FitSugar

The Skinny On: Measuring Body Fat Percentage

FitSugar — Thu, 20 Aug 2009 05:50:09 -0700

If you're in the business of trying to lose weight, the best way to monitor your progress isn't by stepping on a scale. Since a basic bathroom scale measures your entire body weight, it doesn't take into consideration how much of you is made up of fat, and how much is made of healthy stuff like bones, muscle, blood, and organs. For a more accurate picture of your body composition, it's best to measure your body fat percentage, and here are the many ways it's calculated.

Home scales that measure body fat. They use the Bioelectrical Impedance Analysis method to measure body fat percentage. It sends a low level and harmless electrical current through your feet and uses the data to determine how much of you is fat. They are fairly accurate and easy to use, as long as you follow the directions. A scale like this will cost between $50 and $100.
DEXA (dual energy X-ray absorptiometry) scan. This test is normally used to measure bone density to check for osteoporosis, but it can also measure fat percentage. It uses two different low-dose X-rays to figure out bone mass and soft tissue mass. Even though it's super accurate and considered the "gold standard" for measuring body fat, it's also super pricey, about $100 or more.

To see the other methods, read more.

Skin fold calipers (pinch test). You can buy a set to do on your own, or have a professional take your measurements. It basically squeezes your skin folds and measures how thick you are. This test is low in cost but tends to be less accurate than the DEXA scan.
Hydrostatic weighing (underwater weighing). You sit on a scale in a tank of water, blow out all your air, and then are dunked completely underwater. The more fat you have, the more you'll float. This test is very accurate, but it can be scary for some people to submerge themselves underwater. It costs around $50.

Do you have a scale that measures body fat?

The (New) Deal With Calorie-Burning Fat

FitSugar — Thu, 09 Apr 2009 13:00:16 -0700

After decades of believing that humans lose energy-producing "brown" fat after infancy, when we develop the shivering response, three new studies have found that it still exists in all adults. According to the New York Times,"brown fat basically acts like a furnace, consuming calories and generating heat." All three accounts are summarized in today's New England Journal of Medicine and reach the identical conclusion that brown fat is a calorie-burning machine when triggered by chilly temperatures between 61 and 66 degrees.

Most brown fat has been identified in the neck and collarbone areas, and if stimulated it could be an efficient way to burn the bad whitish-colored fat in the body. Here's what else the researchers discovered:

Leaner adults have much more brown fat than obese individuals.
Those with normal blood sugar levels have more brown fat than people with high blood sugar.
Women have a greater amount of this type of fat than men.
Younger people have more brown fat than older people.

This is exciting news on the obesity front, because if scientists can find a way to activate brown fat with a pill, it would be the first to focus on burning energy rather than suppressing appetite.

Source

Forget the Scale, How About a Bod Pod?

FitSugar — Tue, 22 May 2007 14:30:00 -0700

If you have a hard time stepping onto the scale, imagine stepping into the Bod Pod...

The Bod Pod is the latest in measuring body composition. Instead of underwater weighing, skin fold and circumference measuring or even a scale, your doctor (or personal trainer) may ask you to step inside the Bod Pod. This futuristic contraption will measure your body composition (fat mass and lean mass) in about 5 minutes flat.

There is something about this that totally reminds me of that look into the future ride at Epcot circa 20 years ago and I can't stop saying the name, Bod Pod, Bod Pod... However, this is actually a great device for fitness professionals. Don't be replacing your bathroom scale/body fat measurer just yet, because aside from the fact that it is absolutely huge, the Bod Pod is a bit on the pricey side. About $42,000 on the pricey side. Yikes -- I'll be sticking to the old fashioned ways myself, but you can check it out at BodPod.com.

Which is Better: BMI or Body Fat Percentage?

FitSugar — Thu, 08 Mar 2007 07:30:00 -0800

Many people are confused when it comes to looking at their Body Mass Index (BMI) versus their body fat percentage, since they do not always agree. So which should you go by?

