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Is 21% bodyfat good for a man?

By GyroscopeMen, 21%US data by DEXA scan

For a man, 21% sits in the average band on the American Council on Exercise chart (18 to 24%). It's over the healthy range at ages 20 to 39 and inside it at 40 to 79. By DEXA scan, about 24 in 100 American men aged 20 to 39 had less bodyfat than that, and about 9 in 100 aged 40 to 59.

Where 21% sits on the chart

The American Council on Exercise chart is the one most tools and scales use. Women carry more essential fat than men, so each band sits about 7 or 8 points higher for them. The average band on the chart is leaner than the real US average, which was 28% for men by DEXA scan. On a woman, 21% is in the fitness band (21% for a woman).

How many men are leaner, by age

For men aged 60 to 79, fewer than 5 in 100 had less bodyfat than 21%, and fewer than 5 in 100 of those 80 and older. Bodyfat climbs with age on average, about 5 points from the 20s and 30s to the 60s and 70s, so the same number puts you among leaner people as you get older. These shares come from DEXA scans of about 13,000 US adults in the national health survey (NHANES), 1999 to 2004.

Is 21% healthy for your age?

At 20 to 39, the top of the healthy range is 19%, 2 points under 21%. The ranges come from a 2000 study of 1,626 adults measured in labs in the US, the UK and Japan, which matched bodyfat to the BMI lines for a healthy weight. Under the low edge, the researchers called it underfat.

Where the fat sits counts as much as the total. A waist over 40 inches raises the risk of heart disease and type 2 diabetes, even at a normal weight, by the US heart and lung institute's line. Check your waist

21% in pounds

Everything else is your lean mass: muscle, water, organs and bone. It's what protein and lifting protect while you lose fat, and your protein range is counted from your weight. Your protein

Getting to 17%

Say you weigh 180 pounds at 21%. That's 38 pounds of fat. Getting to 17%, the top of the fitness band, means losing about 9 pounds of fat while you keep your muscle, which leaves you at about 171 pounds. At 0.5 to 1% of your weight a week, that takes about 5 to 10 weeks.

Eat protein at every meal, lift at least twice a week and keep the pace slow, so what comes off is fat. Calories to lose, and your date works it out from your own numbers, and how to lose fat and keep your muscle has the whole plan.

Your number is a range

The tool that measured you changes the answer. The shares above come from DEXA scans. The Navy tape method's typical error is about 3.5 points, so a tape that says 21% means about 17.5 to 24.5%. In a 2023 lab test of 15 devices in 73 adults, home scales missed the true number by about 3.5 points too low to about 12 points too high on average, depending on the model. They did better on change, within about 2 to 3 points over 12 to 16 weeks, so a scale is for the trend.

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