Ideal body fat percentage?

I had my first meeting with a trainer last night, and they took my body fat percentage.  It was around 21%.  The trainer told me that put me at the "borderline" level.  But a lot of stuff I'm finding is saying that's within the normal or healthy range.

Does anyone know what ideal body fat percentage is?  If you need stats, I'm 5'10", 138, 21 years old and not particularly athletic.  (I work out at the gym almost every day, but that's it.)

From everything I've heard, that's plenty healthy. Women are only supposed to get down to like 15%, and that's for athletes really. I think 21% is definitely normal. Try asking another trainer, maybe?

Yeah, I think maybe he was intentionally trying to make me insecure about it.

The deal my gym has is, when you sign up, you get a free initial meeting with a trainer, who's supposed to help you come up with a plan to achieve your goals.  Sounds okay, right?

It basically ended up as a 30-minute sales pitch for purchasing a program with a personal trainer.  It felt like one of those time-share meetings you have to go to when you get a free weekend in a condo.

that's probably what it was!

Did he even get the test right? At 5'10 138 you're fairly thin.

You are a healthy weight. You just have less muscle mass. I bet you don't do a lot of real weight training. That is the only thing that will really bring you BF% down. I am looking to compete and am at 15-15.5% now and that is only with increased weight and less frequent cardio. I lost about 5 lbs too when I increased weights and "shocked" my body. I am 5'4", 118 lbs and have a lot of muscle mass.

This is what I go by:

Body Fat Rating Scale WOMEN

Exceptionally Lean 10-15% (Elite Athletes)
Very Lean 16-19%
Lean 20-25%
Moderate 26-29%

Which I got straight out of my exercise science/nutrition textbook.

(There are higher ranges than 29%, and that's when it starts to be too fat, very high fat, etc)

It's important to note that as lanicita already said, women shouldn't really go under 15%. Elite athletes like Olympic marathon runners will end up less than that, so will many gymnasts. But if your profession isn't an athlete, I think you should focus more on being at a health range than being at a lower more short-term efficient certain sports.

According to the National Institutes of Health healthy BMI for nonathletic females is 18.5-25%.  This guy is obviously used to dealing with athletes, where the low end of the healthy range is 12%.

NIH Body Mass Index Chart

You'e 5'10", 138 lbs, 21 years old and go to the gym every day?  Sounds like you're doing fine to me.

I wonder which organization(s) he has his personal trainer certification from.  ACE, the American Council on Exercise, is one of the most popular.  Here is their chart: 

       &nb sp;               &nb sp;  Women........................Men
Essential Fat:.......10-13%...................2-5%
Athletes:.............14-20%................. ...6-13%
Fitness:...............21-24%................ ....14-17%
Average:.............25-31%.................. ..18-24%
Obese:................32% and higher.......25% and higher

So if he meant borderline fantastic, then I'll agree with him.  :)  If he meant anything else, then he is using scare tactics to sell, which may or may not be against gym policy.  It may be worth mentioning to the trainer director if you are upset/concerned about it.  There are enough legitimate health benefits to training to be able to sell a program without having to resort to attempting to scare someone with untruths.

Maybe you should just ask him what he meant. It might not be what you thought.

I was concerned that maybe he was just trying to pressure me, so I quizzed him a little.  I asked if there was a body fat percentage that was too low, and he told me "Women shouldn't go very far below 10%."  From most of what y'all have said and I've read, 10% sounds scary low on its own.

jochan1977 - She was asking about Body Fat % and you were discussing Body Mass Index (BMI).  These are two very different things.  Your BMI is based on a weight to height ratio and does not take into account muscle vs. fat.  Body Fat % is the % of your body which is purely fat.  For example if take a person who is 125 lbs and they have 20% Body Fat % than, 15 lbs of that person is purely fat.

BMI does not take into account that muscle weighs more than fat.

I had the EXACT same experience at 24 hour fitness. I weighed 110/5'1"and according to the *trainer and his calipers* I was in the obese range, lol. I WAS pissed though because it really was just a sell job. I don't care how little muscle I have there is no way I was *obese* at 110. Asshole!

Louise.

It depends on what "range" you think is the most idealistic.

you said it yourself that you are not particularly atheletic - and yeah I'll have to agree with ur trainer that 21% IS about the borderline between lean and fit. you might have been going to the gym everyday, but it really depends on what kind of workout you do.

And.......yes technically you can be overfat or even "obese" in terms of body fat % at any weight. but calipers are usually not accurate you might want to try bioelectrical or some other type of fat measuring equipment

So the only real way to decrease your BF % is to do more weights less cardio? I have been working out religiously for a month and a half, have lost about 15 lbs and have only decreased my BF % by like 2%...which I expected to be higher than that. But I do cardio and maybe 15 minutes of lifting just to tone a little. Do I need to do more weights to decrease my BF?

bekaspaeth1- you must remember that the lbs you lose arent necessarily all from fat, so there might be a couple of lbs of water lost right there but yes, absolutely, doing weights does build more muscle and decreases body fat for sure!!! dont quit the cardio though! it's beneficial. i speak from experience here..you should lift weights 3 times a week for about 30 minutes, doing different exercises for different parts of your body. you might not lose as much weight, but you'll sure lose inches and body fat!! consider this, i just had my stats checked today..i only lost 1 lb in total (during the holidays!!) and well, i had lost 3 lbs of fat! 2 of them i gained in muscle. depending on how much you weigh and what's your body fat percentage will affect how much body fat you lose every 6 weeks.i'm 131 lbs, 5'4'' and i've been losing 2% body fat every 6 weeks, so if you're like me, i think you're doing good.

Maybe the point was to get you to think that you needed to spend more time paying for a trainer than necessary. You are at a normal level from the information I have been given.

Yes the information too on the 15% is more for an athlete type person. FYI if you go too low you will cause your body to stop functioning the way it should.

Example. Body builders will go below 10% for competitions then increase to a normal % when the competition is done. For women this means you may not menstrate.

This is the information that has been given to me.

"borderline" what? overweight? I dont think so. If he meant it as borderline unfit I would give him credit. I meant, if he wants to shape you into a more athletic body.
I was at 21% or so I think, and I 'feel' fat because my body was flabby, and soft for my liking. Doesnt have anything to do with actual weight. So I work out, get in shape and feel better. If I were you and he told me I am borderline overweight I would punch him in the g*** :p

http://www.nutribase.com/fwchartf.shtml

http://www.weightlossforall.com/fat-percentag e-ideal.htm

My personal goal is just to get to the "fit" bf% of 24 - right now I'm between 29- 30 depending on the calculation sites, some day I'll have a real trainer test me with calipers.

I only have about 10 lbs of weight to lose to be in the healthy BMI catagory - if I can lose that all in fat I'd be ecstatic! 

If I got down to 20 % I would be shouting it from the rooftops- that is pretty darn lean for a young woman of child bearing age. 

If you don't have plans to do a bodybuilder competition then your perfect!!  I would suspect he's trying to sell you - but save your money buy the book New Rules of Lifting for Women and go lift weights and that will bring you down to a even lower bf%