Body Fat Calculator

A body fat calculator is a tool that measures the total fat percentage in our body, which includes both essential fat and storage fat. The body fat percentage (BFP) indicates the amount of fat present in our body. The BFP is generally higher in women than men and also increases with age. To calculate body fat percentage, the body fat calculator uses different methods such as the US Navy method, Body Mass Index (BMI) estimation method, and Skinfold Measurement method, of which the US Navy method is considered the most accurate.

What Does Body Fat Percentage Mean?

Body fat percentage (BFP) means the amount of fat present in your body in proportion to muscles, bones, organs and water. Body fat, which includes both essential fat and storage fat, is vital for our overall body functioning, but too much fat can be harmful. A high percentage of body fat increases the risk of cardiovascular diseases, diabetes, high blood pressure and other health conditions. Similarly, too little fat can also lead to health issues such as low energy levels preventing you from carrying out daily activities.

Healthy Range of Body Fat Percentage

BFP measures your fitness level, that is, how physically fit and active you are, however, body fat is not the most accurate measure of health. BFP is different for men and women.

Healthy BFP for Men :
5-24%

Healthy BFP for Women :
13-31%

Once you have calculated your body fat percentage, compare it with the recommended values. The list below comes from the American Council on Exercise and shows the average percentages in specified groups.

• Essential fat: 10–13% (women), 2–5% (men)

• Athletes: 14–20% (women), 6–13% (men)

• Fitness: 21–24% (women), 14-17% (men)

• Average: 25–31% (women), 18–24% (men)

• Obese: 32%+ (women), 25%+ (men)

This data means that if your body fat percentage is lower than 31% for women and 24% for men, you are in the average range and have nothing to worry about. Higher levels of body fat may be dangerous for you.

How Our Body Fat Calculator Works

Our body fat calculator is based on the BMI estimation method. The BMI estimation method gives a rough estimate and is not 100% accurate in calculating body fat percentage. This method only gives a ballpark estimate for those who don't want to bother with measuring tapes or skinfold callipers. As this method doesn't take into consideration how much of your total body fat comprises muscles, even 2 individuals with the same BMI may not have the same amount of body fat.

Also, the result may be inaccurate if you're pregnant or have high muscle mass.

• Women: (1.20 x BMI) + (0.23 x Age) - 5.4 = Body Fat Percentage

• Men: (1.20 x BMI) + (0.23 x Age) - 16.2 = Body Fat Percentage

Based on your body parameters and measurement selection, this calculator estimates the percentage of body fat that your body consists of. Note that the result may be inaccurate if you’re pregnant or have high muscle mass. Also, it's only intended for individuals living a sedentary lifestyle.

Alternative Methods Of Measuring Body Fat

US Navy method

This method was developed at the Naval Health Research Center (NHRC), San Diego, California, by Hodgdon and Beckett in 1984. It is one of the best and most accurate methods of estimating the fat content of a person’s body. This parameter is determined for all service members of the US Navy since they are required to meet certain per cent body fat (%BF) standards as a condition of military service.

For women, waist, hip and neck circumference measurements are required, while for men, hip measurements are not needed. Waist measurements are taken at the belly button for men and just above the belly button for women.

The accuracy of this method is around 3.5% for most people.

Skinfold Measurement Method

Personal trainers commonly use this method to estimate body fat in local gyms. Using skinfold callipers requires some training for maximal efficiency. This method can predict body fat percentages within plus or minus 3.5% of your actual body composition. Generally, the more skinfold sites measured, the greater the accuracy.

Covert Bailey Method

This method is named after its creator, fitness expert Covert Bailey, who has been renowned in the fitness industry for over 30 years. This method has been used by people worldwide, and it’s considered one of the most recent formulas to measure body fat.

How To Boost Metabolism ?

Before you measure body fat, here are a few tips to help boost metabolism:

Eat enough food

Eating too little can slow your metabolism as your body conserves energy. Ensure you are consuming sufficient calories to meet your body’s requirements.

Eat More Whole Foods

Whole foods, such as fruits, vegetables, whole grains, and lean protein, provide your body with the essential nutrients it needs to function at its best. Eating a diet rich in whole foods can help keep your metabolism healthy. Especially since protein requires more energy to digest than carbohydrates or fat, incorporate protein-rich foods like lean meats, eggs, and legumes into your diet. With your body burning more calories when digesting food, your metabolism will get better.

Drink Green Tea

Green tea contains catechins, which have been shown to increase metabolism and help burn fat. Regular consumption of green tea can boost the body’s metabolism.

Eat Spicy Foods

Spicy foods, such as chilli peppers, contain capsaicin, which can increase metabolism and help burn calories.

