Sometimes you think you're fat, sometimes you don't.
But, rather than relying on fluctuating feelings about
your weight, why not have your body fat measured?
Unlike body
mass index, where you can attribute high numbers to
big bones, there's no denying what your body fat percentage
tells you.
"BMI is very crude," says Richard Cotton, chief
exercise physiologist with www.myexerciseplan.com
and a spokesman for the American
Council on Exercise. "It's really just
a first look, and it can be misleading. If your body fat
is measured correctly, it's by far a better measurement."
and more accurate indicator of overall health than BMI
alone.
For those who have never had it done, it takes about
15 minutes, it doesn't hurt at all, and there's nothing
embarrassing about it
Measuring body fat
Your body
fat percentage is simply the percentage of fat your
body contains. If you weigh 150 pounds and have a body
fat measurement of 10 percent, it means that your body
consists of 15 pounds of fat and 135 pounds of lean body
mass, which means bone, muscle, organ tissue, blood and
everything else.
Trainers measure body fat using skinfold measurements,
which involves using a skinfold caliper to pinch predetermined
sites on the body. There are other ways of measuring body
fat, but the skinfold method is by far the quickest means
of getting an accurate number.
The tongs pinch the skin, pulling the fat away from the
muscles and bones, and a gauge on the calipers measures
the thickness of each pinch. The trainer takes each measurement
three times to be sure, then averages the results.
The measurements are taken in
seven places:
-
the subscapular, or the upper back;
- the triceps, better known as the back of the
upper arm;
- the chest, about three inches in from the
shoulder;
- the axilla, or under the arm and down about
two inches;
- the superilium, or just above the hip bone;
- the abdomin, or about two inches away from the
navel belly button;
- the middle of the thigh.
Location, location, location
The trainer takes the average of all seven measurements
and factors in age to come up with a final number.
In addition to measuring the amount of fat on your body,
it's also a good idea to notice where your fat is located.
Some carry most of their body weight around the middle.
To accurately determine if this is a risk, you can calculate
your waist-to-hip
ratio by measuring your waistline and hips, then comparing
the two numbers.
Women with ratio numbers higher than 0.8 are considered
apples, while those with scores less than 0.8 are designated
pears.
Apples typically have higher amounts of fat in their
abdominal region, while pears have higher amounts of fat
in their hips and thighs.
Apples are at higher risk for high
blood pressure, diabetes, early heart disease, and certain
types of cancer, Cotton said.
But both apples and pears have to follow the same four-pronged
approach for reducing body fat:
- practice stretching and/or yoga;
- focus on diet;
- get a minimum of four aerobic exercise sessions
per week;
- strength train at least two times a week.
