Body Fat Calculator
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Gender
Height
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Weight
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Result
Your Estimated Body Fat:
15 %
Health range
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Body Fat
According to the World Health Organisation (WHO), almost half of the entire human population was overweight in 2022. One-eighth of our species even suffered from obesity. This number has been steadily rising for over the past 50 years as a consequence of changing food systems and more sedentary lifestyles (Blüher, 2019). Obesity and overweight are defined as having excessive body fat that poses a threat to our health. As a guideline, a BMI ≥ 25 kg/m2 is considered overweight and a BMI ≥ 30 kg/m2 is considered obese1 (WHO). The threats that excess body fat pose to your health are numerous and serious. Obesity is a major risk factor for type 2 diabetes, heart attacks, strokes, cancer and dementia, to name only a few.
However, severe underweight, including in conditions such as anorexia nervosa, can also have life-threatening consequences. Body fat, or adipose tissue, stores energy, helps insulate and protect the organs and regulates hormones (Luo & Liu, 2016).
Losing and gaining weight can for a large part be attributed to eating less or more calories than you burn. If you are seeking to lose, gain or maintain your weight, we provide tools to help you achieve those goals. See Calkit's weight loss, weight gain and weight maintenance calculators.
1BMI is just an indication for a healthy weight, see our BMI page for a more thorough explanation.
Healthy Body Fat Percentage
We understand that readers of this article want to know what a healthy body fat percentage is. The reality is that there is no scientific consensus on a specific healthy percentage. It depends on many factors such as unique body composition, lifestyle, age, sex, and ethnicity. Nonetheless, one article that gets referenced a lot when constructing healthy range tables is the scientific work of Gallagher et al. (2000). They estimated body fat percentages of participants using their BMI and compared the estimations to direct body fat measurements. This way they derived average body fat percentages corresponding to established BMI health guidelines. Do note that BMI itself is not a definitive marker for a healthy weight. Therefore, the tables displayed below should only be used as a guideline. Anyhow, Gallagher et al. provide two tables, distinguishing between asians and black/whites. This is because, at the same BMI, asian people tend to have higher average body fat percentage.
Table 1. Body fat percentages corresponding to BMI for black and white people (Gallagher et al., 2000)
| Sex & BMI | 20-39 years | 40-59 years | 60-79 years |
|---|---|---|---|
| Female | |||
| <18.5 | 21% | 23% | 24% |
| ≥25 | 33% | 34% | 36% |
| ≥30 | 39% | 40% | 42% |
| Male | |||
| <18.5 | 8% | 11% | 13% |
| ≥25 | 20% | 22% | 25% |
| ≥30 | 25% | 28% | 30% |
Table 2. Body fat percentages corresponding to BMI for asian people (Gallagher et al., 2000)
| Sex & BMI | 20-39 years | 40-59 years | 60-79 years |
|---|---|---|---|
| Female | |||
| <18.5 | 25% | 25% | 25% |
| ≥25 | 35% | 35% | 36% |
| ≥30 | 40% | 40% | 41% |
| Male | |||
| <18.5 | 13% | 13% | 14% |
| ≥25 | 23% | 24% | 24% |
| ≥30 | 28% | 29% | 29% |
This Calculator
We are aware that this tool will be used by people seeking to lose or gain weight. We encourage all behavior leading to a healthier and more fulfilling life, but we realize that it is never easy to change habits for the benefit of the good. Do note that all information presented here is based on research which, almost as a rule, provides averages. Every body is different. If you are serious about gaining or losing body fat, always consult your physician for advice tailored to your individual needs.
In this calculator we use the regression equation by Gallagher et al. (2000) to estimate body fat percentage. They provide three equations, one for black/white people, one for asian men and one for asian women2.
For black and white people:
For asian men:
For asian women:
where male = 1 and female = 0 for sex, and age in years. BMI = kg/m2. See our BMI page for further explanation and the formula using the Imperial system.
2For simplicity, this calculator uses the equation constructed for black/white people.
Example
Yael is a 57 year old woman who is 58 kg (128 lbs) and 1.62 m (5''4). She would like to estimate her body fat percentage.
First she calculates her BMI:
BMI = 58/1.622 = 22.1
Then she plugs in the values in the BF% regression estimation.
Yael is white and finds in table 1 that an estimated body fat percentage of 30.63% corresponds to a BMI between 18.5 and 25 and is thus considered healthy.
References
- Blüher, M. (2019). Obesity: global epidemiology and pathogenesis. Nature reviews endocrinology, 15(5), 288-298.
- Gallagher, D., Heymsfield, S. B., Heo, M., Jebb, S. A., Murgatroyd, P. R., & Sakamoto, Y. (2000). Healthy percentage body fat ranges: an approach for developing guidelines based on body mass index. The American journal of clinical nutrition, 72(3), 694-701.
- Luo, L., & Liu, M. (2016). Adipose tissue in control of metabolism. Journal of endocrinology, 231(3), R77-R99.
- World Health Organization (WHO). Obesity. Retrieved February 8, 2025, from https://www.who.int/health-topics/obesity#tab=tab_1
- World Health Organization (WHO). Obesity and overweight. Retrieved February 8, 2025, from https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/obesity-and-overweight