What does it mean to be overfat?

category: wl1

What does it mean to be overfat?

In the United States, 90% of adult males are overfat, as are 50% of children.1

Understanding how fat is overfat requires a measure of body fat percentage. Body mass index, or BMI, potentially misclassifies 50% or more of patients with excess body fat who may have increased health risks.1 When we use body fat percentage as a benchmark of fatness, 32-35% body fat in a woman is normal, while 19-24% body fat is normal in a man.

Men are naturally leaner than women for biological reasons. Women have extra body fat because of hormones, breast tissue and their physiology.

Body fat percentages increase with age for both sexes – which is accounted for in the ranges above.