Importance of Body Fat vs Body Weight

The best way to tell whether your diet, fitness, or other weight management programs are working for you is to keep track of changes in your body fat composition. Imagine that you weigh 200 lbs on Earth and are 35 percent body fat. On the moon you would instantly lose about 167 lbs because of lower gravity. However, your body would still be 35 percent fat.

You want to lose body fat, not necessarily weight.

Types and Amounts of Body Fat

Now it gets a little dicey, because there is no way to know how much of the different kinds of fat are in your body. Your total consists of brown fat and white fat (both referred to as adipose tissues), and even cell membrane fat.

Brown fat is the new kid on the block for fat loss. At one time it was thought to be present only in infants. Recent research shows its presence in adults. It occurs mostly in the upper chest area and around the neck. The importance of this discovery is that the more brown fat you have, the more able you are to balance other types of fat. Brown fat directs the metabolism of that awful belly fat that most folks want to lose.

When you have too much white fat, it shows mostly as too much fat around your belly. White fat also adds up easily on buttocks and thighs and on upper arms.

Ideally, the best fat loss would therefore be white fat loss. Indeed, better weight management would include getting your body to make more brown fat and less white fat. So far, scientists have succeeded in getting mice to do this in laboratory research. We do not yet know whether this will work in people. Of course, drug companies are seeking a new miracle drug that will do this for you. No such thing is available at the moment.

Body Fat Recommendations

You can measure your percent body fat in three main ways. Each method has a different level of accuracy. Keep in mind that your body fat percent will vary depending on the method of measurement.

Buoyancy in water offers the most accurate method. This involves specialized equipment for underwater weighing. Impedance devices, such as those in bathroom scales, are the next most accurate. Handheld devices that use this method are also available. On average these devices read about 3 percent higher than does the submersion method.

Calipers provide the least reliable data. Calculations of body fat percent based on pinching with calipers relies too heavily on the strength and accuracy of the examiner.

No single body fat percent is ideal for everyone. Good health and fat management spans a range of body fat composition. Recommended percentages of body fat are higher for women. They are also higher with age.

The generally accepted ranges of body fat composition for men and women based on age groups are recommended by nutrition experts as follows:

Women

20 to 40 yrs, 21 to 33 percent fat

41 to 60 yrs, 23 to 35 percent fat

61 to 79 yrs, 24 to 36 percent fat

Men

20 to 40 yrs, 8 to 19 percent fat

41 to 60 yrs, 11 to 22 percent fat

61 to 79 yrs, 13 to 25 percent fat

Obesity and overweight are considered to be above these ranges. These are the target values for optimum health and fitness. It is amazing how much body fat some people can carry above the maximum value. The highest body fat percent that I ever measured in one of my clients was 48 percent. This was for a woman in her 50s. Incredible!

Body Fat Percent Can Be Too Low

What may not be so obvious is that numbers below these health ranges are not necessarily healthier just because they are lower. You need body fat in the right amounts, of the right types, in the right places for optimum health and body image.

Looking to find the easiest way to change your body fat composition, then visit BellyFatScience.com to find Dr. Dennis Clark’s the best advice on reducing body fat percent and how you can use the best secret of all.