The scale isn't the only way to tell if you're overweight. Read how body fat is measured and what percentage of body fat compared to your total weight is considered too much.
Body fat: What are the dangers?
When most of us hear the "fat" word have immediate negative connotations. However, in the right proportions, fat is actually essential to our diet and health. In the not too distant past, the ability to store extra body fat allowed our ancestors to survive in times of famine, when food was hard to find. Even today, it is essential to keep the body functioning to maintain body heat and protect the organs of the trauma.
Problems arise when our bodies store excess fat. This can lead to a variety of health problems, including high cholesterol, hypertension, glucose intolerance and insulin resistance. Especially dangerous is the accumulated fat around the waist, creating a body called "apple shaped", unlike the fat in the hips and thighs, a body "pear-shaped".
"Average body fat for men is about 8-15 percent of their total body weight and for women from 20 to 30 percent," says Caroline Apovian, MD, associate professor of medicine and pediatrics at the Boston University School of Medicine and director of the Center for Nutrition and Weight Management at Boston Medical Center.
Body Fat: How can you measure?
There are a variety of ways to measure the amount of body fat of a person is carrying. "The most accurate way is" underwater weighing "person weighing on land and under water, and then," says Mary Flynn, PhD, RD, nutritionist principal investigator and assistant professor of medicine at the Miriam Hospital and Brown University in Providence, RI "But for this equipment is very expensive and not readily available."
Another option is fairly accurate bioimpedance (BIA). BIA consists of electrodes placed on the hand and foot of a person, whereas a stream (not feel) is passed through the body. Fat has less water and more resistant to flow, while muscle containing more water, less resistant. The figures obtained are entered into an equation that calculates the percentage of fat and lean tissue.
The simplest method is the measurement of waist circumference and determination of body mass index (BMI). One more 35-inch waist for women and 40 inches for men is a concern.
Mean BMI to calculate a little calculation. BMI by multiplying your weight in pounds by 703, then dividing that number by your height in inches twice. If the end result is less than 18.5, the individual is underweight; 18.5 and 24.9 is normal; Overweight 25.0-29.9; and over 30 is obese.
"However, be aware of this denial. Only BMI is not an indicator of body fat, especially among athletes and bodybuilders. Growth of children under 18 should also avoid using the body mass index" says Elizabeth Downs, RD, clinical dietitian at Montefiore Medical Center at the University Hospital of the Albert Einstein College of Medicine in the Bronx, New York
A final way of determining body fat is the use of skin calipers to measure the fat in specific locations in the body. However, it is not only easy to make mistakes, but this method does not measure the internal grease or fat in the thighs and breasts of women.
Ultimately, the percentage of body fat is just another number in the health equation. And if you are not satisfied, all it takes is the addition of exercise and cutting calories to make it move in the right direction.