Weight Loss - Body fat vs your Weight

August 9th, 2008

Most people strictly follow the scale lying around the house. This scale is not giving you the numbers you need to know. The way your body is composed greatly affects your health.

A person’s body fat percentage tells them what percentage of their body is fat as opposed to lean tissues such as muscle, bone and other vital organs. The higher your body fat is, the greater chance you have of developing chronic diseases such as heart disease, high blood pressure and diabetes.

The ideal body fat percentage is different between men and women. Men should aim for a body fat no more than 20 percent, while women should aim for a body fat percentage of 30 percent or less.

Your body fat can also be too low, Men who fall below 12 can suffer severe medical complications. For Women who’s body fat percentage falls below 20 percent often suffer from menstrual periods stop. If women fall even lower they can even experience osteoporosis. Osteoporosis involves the thinning of the bones.

There are five methods if testing your body fat:

1. Skin-fold measurement
Skin-fold measurement is the least expensive solution for measuring your body fat percentage. It involves using the thumb and forefinger to pinch the skin on the waist or the backside of the upper arm. If a person pinches more than an inch, they probably have too much body fat.

To get the most accurate measurement from the skin fold test you must use special calipers. The calipers are used to measure the thickness of your skin in several areas. These areas include: over the front of the thigh, the skin just below the shoulder blades, the skin of the abdomen, over the triceps muscle. The sum of these measurements are sued to determine your body fat.

Some gyms and fitness clubs have the proper special calipers and trained personnel to do this skin fold method. However one downside of this method is that each time you measure, you must put the calipers at the same spot.

2.Accu-Measure
Accu-measure involves the use of a device that does a “pinch test”. It is a fairly inexpensive solution that a person can do by themselves. The Accu-measure comes with a table that when used with the figures of the pinching device , will give you your body fat percentage.

3. Underwater weighing (Hydrodensitometry)
Hydrodensitometry involves going into a water tank with a scale at the bottom. People weigh less in water, the difference between your weight in water and out is the difference between your body fat and your lean tissues.

4. Bioelectrical impedance analysis.
Bioelectrical impedance analysis involves the observations of your bodies reaction to an electrical current. In this process, electrodes arm attached to a persons body. They are usually attached to the hands and feet. The next step is to run a harmless current though the electrodes. The more muscle tissue you have the faster the current goes though you. A computer calculates your body fat from the speed of the current.

This method is considered less reliable than underwater weighing. Bioelectrical impedance analysis has been found to be affected by a persons
Skin moisture, body shape, diet and proximity of electrical appliances.

5. DEXA
Dual-energy x-ray absorptiometry involves taking a 30 minute total body scan. This includes the measurement of body fat, bone density, muscle density. This method does involve exposure to radiation, however it is much lower than a standard x-ray. It is not recommended that you use this method frequently as a result of the radiation.

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