Body Fat Women

Body Fat - The Facts!

Body fat. We've all heard about it, we've all got it. Some of it we can see, some of it we can't. The fact is that we all need body fat. It helps to control body temperature, cushions joints and organs plus it stores vitamins.

However, too much fat can have a damaging effect on your health. Excess body fat can contribute, to high blood pressure, heart disease, type 2 diabetes and even some forms or cancer.

Simple Maths

To function, your body needs an energy supply. Even if you lay in your bed all day your internal organs are working so your body will require a minimum number of calories. If you feed your body the required amount of calories it needs then it will convert the calories into energy. Feed your body too many calories and they will be stored as fat. If the stored fat is not converted into energy later e.g. through exercise, it creates excess body fat.

Total Body Weight

People tend to use the common bathroom scales to get an idea of their current state of health. However these scales won't show the how much of your body weight has come from body fat and how much is from muscle and bone.

If you are looking to lose weight then you need to make sure that the loss is coming from body fat and not healthy muscle or water. Diets which promise you a quick weight loss may seem successful in the short term but much of it is from loss of water and once you start to eat normally the weight comes back on!

So a traditional set of weighing scales will not give you the full picture.

A more accurate method are the weighing scales that do offer the option of reading your body fat.

Body Fat v BMI

Body Mass Index (or BMI) is a common method use to check if a person is the correct weight for their height. The calculation is simple and inexpensive. You divide your body weight (in kg) by your height in metres squared. Again there is not a distinction made between muscle and fat. For example a person who does no exercise and is 6 foot tall and 18 stone would be categorised as 'obese' using the BMI method. However a professional sports player who is the same height and weight would also be classed as 'obese' using the BMI calculation even though a high percentage of their body weight is lean muscle.

So BMI Does Have Its Limitations?

I always use my body fat scales with my clients to monitor the progress of their body fat loss and lean muscle gain. There are many monitors on the market and I'm not here to sell you one but I would certainly recommend you doing the research and choosing one that best suits your budget and needs.

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