Many people who are
watching their weight — or trying to lose some pounds — turn to their bathroom scale. But that old familiar standby is not the only way to
measure one’s size. Another possibility to consider is your body fat
percentage.
Body Fat: What Are the
Dangers?
When most of us hear
the words "body fat" they have immediate negative connotations. However,
in the right proportion, fat is actually critical to our diet and health. In the not-so-distant past, the ability
to store extra body fat allowed our ancestors to survive in times of famine,
when food was hard to come by. Even today it’s essential to keep the body
functioning, to preserve body heat, and to protect organs from trauma.
Problems arise when
our bodies store too much fat. This can lead to a variety of health issues,
including high cholesterol, hypertension, glucose intolerance, and
insulin resistance. Especially dangerous is fat stored at the waist, creating
what is often called an “apple-shaped” body, as opposed to fat on the hips and
thighs, a “pear-shaped” body.
“Normal body fat for
men is around 8 to 15 percent of their total body weight and for women
approximately 20 to 30 percent,” says Caroline Apovian, MD, associate professor
of medicine and pediatrics at Boston University School of Medicine and director
of the Center for Nutrition and Weight Management at Boston Medical Center.
Body Fat: How Can It
Be Measured?
There are a variety of
ways to measure the amount of body fat a person is carrying. “The most accurate
way is ‘underwater weighing,’ which weighs the person on land and then
underwater,” says Mary M. Flynn, PhD, RD, chief research dietitian and
assistant professor of medicine at the Miriam Hospital and Brown University in
Providence, R.I. “But equipment for this is very expensive and not readily
available.”
Another fairly
accurate option is Bioelectric Impedance Analysis (BIA). BIA consists of
electrodes being placed on a person’s hand and foot while a current (which is
not felt) is passed through the body. Fat has less water and is more resistant
to the current, whereas muscle, which contains more water, is less resistant.
The resulting numbers are entered into an equation which figures the percentage
of fat and lean tissue.
The easiest method is
measuring waist circumference and determining the Body Mass Index (BMI). A waist circumference over 35
inches for women and 40 inches for men is cause for concern.
Figuring BMI involves
a little more calculation. BMI is done by multiplying your weight in pounds by
703, then dividing that number by your height in inches two times. If the end
result is less than 18.5, the individual is underweight;18.5 to 24.9 is normal;
25.0 to 29.9 is overweight; and over 30 is obese.
“However, you must be
aware of this disclaimer. BMI alone is not an indication of body fat,
especially in athletes and bodybuilders. Growing children under 18 years old
should also avoid using BMI,” says Elizabeth Downs, RD, clinical dietitian at
the Montefiore Medical Center at the University Hospital for the Albert
Einstein College of Medicine in the Bronx, N.Y.
One final way of
determining body fat is using skin calipers to measure fat at specific places
in the body. However, not only is it easy to make errors, but this method also
doesn’t measure any interior fat or fat contained in thighs and women’s
breasts.
Ultimately the
percentage of body fat is just another number in the health equation. And if
you are not happy with the result, all it takes is adding exercise and cutting calories to get it moving in the
right direction.
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