Body Fat Calculation and Health

Body Fat Calculation and Health

Body Fat Calculation and Healthhigher The higher your percentage of fat above average levels, the your health risk for weight related illness, like heart disease, high blood pressure, gallstones, type 2 diabetes, osteoarthritis, and certain cancers.

Also, the higher your percentage of fat and the smaller your percentage of muscle the less calories you need to maintain your weight and therefore the easier it is to gain weight. This is because muscle is more metabolically active than fat tissue. Body Fat Percentages and Lean Muscle Mass When in ideal shape, body fat will make up about of a males bodyweight and of a females. The remainder of the bodys lean weightis composed of water muscle and other lean tissue andbone and minerals .

In other words, a pound woman who is within orclose to her ideal body fat composition range at will have approximately33 pounds of fat, 86 pounds of weight composed primarily of water, 20 poundsof muscle and other lean tissue, and 11 pounds of bone and mineral weight.This total then makes up her total weight of 150 lbs. Now take the example of another woman who weights 150 pounds, but has 30fat on her body. She would have 45 pounds of fat on her body, and the rest ofher weight would be divided among muscle, bone and water. Her non fat bodycomposition might look like this, 79 pounds of water , 17 pounds ofmuscle , and 9 pounds of bone and minerals . Both women weight 150lbs. and are about the same height, but one looks much different because shehas less body fat.

Body fat percentage is generally accepted as a better gauge of weight lossprogress and fitness than scale weight. The method of calculating body fatfrom body measurements as used by HealthSmart Nutrition is the fourth mostaccurate method. Hydrostatic testing underwater is first. Electrical testingof body mass resistance is second and body fat measurement by caliper isthird. Although it is not the most accurate, if you record your measurementscarefully and consistently using the measurement taking instructions given,you will have a good relative gauge of how much body fat you are gaining orlosing. To our knowledge, the HealthKeeper software is the first program to offer this body fat percentage by measurement feature.

For higher accuracy you can override the automatic body fat measurement calculator and enter your body fat percentages done by hydrostatic testing underwater, electrostatic testing of body mass resistance or body fat percentage done by the caliper method. One product we highly recommend is the Tanita bathroom scale. It does very accurate electrostatic testing of body mass resistance to determine your body fat percentage in seconds.