Stay Active:

Physical activity is essential for maintaining a healthy metabolism. Thirty minutes of exercise is beneficial, such as walking or cycling 5 days a week. Consider using a standing desk or taking regular breaks to move around if you have a job that requires you to sit for long hours at a stretch.

Reduce Stress

Chronic stress can disrupt your hormones and slow down your metabolism. Engage in stress-reducing activities, such as meditation, yoga, or deep breathing exercises, to help keep your metabolism functioning optimally

Get Good Sleep

Not getting proper and enough sleep can affect your hormones and bring down your metabolism. At least 7-8 hours of sleep is a must to help keep your metabolism functioning optimally

Stay Hydrated

Drinking plenty of water is essential for a healthy metabolism. Water takes care of many metabolic processes, and dehydration can slow your metabolism. Try to drink a minimum of 8 glasses of water daily.

How To Boost Metabolism ?

Eat enough food

Eating too little can slow your metabolism as your body conserves energy. Ensure you are consuming sufficient calories to meet your body’s requirements.

Eat More Whole Foods

Whole foods, such as fruits, vegetables, whole grains, and lean protein, provide your body with the essential nutrients it needs to function at its best. Eating a diet rich in whole foods can help keep your metabolism healthy. Especially since protein requires more energy to digest than carbohydrates or fat, incorporate protein-rich foods like lean meats, eggs, and legumes into your diet. With your body burning more calories when digesting food, your metabolism will get better.

Drink Green Tea

Green tea contains catechins, which have been shown to increase metabolism and help burn fat. Regular consumption of green tea can boost the body’s metabolism.

Eat Spicy Foods

Spicy foods, such as chilli peppers, contain capsaicin, which can increase metabolism and help burn calories.

Stay Active

Physical activity is essential for maintaining a healthy metabolism. Thirty minutes of exercise is beneficial, such as walking or cycling 5 days a week. Consider using a standing desk or taking regular breaks to move around if you have a job that requires you to sit for long hours at a stretch.

Reduce Stress

Chronic stress can disrupt your hormones and slow down your metabolism. Engage in stress-reducing activities, such as meditation, yoga, or deep breathing exercises, to help keep your metabolism functioning optimally

Get Good Sleep

Not getting proper and enough sleep can affect your hormones and bring down your metabolism. At least 7-8 hours of sleep is a must to help keep your metabolism functioning optimally

Stay Hydrated

Drinking plenty of water is essential for a healthy metabolism. Water takes care of many metabolic processes, and dehydration can slow your metabolism. Try to drink a minimum of 8 glasses of water daily.

How To Reduce Body Fat?

Reducing body fat is not the same as losing weight. Listed below are a few basic rules for you that you can consider:

• Follow a long-term plan for your body fat. Start with some moderate exercises and gradually increase their intensity. If you are really obese, you should begin with the basic activity of walking.

• Do both weight lifting and cardio exercises. Changing exercises and doing new variations will keep your body from adapting and cause faster loss of body fat.

• Plan a good diet that includes less saturated fats.

• Reducing weight is a long-term process, so do not overextend, as you may end up hurting yourself if you eat too little.

• Drink lots of water and keep yourself hydrated; when you exercise, you lose water first.

• Avoid sweets, candy bars or other high-fat snacks. Instead, choose fruits and vegetables.

• Check your progress regularly. It will be motivating to see that you have lost weight.

• Once you have achieved your target body fat, you can use our calorie calculator tool to know how many calories you must consume to maintain your weight.

Always consult your health expert before starting any new diet or fitness regime.

Weight Loss vs Fat Loss

Weight loss and fat loss are often used interchangeably, but they are hardly the same. Understanding the difference between the two can help you better achieve your health and fitness goals.

1. Weight loss is simply the reduction of overall body weight, which can be caused by various factors such as losing body fat, losing muscle mass, losing water weight, or a combination of these. Weight loss is often measured using a scale and can be influenced by a variety of factors, such as the time of day, hydration levels, and whether you have recently eaten. Fat loss, on the other hand, specifically refers to the reduction of body fat while maintaining or increasing lean muscle mass. This type of weight loss is achieved by creating a calorie deficit through a combination of diet and exercise, which causes the body to use stored fat for energy. Fat loss is typically measured using body composition analysis tools.

2. While weight loss can include fat loss, losing weight without also losing fat can have negative consequences for your health and appearance. For example, losing muscle mass and fat can slow your metabolism and make it harder to maintain weight loss in the long term.

You can use an ideal body fat percentage calculator and choose the right way to achieve your weight loss goals.

How Does Body Mass Index (BMI) Differ from BFP?

