Thank you Anni Curtis, Personal Trainer

We want to thank Anni Curtis, Personal Trainer for sharing her time and expertise (and for donating the prizes for the drawing) with us at the PCOS Education and Support Group meeting tonight. The question was raised about ideal body fat percentage. I looked on ACE Fitness, American Heart Association and American Council on Exercise and they all had a similar chart. Please see the article below for more information. Thank you Jessie, Hillary, Kizzy, Micheal and everyone else who helped with the meeting this evening. We appreciate your time and effort and could not do this without you! We are grateful to Shannon (and any other new members of the Leadership Committee who signed up after I left) and encourage anyone who wants to take a leadership role with the support group to email me at pcossupport@hotmail.com.

Thank You,

Lisa Borunda

Ideal Body Fat Percentage

What is the ideal percentage of body fat? Read this article to know about the range of ideal body fat percentage and its variations in men and women.

There are two types of body fat - essential and storage. Essential fat is necessary for normal body metabolism and consists of fat stored in the heart, lungs, liver, kidneys, intestines, bone marrow, muscles, spleen, and in the central nervous system. The percentage of essential fat is 2-5% for men and 10-13% for women. This difference in the amount for men and women is due to the fact that women need more fat for the process of childbearing and other hormone related functions. Storage fat, on the other hand, consists of fat stored or accumulated in the adipose tissue (loose connective tissue). Adipose tissue is responsible for storing energy in the form of fats and for protecting internal organs of the body. Storage fat percentage is 12% for men and 15% for women.

Ideal Body Fat Percentage

The ideal percentage of body fat, which is considered to be acceptable and safe is 5% for males and 12% for females. However, the proportion varies from one person to another depending upon the body types (endomorphs, mesomorphs and ectomorphs), age, sex, hereditary, lifestyle and eating habits. Men and women, whose body fat percentages are below 3% and 10% respectively, are considered to be unhealthy.

As a matter of fact, the minimum recommended body fat percentage is slightly more than the essential body fat percentage. It is because the body requires some amount of storage fat to be used as a source of energy in times of need. In fact, the recommended body fat percentage varies for people from different fields of work. For example, the American Council on Exercise has categorized ranges of body fats into four types, namely athletes (6-13% for men, 16-20% for women); fitness (14-17% for men, 21-24% for women); acceptable (18-25% for men, 25-31% for women) and obese (25%+ for men, 32%+ for women).

Measurement of Body Fat Percentage

Measurement of body fat percentage helps to determine whether or not a person is at a healthy weight, with respect to his/her body type, size, age and sex. In addition, while losing body weight, it is important to know whether the lost weight comes from the lean body mass (mass of organs, muscle, bone and water) or the fat mass. Another method known as body mass index (BMI) calculation is used to analyze the health risk related to excess body fat. BMI is actually an estimation of body fat, based on a person's height and weight and does not measure the body fat percentage.

However, certain measurement techniques are available for analyzing the total body fat. Some of the commonly used body fat analyzers are:

• BIA (bioelectrical impedance analysis) - A common and affordable procedure used for estimation of body fat percentage. However, the results are not very accurate.
• TOBEC (total body electrical conductivity) - An accurate technique for measuring lean body mass but the equipment is very costly as compared to other procedures.
• CT (computed tomography) - A less common method that is based on radiation.
• Calipers (anthropometry) - A common and affordable tool for measuring the skinfold thickness.
• DEXA (dual energy X-ray absorptiometry) - A bone scan test that is used to measure bone density. Nowadays, it is becoming a very common, reliable and safe tool for measuring body fat percentage.
• NIR (near-infrared interactance) - A simple and fast analytical technique for measuring body fat; but this method is less reliable since errors are observed frequently.
• MRI (magnetic resonance imaging) - A very safe procedure of scanning but of limited use, due to its high cost.
• BOD POD (air displacement) - A less common body fat analyzer, based on underwater weighing.

There are also certain online tools available for calculating body fat. One needs to fill up the age, sex, total body weight, height and other relative data such as hip and waist size, in order to estimate the body fat percentage as such.

By Ningthoujam Sandhyarani
Last Updated: 9/26/2011

April 19, 2012 PCOS Education and Support meeting

The PCOS Education and Support Group Meeting

Thursday April 19, 2012

at 6 p.m.

Location: 515 South 300 East Suite 205

St. George, Utah

Speaker: Anni Curtis, Certified Personal Trainer

Topic: Personal fitness for all fitness levels

A light dinner will be served

Come join us for a wonderful educational opportunity,

free prize drawing and fun!

$3 suggested donation

Please RSVP to: pcossupport@hotmail.com

Thanks Christie Benton, RD

We had a great PCOS education and support group tonight! Christie Benton, RD did a nice job talking about insulin resistance and carbohydrates as they relate to PCOS. We truly appreciate her for sharing her time and expertise! We had our largest group so far this evening! It was great seeing several new faces and seeing people who had learned about the support group from the recent article in The Spectrum (Generating Awareness by Lisa Larson).