First of all, body fat percentage is an estimate of the fraction of the total body mass that is fat mass, as opposed to lean body mass (muscle, bone, organ tissue, blood, and everything else that makes you work). This index is often used as a means to monitor progress during a diet or as a measure of physical fitness for certain sports. BMI is just a simple measure of the weight of a person scaled according to height.

That being said, body fat percentage is a much more accurate way to measure excess body weight than BMI since it differentiates between the weight of muscle and fat, while BMI just lumps it all into one figure.

So why are there so many BMI calculators on the internet? This is simply because measuring body fat percentage requires a few things: Special equipment, the physical presence of the person wishing to have their fat evaluated and the physical presence of someone who knows how to work the equipment. BMI is just a loose guideline for anyone curious about where they sit, but it is not a one size fits all answer. Curious about your body fat percentage? Then talk to a fitness professional at your gym or even your doctor. Curious about your BMI? Then check out [sorry, shameless plug] the Fit Calculator.

To read what the body fat percentages mean, read more

Description	Women	Men
Essential fat	10-13%	2-5%
Athletes	14–20%	6–13%
Fitness	21–24%	14–17%
Acceptable	25–31%	18–25%
Obese	32%+	25%+

Body Fat Percentage Scales

FitSugar — Fri, 09 Mar 2007 13:00:00 -0800

Yesterday I wrote about how your Body Fat Percentage (BFP) is a more accurate way to measure excess body fat when compared to your BMI. The New York Times reported recently that some studies suggest that BFP is a better indicator of health than your weight.

Underwater weighing is considered the most accurate method for determining your BFP, the more body fat you have the less you weigh in water. This method costs about $200 a pop. So it is not surprising that sales of scales with built-in body-fat monitors using bioelectrical impedance are up. They work by measuring how fast an electrical signal travels through your body. The more muscle you have the faster the signal travels. Fat contains almost no water, while muscles are about 70% water and water conducts electricity that is why the signal moves more quickly through muscle. If you are dehydrated you will read as having a higher percentage of fat (another reason to stay hydrated).

These types of scales were first introduced in the early 90s but the technology has improved and the scales are less expensive now. There are many out there on the market ranging in price, starting with the Health O Meter BFM-687 (I just love the name of this scale - it sounds so very 1950s sci-fi) for $34.98 found at Sam’s Club stores. Going more upscale if you will, there is the Tanita Innerscan BC551 for $139.99 available online at the competitive edge.

NY Times gave both scales good reviews, when tested for accuracy they both measured within a variable range of 4 percentage points of accuracy.

Measure Up: BMI vs. Body Fat Percentage

FitSugar — Fri, 07 Aug 2009 05:50:59 -0700

BMI and body fat percentage are weight-loss terms thrown around with little explanation, so if you're confused about what they mean or which you should pay more attention to, you're not alone. Here's a brief primer to help.

BMI stands for Body Mass Index. It's a simple measure of the weight of a person scaled according to their height. You can use Fit's Calculator to determine your BMI, or follow these steps:

Multiply your weight in pounds by 703.
Divide that answer by your height in inches.
Divide that answer by your height in inches again.

A healthy BMI is between 18.5 and 24.9.

Body fat percentage is the weight of a person's fat divided by the person's weight. It lets you see how much of your body is made up of fat, and how much is bone, muscle, blood, and organs. There are several ways to calculate your percentage. Your skin folds can be gently pinched with calipers, some high-tech scales can measure body fat, and there's also underwater weighing. Many people get their body fat percentage measured if they are into sports or trying to measure their progress while losing weight. Fit women should have 21 to 24 percent body fat. Female athletes have between 14 and 20 percent.

To find out which one you should be concerned with read more.

Body fat percentage is a much more accurate measurement in determining if you are healthy. BMI doesn't take into consideration how much of your weight is muscle and bone and how much of it is fat. So that means a person can have a healthy BMI, but still carry weight in their belly, which can increase their risk for heart disease. So if you're trying to lose weight, or just wondering if your current weight is healthy, it's worth seeing someone to have your body fat percentage measured.

