Body Fat Percentages

17% is actually very healthy for an active woman. As long as you get there in a
healthy way (strength training and healthy eating, not a starvation diet and
hours of cardio) most women won't have a problem with estrogen levels and
menstrual irregularities unless they're well below 12%. That's why bodybuilders
and fitness competitors tend to only drop into the single digits for a few weeks
of competition and then they come back up into the low or mid-teens to maintain.

The average American woman is 33% body fat. The most often cited healthy range
for women is 20-25%. Professional (women) skiers and swimmers and softball
players tend to be around 18-22%. Distance runners are usually around 17-19%.
Professional aerobics instructors and fitness competitors in the off season tend
to be around 14-17%. Fitness and figure competitors go onstage in the 7-10%
range. Olympic gymnasts and ballerinas tend to be around 10%. Female
bodybuilders are always in the mid/low single digits for competition. If you've ever
seen pictures of Pam Brown with her trophy, she was 6% in that photo. Wait...
here it is: http://www.bodychangers.com/pbrown_inter.shtml

I like to be around 14-16%. That's where I am in most of my photos. It's lean
but it's maintainable without doing anything stupid. I've been below 20% for
years and I'm in excellent health. If you've ever checked out my What I Eat
page, I'm hardly starving myself or doing anything unhealthy to keep a low
percentage. In fact, most of time I'm carrying around a giant cooler of food.

Where you set your final goal is a very personal thing. If you're looking for
general good health, a small pant size, and easy maintenance, 20-25% might be an
excellent goal. If you want a lean, athletic look with good muscle definition
and nothing jiggling in a bikini, you have to go lower. Most people don't know
what their final percentage will be until they get there and live at that weight
for a while. If you have to eat too little and train too hard to maintain it,
you'll be unhappy and won't stay there very long. It's kind of self-regulating
in that regard. Nobody's going to drop their body fat dangerously low and not
realize it.

If you go to the Files section of the club, I put a Fat Loss / Muscle Gain
calculator in there (Microsoft Excel). It helps you figure out how many pounds
of fat you would need to lose and how much muscle you would need to gain to hit
a particular percentage and weight. It can help you decide if your goals are
realistic.