Both BMI and BFP are tools used for knowing a person’s overall health and whether a person is at risk of developing major health issues like diabetes, cardiovascular diseases, high blood pressure, etc. However, there are certain distinctions, such as:

1. BMI only checks if a person is of normal weight, underweight, overweight, or obese, while BFP indicates the amount of fat in your body.

2. Calculating BMI is easy and inexpensive. Divide your weight in kg and height in metres. If you know your weight and height, you can easily calculate your BMI using the BMI calculators available online. However, to check body fat percentage, some complicated methods are used, such as hydrostatic weighing, 3D body scanners, air displacement plethysmography (Bod Pod) and dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry (DXA). It is also expensive.

3. To calculate body fat percentage, gender is one of the parameters, but in BMI, gender is not required. The only parameters are height and weight.

4. Some experts feel that BMI is not very accurate in knowing about a person’s health status because it doesn’t tell you how much of your body weight is actually muscle. If you are very fit, a BMI score may not give an accurate picture of your health as your weight could be high due to the weight of your muscle. The body fat percentage formula is considered more accurate in this regard as it gives you an exact measure of body fat.

Other Wellness Calculators

Read Latest Wellness Blogs

6 Exercises To Lose Weight Effectively

Published on 11 October 2023

Is Jumping/Skipping Rope Good For Weight Loss?

Published on 11 October 2023

Here Is Everything You Need To Know About Obesity And Overweight Issues

Published on 11 October 2023

Does Yoga Help In Burning Calories And Losing Weight?

Published on 11 October 2023

Frequently Asked Questions

1. What dietary changes can I follow to reduce body fat?

Both the quantity and quality of one's diet have a role in the individual's body fat percentage. You might be enticed to attempt the latest fad diet, but in most cases, these diets are ineffective. Making small but significant adjustments go a long way to help you achieve your goals like:

● Cutting down on food intake

● Rather than skipping breakfast, try eating many smaller meals over the course of the day

● Consuming more fruits and veggies is a great way to acquire essential dietary nutrients, particularly fibre; increasing the amount of fibre in your diet will make you feel fuller for longer and less prone to giving in to urges of unhealthy snacking every few hours

● Stay away from sodas, fizzy drinks and fast food

● Reduce your alcohol intake

2. Is there any significance to keeping track of one's body fat percentage?

Although using a bathroom scale to track your weight reduction is tempting, your body's fat percentage will be a more accurate indicator of success. If your objectives are planned weight reduction, as well as health and fitness improvements, you will benefit more from fat loss than weight loss alone. Maintaining the muscle or lean mass that your body requires is paramount. Muscles, bones, connective tissues, organs, and blood are all components of lean mass. Losing muscle mass along with fat should not be your goal. Muscle mass is of prime importance for many reasons. It helps your body function healthily, enhances metabolism, and provides better glycaemic control. Hence your body fat percentage is an excellent indicator of the success of any weight reduction or fitness programme in promoting lean mass and preventing muscle loss.

3. Why does our body fat increase with age? How should we maintain a healthy body fat percentage as we grow older?

A gain in age-related body weight is caused by a combination of hormonal changes, slowing metabolism, and a change in body composition. Muscle mass declines and fat gain are inevitable consequences of becoming older. Try eating more fibre and protein while cutting down on saturated as well as trans fats. Get a good night’s rest; sleep deprivation might make you hungrier and less alert throughout the day. Reduce your stress levels to avoid gaining weight. As you become older, it's crucial that you take measures to ensure that you don't acquire more weight than is healthy. See your physician if you experience sudden weight gain. Keeping your weight stable becomes more challenging as you grow older, but it's still achievable. So rather than worrying about your weight, it's better to adopt practises that will keep you healthy and full of vitality as you become older.

4. Does water have an impact on our body fat percentage?

Dehydration is a crucial factor in estimating our body fat percentage. Inadequately hydrated people may display a greater percentage of body fat than is correct, whereas those who drink too much water may indicate a lower amount than is appropriate. In fact, you may be surprised at how varied the results are if you woke, measured your body fat, drank two litres of water, and then re-tested your body fat.

5. What exactly does body fat percentage evaluate?

The composition of your body weight may be determined by calculating your percentage or proportion of body fat. In particular, it calculates the percentage of your body mass that is fat. The higher your lean muscle mass on your physique, the lesser your body fat or fat mass percentage will be.

Published on 11 October 2023

Based on research by Gómez-Ambrosi J, Silva C, Catalán V, et al. “Clinical usefulness of a new equation for estimating body fat“ Diabetes Care (February 2012)

Last updated: Oct 11, 2023

References:

Disclaimer: This blog provides general information and discussions about health and related subjects. The information and other content provided in this blog, website or in any linked materials are not intended and should not be considered, or used as a substitute for, medical advice, diagnosis or treatment. Kindly contact your Doctor before starting a new medicine or health regime.