Healthy body fat percentage - what and how important is it?

Nowadays, people are more concerned about their looks than they were a couple of hundred of years ago. There are various ways a person can lose weight and get into shape. In the recent years, people started paying attention to the body fat percentage. A lot of people are not aware how much body fat a person should have and how much is considered to be healthy. Another thing about body fat that people do not know is what its role is when general health is considered. One of the main problems of the modern world is obesity. More and more obese people are seen year after year. That is why fitness and weight loss are some of the most popular subjects of discussions and that is why people have more interest in healthy body fat percentage.

What is healthy body fat percentage?

A fair number of people already know that body fat percentage is just how much fat a person has stored in his or her body or how much fat his or her body is carrying. A lot of people believe that body fat is not good for a person. The truth is that body fat is essential for the body in order for it to function properly. A person needs to maintain a proper amount of body fat percentage because that body fat is responsible for the regulation of the body temperature. Apart from that, body fat also cushions the organs. However, an important thing is to know just how much percentage of the fat a person should have in his or her body. There are several factors that determine just how much body fat a person should have. Age and gender are the two main factors. For instance, experts agree that a woman aged between 20 and 40 should have between 21 and 33% of body fat while a man of the same age should have only 8 to 19% of body fat. Women aged between 41 and 60 should have 23 to 35% while men of that age should have from 11 to 22% of fat.

How important is a healthy body fat percentage?

The body cannot perform certain processes if there is not enough fat. A process may even malfunction if the body lacks the needed amount of fat. A person needs fat in order for the body to create energy. If there is no fat, the body cannot create the energy a person needs every day. A person needs to keep him or herself in shape in order to maintain the proper amount of body fat.