What Is Body Composition?

-
You might think this is too complicated for me, but you want to understand the principles behind weight loss if you're going to succeed in your weight loss journey.

Body composition refers to the proportion of fat and fat-free mass in the body. A healthy body composition is one that includes a lower proportion of body fat and a higher proportion of fat-free mass. Body composition is one measurement that is used to assess your health and fitness level. The health care system judges you by your percentage of body fat. Our doctor make a judgement call and will determine your percentage of body fat and that number will go into your medical records. You can find out from your doctor what your number is. What you pay for you health insurance can increase if you have too much fat.

What Is Body Composition?

Your body is composed of two types of mass: body fat and fat-free mass.  
  • Body fat is fat that is located within the body. Body fat can be in muscle tissue, under the skin or around organs. Some fat is necessary for overall health. It helps protect internal organs, provides energy and regulates important body hormones. 
  • Fat-free mass includes bone, water, muscle, and tissues. Fat-free mass is also important for the body to function properly.  
Body composition is a comparison of your body’s fat and fat-free mass. When we talk about body composition, we usually refer to body fat percent or the percentage of your body that is fat. The percent of your body that is not fat is fat-free mass(FFM). 

If this sounds at all familiar it's because this is a different take on the BMI method of calculating body fat. The body composition way of measuring your body fat is best done with a "body fat Caliper". They're cheap, you might find one in a sporting goods store that sells workout equipment or online.

What Is Healthy Body Composition?

If you have good body composition, your body fat percent is in a normal range. You are usually healthier, you move more easily and feel better than those with poor body composition. People with a healthy body composition usually have bodies that look more fit and trim. If you can improve your body composition you can improve your quality of life and overall wellness.  

If you are overweight or obese, you have an excessive amount of body fat. Your body fat percent is too high. Your body composition is unhealthy.
Your body may feel more sluggish and it may not function as well with excess body fat.

Weighing yourself on a regular bathroom scale does not truly assess your body composition because a regular scale cannot tell the difference between how much of your total weight is comprised of water, fat, or muscle.
To know if your body composition is healthy, you should get an estimate of your body fat percent.

How Much Body Fat Should I Have?

There are several different ways to get an estimate of your body fat percent. Many health clubs and gyms offer body fat analysis. You can also get it tested in a doctor's office or use a BIA body fat scale to estimate your body fat percent.

Once you know your number you can compare it to these numbers provided by the American Council on Exercise (ACE) to evaluate your body composition. 


ACE Body Fat Percent Norms for Men and Women
DescriptionWomenMen
Essential Fat10-13%2-5%
Athletes14-20%6-13%
Fitness21-24%14-17%
Acceptable
but overweight		25-31%18-24%
Obese>32%>25%

Should I Change My Body Composition?

If your body fat percent is too high, you may want to try to decrease it to improve your health. You're likely to enjoy a more active and healthy life if you carry less fat body fat. You may also be able to decrease your risk of disease.
So how do you change your body composition for better health?

You should try to increase muscle mass (or fat-free mass) and decrease fat mass. You can change your diet and start an exercise program. Combine both methods to change your body composition and improve your health and well-being.
If you really want to lose the extra flab you can get help, I write 4 blogs and I’ve written two E-books. Read some of my other blog posts.

gettingtoahealthyweight.blog
idropped40pounds.wordpress.com
howbaddoyouwanttoloseweight.blogspot.com

E-books are the easiest and cheapest way to learn about any subject without groping through hundreds of website looking for the material you want.

My first e-book is “HowBadDoYouWantToLoseWeight” and it sells for $2.99 on most online bookstores like Amazon.com, BN.com, iBook, Kobo.com, Scribd.com, and Gardner books in the U.K.

My second e-book is available in the same stores and on smashwords.com.  Just type in the search line “getting to a healthy weight”.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

What's the Mediterranean Diet?

-
Image
The Mediterranean diet is based on the traditional foods eaten by people living in the Mediterranean region, especially Greece. It's loaded with healthy foods and research findings suggest following this diet may help reduce some of the risk factors for heart disease.  According to the Oldways Preservation & Exchange Trust, the Mediterranean diet was introduced in 1993 by Oldways, Harvard School of Public Health and the World Health Organization.  The diet includes: Olives and olive oil Whole grains, mostly in bread and cereal rather than pasta Very little red meat Fish and seafood Some cheese, but less milk Lots of vegetables and fruit Plenty of legumes and nuts A little red wine The Mediterranean diet is high in fiber and antioxidants from vegetables, legumes and nuts, far greater than the typical Western diet, and low in saturated fat. Very little red meat is eaten in this region, and milk consumption is limited as well, except for some cheese and yogurt
Read more

Changing Your Life To Lose Weight

-
Image
I can let you in on the ultimate secret for successfully making a change in your life. A century’s worth of psychological research reveals an interesting paradox in who we are. On the one hand, once we reach adulthood our basic personalities remain unchanged for the rest of our lives. We keep doing the same things—and feeling the same ways—over and over. But, on the other hand, every day we change our behavior drastically in response to different environments. Most of us are one person at work, for example, and another person at home. It is easier to change our environment than to change ourselves. So, if you want to change yourself, change your environment. Said differently: Whenever possible, don’t try to fight temptations – avoid them! The easiest way to make a change in your life is to modify the world around you in ways that will naturally drive you toward making, and maintaining, the change you want. There are many ways to change your environment, but let’s focus
Read more

Cancer and High Protein Diets

-
On the Fox TV Network the other night, one of the big stories was about high protein diets. A new study has shown a link between the over consumption of animal protein and how it can stimulate the growth of cancer cells. It seems we all have cancer cells but they don’t normally grow, unless we consume too much animal fat, dairy or fats from processed foods. Before I continue I want to explain about the link to cancer. After all, Man has been eating red meat for millions of years, right. That's true but todays red meat is not the same. Most red meat that we buy in the supermarket comes from Steers that have been raised in feed lots on a grain diet that is full of hormones and other chemicals that shorten the growing time and put more fat on the animal. These hormones and other chemicals stay in the meat and what you're buying will contain the chemicals that the animal ate. Normally a grass feed Steer that lives on the range in big herds will take 18 to 20 months to grow to
Read more