy storage. Check out the following Body Fat Chart which describes fat ranges and their associated categories.

The following Body Fat Chart describes body fat ranges and their associated categories.

Knowing your body fat percentage can also help you determine if your weight loss goals are realistic. Remember, weight loss doesn't always mean fat loss.

For example, let's say you are a 130 pound woman with 23% body fat, and your goal is to lose 20 pounds.

As you can see, the goal of losing 20 pounds is not realistic or healthy. At 110 pounds, this woman still requires 100 pounds of lean body mass, but would only be carrying 10 pounds, or only 9% body fat. From the body fat chart above, you can see that this is a dangerously low percentage.

A better goal might be for the woman to reduce her body fat from 23% to 18%. In this case:

So, for this individual to achieve a lean, but healthy 18% fat, she would need to lose only 7 pounds of fat, reducing her weight from her current 130 pounds to 123 pounds. Losing more than 7 pounds means losing lean body mass (usually metabolically-active muscle tissue), which is clearly not desirable.

So before you decide that you need to "lose weight", remember to consider that "weight" consists of both lean body mass and body fat. Try to keep your weight loss goals realistic, and remember, keep the calorie-burning muscle, and lose only the fat.

Body Fat Formula:

If you are interested in how your Body Fat Percentage is calculated, this page has the mathematical Body Fat Formula.

The best time to use this formula is in the morning. Your body weight and waist measurements are the most accurate just after you wake up from 7-8 hours of sleep.

The formula below will not calculate your exact body fat percentage. The most accurate way is underwater weighing, but this formula should give you a consistent measurement you can use as a guideline so you can determine if you're losing body fat and/or muscle.