Body Fat Percentage

 

 

Body fat percentage is the amount of adipose (fat) tissue in your body as a percentage of total body weight. If your total body weight is 140 pounds and you have 28 pounds of fat, your body fat percentage is 20 percent. Just like the scale number, you should not obsess over the body fat percentage number. It is still just a number.

There are many different ways to measure body fat percentages. The most common ways are listed below:

 

1.) Measuring Body Fat Percentage with Skin-fold Calipers
2.) Using a BIA Scale
3.) Using a DEXA Machine
4.) Hydrostatic Weighing

Skin Fold Calipers :

Body fat can be measured using simple skin-fold calipers, although it's best to be measured by a trained person. Also, this fat-measurement method may not work as well on severely overweight or obese people.

 

The BIA Scale (Bioelectrical Impedance) :
Using a BIA Scale is one of the quickest methods we have today for determining body composition. This method is done by using a handheld scale, a standing scale or you can lie down and have electrodes attached to various body parts sending a signal through the body. BIA measures the impedance or resistance to the signal as it travels through the water that is found in the fat and muscle. The more muscle a person has, the more water their body is able to hold. The greater amount of water in a person's body, the easier it is for the current to pass through, the more fat present in a person's body, more resistance is blocking the signal.

 

The DEXA Machine (Dual Energry X-Ray Absorptiometry) :
The DEXA machine is a test that is used to measure bone density. However, it can also measure body fat percentage and can show you where it's located. DEXA uses a whole body scanner and two different low-dose x-rays to read bone mass and soft tissue mass. From start to finish, it takes about 10-20 minutes to do a body scan. It provides a high degree of precision with a 2-3 % margin of error. In fact, if the price wasn't so limiting for people, it would be considered the criterion method of body composition analysis. The machine is also very expensive and requires trained radiology personnel to operate which adds to its costliness.

Hydrostatic Weighing :
This is simply underwater weighing. This is another of the more accurate tests for determining your body composition. First they measure your dry weight, then, you are lowered into a water tank until you are completely submerged. At this point you blow out any further air that you can. Then your underwater weight is measured. The margin of error is around 2-3% but the accuracy really depends on the amount of air you can expel from your lungs. You must blow it all out or it won't be as accurate as it could be.

 

If you are planning to, or already have undergone any of these tests and found that your body fat percentage is high, there are inexpensive and safe products that can help you lose the unwanted fat.

 

Fast Fat Reduction attacks fat from several angles and ensures that you will lose that unwanted weight as quickly as possible and keep it off!