Body mass index calculator for adults for Better Health

Body fat is an important factor in overall wellness, and too much can be problematic. High levels of body fat, or obesity, raise your risk of developing many of the common chronic health conditions linked to premature, preventable death, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) Body Mass Index.

But having too little body fat can cause health issues, too, as it’s necessary for the regulation of glucose, cholesterol, energy storage and release, and reproductive hormone metabolism. Without enough body fat, these functions can be compromised.

Here’s everything you need to know about body fat percentage, including ideal ranges for optimal health, how to calculate and measure it, how it compares to body mass index (BMI) as an indicator of overall wellness and more.

Though many of us gauge the state of our health based on our body weight, it’s not the best method, says Sharon Zarabi, a registered dietician and program director at Northwell Health’s Katz Institute of Women’s Health in New York. When you’re trying to determine your risk of disease, you need to make sure you have a healthy body fat percentage, she says, which is the per cent of total body weight that is composed of body fat in proportion to lean mass, organs, tissues and water.

There are multiple ways body fat percentage can be measured, ranging from the use of simple skin callipers to more advanced technology like dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry, or DEXA scans.

The most accurate ways to measure body fat, such as hydrostatic weighing, using a Bod Pod and/or CT/MRI scans, are expensive and relatively more difficult to come by than other methods. However, callipers and bioelectrical impedance scales come with a risk of inaccuracy. Of the above-mentioned methods, DEXA may be the most accurate as well as the most widely available way to measure body fat, depending on where you live. If you or your doctor have concerns regarding your body fat percentage, using the most accurate method available is ideal.

Some research suggests that combining a person’s BMI with their waist circumference (WC) may be a fairly accurate way to estimate body fat. For example, a 2016 systematic review of 27 studies in Public Health examined methods of measuring body fat in 7 to 10-year-olds, finding that using BMI and WC to estimate body fat was acceptable when more advanced tools, such as DEXA scans, were unavailable[1]. However, other studies suggest that the accuracy of this measurement may vary based on age, sex and race or ethnicity[2].

Since many standards regarding healthy weights in the U.S. are determined based on BMI indexes rather than body fat percentages, it’s difficult to pinpoint an average body fat percentage, and those averages depend on age, sex and other factors. In the past, women have been found to have higher body fat percentages than men, however, updated research is needed. Overall, body fat percentage is highly individualized and the appropriate number for your body should be determined by you and your healthcare provider

Why Does Body Fat Percentage Matter?
Body fat percentage is an indicator of physical fitness, and keeping it in a healthy range is very important, says Adam Atkinson, a certified personal trainer and founder of See You Later Leaner, a fitness coaching service in Columbus, Ohio. “The higher somebody’s body fat percentage, the more likely they are to develop heart disease, high blood pressure, type 2 diabetes, gallstones, breathing problems like sleep apnea and even some cancers,” he says. “You can also get high cholesterol, which can lead to heart disease.”

There are two types of body fat, explains Zarabi. “There’s subcutaneous fat, which is the extra skin we can pinch on the sides of our hips (the “muffin top”), and visceral fat, which is found deeper in the body and accumulates around the organs,” she says. Visceral fat is more metabolically active, meaning it produces hormones that affect health, impact appetite and regulate body weight, satiety and hunger cues. Too much visceral fat can lead to insulin resistance, obesity and fatty liver disease, says Zarabi.

With that said, you do need enough body fat to protect your organs. For instance, vitamins A, D, E and K are all essential nutrients, but without enough body fat, you cannot absorb enough of these specific vitamins, she says.

Lowering your body fat percentage means reducing your overall body fat. To lose one pound of fat, your body needs to burn 3,500 more calories than you consume—meaning to lose one pound of fat in a week, you need to reduce your caloric intake by 500 calories a day (or burn these calories through exercise), according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA). Lowering your body fat percentage will likely involve reducing the number of calories you eat along with increasing your physical activity level.

A registered dietitian or nutritionist can help you design a safe, nutritious, sustainable meal plan that reduces daily calorie intake to meet your weight goals—but isn’t overly restrictive. While fad diets might yield initial weight loss, research suggests that these diets are difficult to maintain long-term due to their highly restrictive nature and tendency to eliminate entire food groups.

There are many ways to combine changes in your eating habits with elevated levels of physical activity to support body fat reduction. Studies show that 30 minutes of aerobic exercise a day correlates with sustained weight loss. Aerobic exercise can take many forms including walking, running, swimming and/or cycling, and should be based on your level of physical fitness.

In addition to reducing calories and increasing exercise, relatively new evidence suggests that weight training also has a positive impact on body fat percentage. A large 2022 systematic review of 54 studies in Sports Medicine concluded that resistance training effectively reduces body fat, including fat around the abdominal organs[3].

BMI, or body mass index, is a basic calculation achieved by dividing a person’s weight in kilograms by the square of their height in meters. Basically, BMI is a very rough weight evaluation, says Atkinson, adding that many of his clients—who are very lean, elite bodybuilders—would be considered obese based on their BMI.

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