The Toll Fat Can Take Inside Your Body

FitSugar — Wed, 18 Jul 2007 08:45:00 -0700

It is easy to get caught up in the aesthetic reasons for losing weight, but it is also important to remember that one of the most important reasons to lose that extra weight is because of what you can't see: Inside your body.

I don't know if any of you guys caught the series "Living Large in America" on the Today Show a while back, but one segment where they took us through the affects of obesity on your insides and during surgery, has really stuck with me. Here's what they found:

Enlarged liver. An obese person's liver can be twice the size of that of an average person's liver. Instead of a healthy brownish, reddish color, an obese person's liver is greasy yellow.
Breathing is harder. An obese person's lung's are often smaller than those of an average person's lungs. This is because they get crushed under the pressure of the excess body mass.
Enlarged heart. For every 2.2 lbs a person gains, the body creates about two miles of red blood vessels to compensate. For this reason an obese person's heart is often enlarged due to it having to work overtime to account for extra miles.
Difficult to diagnosis. Diagnosis for an obese person is harder for doctors to determine as reading x-rays are much more difficult.
Difficult during surgery. Surgery time for an obese person is often increased due to excess fat. This is in correlation to increased incision size, increased healing time and increased risk of infection.
Hard on your knees. When you go up a step, you are putting pressure seven times your body weight on your knee joints, so an obese person's knees are at increased risk for injury with each and every pound.

To watch the segment online, check out MSNBC.com.

Source

If You Want to Graduate, Lose the Weight: Cool or Not?

FitSugar — Tue, 24 Nov 2009 11:30:12 -0800

After years of midterms, finals, and all-nighters, a group of students at Lincoln University in Pennsylvania are being told they are too fat to graduate. The private college's core curriculum states that students must have a body mass index (BMI) that falls below 30 to graduate. If not, they must take steps to lose the weight by enrolling in a physical education class that meets three times a week for one semester - a requirement that has been part of the school's curriculum for the last three years.

While some students are upset over the school's judgment call on their weight and say it's discriminatory, school officials say that "no student should ever be able to leave Lincoln and not know the risks of obesity." Because Lincoln University is a private college, it is wholly within its rights to develop its curriculum in this manner.

What do you think of Lincoln University's policy?

Are You a "Fat Talker?"

FitSugar — Thu, 08 Mar 2007 17:35:00 -0800

Do you constantly talk about how bad you feel about your body? Then you may be a fat talker...

New research is coming out that when put in a group with other women, women will almost always revert to talking negatively about their own body image. This is being called fat talking. In turn, fat talking leaves women, who actually feel positively about their bodies, silent or they will engage in fat talk for fear of social rejection. This constant bombardment of negative body issues is just not healthy for a society trying to battle many health issues like eating disorders and obesity.

“In general, we find that women in the United States, particularly Caucasian women, feel poorly about their bodies. Women also believe there is pressure to fat talk, and that other women do it because they feel poorly about their bodies. We never break out of that cycle. If there are women who have a positive body image, they never step up and vocalize that, so the norm never changes.”

Are you a fat talker? If so, really think about what you are doing to the dynamics of the group. Think about reflecting on the positive things to your girlfriends, rather than the negative and see where that takes you.

What's the Diff: Omega-3s vs. Omega-6s

FitSugar — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 07:00:10 -0800

Omegas are all the buzz right now, and it seems like everywhere you turn, new foods are being enhanced with this essential fatty acid, or labeled as an excellent source. What people don't know is that there are different types of omegas, and eating too much of one kind can actually be harmful to your body.

Omega-3s are found in flax seeds, walnuts, cod liver oil, and fatty fish like mackerel, lake trout, albacore tuna, and salmon. Fish are the best sources because they are high in two particular fatty acids that are crucial to good health, DHA (docosahexaenoic acid) and EPA (eicosapentaenoic acid).

Then there are omega-6s. These fats are found in eggs, nuts, chicken, and vegetable oils such as corn, soy, safflower, and sunflower oil. Omega-6s are high in LA (linoleic acid), which is converted by the body into GLA (gamma-linolenic acid), and then further broken down to AA (arachidonic acid).

Do you know which type of omega fatty acid we should be eating more of? To find out, keep reading