September 1997 Newsletter Article To Newsletter Menu
Title: Women in Sport- Safe Body Fat Levels
Author: Ray Lauenstein
What is a safe and healthy body fat for women?
Genetically, women carry more body fat then men. The average total fat content of women is 25-27% of their total body composition. Fat is broken down into two categories. The first is essential fat which is necessary for normal physiological functioning of the major organs and nervous system. Women require about 12% essential fat stores versus 3-4% for men. The difference is due to sex-specific fat deposits.
Storage Fat is the second type and it accumulates in adipose tissue and serves as a nutritional reserve. The proportion in men is about 12% versus 15% for women.
What is Safe? According to McArdle, Katch and Katch (1991) 16-17% total body fat is considered the safe, low cut off point for women. This might vary from person to person, but it is a good general figure to use. Some can be lower and others are higher but it is at this level that health considerations such as amenorrhea (stoppage in the normal menstruation process), and nutritional and energy imbalances are a risk.
At some point weight loss and athletic performance yield diminishing returns. At young athlete might perform better at 20% body fat vs. 15%.
Do not try to determine body fat status by appearances. Appearing thin is different from actually being low in body fat. See your doctor and get measured.
Order Baseball Playing Outside the Lines