Guess what scales and BMI charts lie to us! They don’t take into consideration muscle mass or water retention. How about I put it this way, you can be athletic with good muscle tone and that scale/BMI chart will place you as overweight or your weight can put you in the normal range but you carry more fat than muscle.
 
The main component of our bodies are bone, organs, tissue, water, muscle and fat. Why is the amount of fat important? When you have more visceral fat you are at risk for illness or disease just as having too little body fat can cause serve health problems. Certain amount of fat is essential, it helps regulate body temperature, protects and insulate organs and certain tissues, and is our bodies main form of energy storage.
 
Gender plays a role in the muscle vs fat game. Men will typically have more muscle and sorry ladies but we tend to carry more fat, and let’s not forget that as we age we tend to lose muscle. This is why I stress performing resistance training to bring the visceral fat to a healthy range so your body can function the best that it can.
 
What is a good range? An acceptable range for men is 18-24%, the essential range is 2-5%. For women our acceptable range is 25 – 30% with an essential range of 10-13%. Main point I am trying to make is that knowing your body fat percentage will give you a better idea of how you are doing on your health goals than the stupid scale and BMI Chart.