Body Fat Percentage

Everyone has a different amount of body fat depending on age, activity level, genes and how they eat, or eating habits. Ideally, body fat percentage cannot be over twenty five percent on the premise that your lifestyle is active. Fat is stored in the different areas of the body. Genes determine if you are an apple or a pear. Pear body shapes tend to store fat in the buttocks and thighs with less body fat in the belly. Apples are the exact opposite. Apple body types store fat in the abdominal region and in the breast area.

Gender also determines body fat storage and the potential to become obese. More fat cells are generally in hips and thighs if you are a woman and around your abdomen if you are a man. When losing weight, take note that the places that have the most fat storage is the last to go. Internally, there is also a certain percentage of fat storage.

Age also determines fat percent. As we get older, we tend to age more and store more fat due to our metabolism rate actually lessening as the years go by. Changing hormones, too, affect body fat percentage. It is noteworthy that the actual fat cell numbers result in the expansion of each fat cell within itself and not the increase in the specific number of individual fat cells. Some people who try to decrease stored fat often have unrealistic expectations about their body losing weight and about their individual ideal body fat percentage.

It is important to remember that you should not have a body fat percentage of below the norm. For men, it is three percent and for women it is twelve percent. Some people can reduce levels of body fat percentage if weight loss that is gradual and for a long period of time. Fat is essential to survival since it acts like insulation and padding for joints vial organs and nerves. The average person nowadays though, tends to carry more than the body requires. There are many body fat measuring monitors that help you track your progress.

There are a few body fat monitors which use bioelectrical impedance analysis technology. These body fat monitors work by sending a weak electrical signal through the body from two foot pads on a scale. The low level electrical signal passes through the muscles faster than fat due to the muscle cells higher water content. The body fat percentage monitor then analyzes the signal and information on body fat is converted in seconds.