How To Measure Body Fat
When it all comes down to losing or gaining weight, most people turn to the scales to determine how much they should lose or gain to have the weight or the shape that they desire.
However, health experts said weight alone is not a clear indicator of good health because it does not distinguish between pounds that come from body fat and those that come from lean body mass or muscle.
Being over fat and overweight is not the same. Overweight simply means an excess of total body weight based on population averages for heights and body frame sizes. On the other hand, obesity is defined as an excess of body fat regardless of weight.
What we have to consider, experts said, in order to determine our fitness, is to know our body fat. Remember that body fat is a percentage of your total weight, so even slender people can have dangerously high levels of body fat.
Here are three ways of measuring your body fat:
1. Home Body Fat Scales– Body fat scales claim to measure body fat quickly and conveniently. These body fat scales use the Bioelectrical Impedance method to measure your body fat percentage. A low-level electrical current is passed through your body and the “impedance”, or opposition to the flow of current, is measured.
2. Skin fold Calipers– Calipers are a tool that looks somewhat like a giant tweezers. These are used to grasp your skin folds at different points on your body and measure the thickness. These measurements are then compared to standard values for persons of your age and gender to give you your estimated body fat.
3. Hydrostatic Weighing-This is just a fancy term for underwater weighing. You sit on a scale inside a tank of water and blow out as much air as you can. You are dunked underwater, where you blow out even more air. Since fat is lighter than water, the more fat you have, the more you will float. The scale measures underwater weight to figure out body density. The margin of error is around 2-3%, but the accuracy depends on the amount of air you expel. You have to blow it ALL out or it will not be as accurate.
This is a difficult way to measure body fat since it can be uncomfortable and even scary to be dunked underwater with no air in the old lungs.
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Weight Loss: Where to find Hidden Calories
If you have been eating as usual and the pounds seem to becreeping on – you could be a victim of hidden calories.
When we are busy, stressed or focused on something elsewe reach for convenient snacks that are usually high in fat. This unconscious eating will add up to a whole lot of extra calories in the course of a day,or year. This mindless eating is nothing more than a habit that can be broken.
To get this habit under control write down everything you eat for the next 3 weeks – everything! Be on guard for those timeswhen you are more susceptible to unconscious eating.
At work:
* You find bowls of candy on coworkers’ desks
* Your coworkers bring in doughnuts and pastries
* Office gatherings – where you will always find lots of fatty food
At home:
* You’re cooking dinner and sample the food – these calories add up
* Your children don’t eat all their food – you eat that too – more calories
* While talking on the phone – there goes how many cookies?
* When you are worried
* When you are happy
* When you are bored
Dining out:
* You eat the bread that is served before the meal
* You have a drink before your meal
* You eat dessert which you usually don’t do
Parties:
* Endless party snacks that are full of fat and calories
* Talking while you eat is the easiest way to take in those extra calories
* Then those drinks again – it is easy to stack up the calories
Watching Television:
* We are so focused on what we are watching that we pay little attention to how much we are eating.
The first step is to tune in and be aware of those times that youconsume extra calories. Then find ways to avoid them. For example, how do you avoid the candies on coworkers’ desks?
First become aware of how many calories there are in each candyand how long it will take to burn off those calories. You will look at the candies differently when you think of them in this light. If high fat snacking is a temptation at work bring some low fat food to keep you full and your hand out of the candy jar. To avoid eating a lot at a party eat a little before you go so you won’t be hungry and tempted to snack on everything you see. As for alcohol, you can delete your drinks with water.
One pound is equal to 3,500 calories. Depending on your gender,age, muscle mass, and size you need approximately 2000 calories per day to stay at your normal weight. When you consume more than this amount your body stores the added calories as fat. If you go over your daily requirement then you will have to exercise to get rid of those calories.
If you go to this site you will be able to calculate how many calories you need to maintain your weight. (The weight is in kilos)
thecolumn.org/how-many-calories-do-i-need.asp
Check out this site to find out how many calories are in candiesand junk food
calorie-count.com/calories/item/19134.html
Sheila Dicks is an Image and Wardrobe consultant who teaches women how to dress to suit their body type and look slimmer. You can visit her at sheilasfashionsense.com to download her ebook ‘Image Makeover’ and get ‘How to Build a Wardrobe’ free.
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