Originally Posted by
Robert Santana
This depends on the person's body fat setpoint, level of competitiveness, body image perceptions, and overall health. In general, if a male is >~20-25% body fat or greater or a female is >30% body fat and has a high normal-to-overweight body mass index, then I'd say that is probably excessive. The latter being key because skinny fat guys and gals (normal-to-low BMI with high body fat percentage) tend to improve the ratio of the compartments to a greater extent by getting stronger and building muscle rather than losing fat. For instance, I know a woman who was 5'4" 96 lb @ 28% body fat. Ran a LP and got to 117 lb @ 20% body fat. So if you are 5'9" 200 lb @ 28% body fat that is different than being 160 lb @ 28% body fat.