How to Measure Body Fat? Body fat can be measured by any of these methods, viz., Hydrostatic Weighing, Air Displacement Plethysmography (ADP), Bioelectric Impedance Analysis (BIA), Ultrasound, Dual Energy Projection Method, Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI), Anthropometry (by measuring body parts, e.g., waist-hip ratio and skinfold calipers method). None of these methods is perfect and has its own limitations and error margin.
Let the complexity of methods mentioned above for body fat measurement does not worry you at all. I would suggest two rather simple methods which would help you to know about your health risks associated with body fat. These are –
(i) Waist-Hip Ratio (WHR) – WHR is obtained by dividing the waist circumference by the hip circumference. For this, measure the smallest girth around your abdomen and the largest girth around your hips. (Don’t cheat yourself by sucking in your belly to minimize your waist circumference!)
(ii) Waist circumference (WC) – As mentioned above, waist the circumference is to be obtained by measuring the smallest girth around your abdomen.
Important for Indians – Studies have been conducted to determine cutoff values (for Indians) for BMI and upper-body adiposity (measured by Waist circumference) or WHR and their risk associated with diabetes and cardiovascular disease.
One such a study found that universal criteria for BMI, WC, or WHR did not hold good for all races. For a given BMI, Indians have higher upper-body adiposity and higher visceral fat when compared with the White population.
This makes Indians more vulnerable to fat-related health risks at even lower BMI. Based on its findings, the study suggested that the healthy BMI for an Indian is <23 kg/m2.
Cut-off values for WC are 85 cm for men and 80 cm for women. Cut-off values for WHR were 0.89 for men and 0.81 for women8. The cut-off value for BMI may not be useful when used in isolation to predict fat-related health risks. However, cut-off values of WC and WHR are a good predictor of one’s health risks.
METHODS OF WEIGHT LOSS:
The the underlying principle of a healthy fat loss program is this – Lose fat but preserve your fat-free mass (lean body mass). Never adopt a method that causes loss of muscle mass. We will discuss the following common methods of weight loss –
METHOD -1
By diet control only:
Reduce total caloric intake and lose weight. This method is not recommended for the following reasons –
(i)It ignores the basic principle of nutrition that our diet should be balanced – total calories-wise, the ratio of nutrients-wise (i.e., 60% carbohydrate, 20% protein, 20% fat) and nutrition-wise (should have carbohydrates, proteins, fats, vitamins, minerals).
In this method, one may simply cut the total amount of calories without paying any heed to the quality of calories. This may lead to nutrition-specific health problems.
(ii) In this method, generally, the first victim of diet reduction is fat as fat is considered to be the main culprit causing overweight. One should not forget that inadequate fat intake would impair the absorption of fat-soluble vitamins. (See section on Fats).
(iii) You may not get enough proteins, carbohydrates, and micronutrients. All this would result in a lowered level of strength, energy, etc.
(iv) One may be tempted to undertake ‘crash dieting’. This is very harmful as well as a foolish method of weight loss.
By crash diet, one will surely lose weight but in the process, also lose muscles and health.
It is foolish because in case of a crash diet out body develops a ‘starvation syndrome’.
This syndrome is marked by a lowered Basal Metabolic Rate (BMI). If our body does not get enough calories, it develops a tendency to conserve energy by slowing down its systems and spending less energy on the same kind of activity.
METHOD -2
By exercise only:
Eat, as usual, exercise more, and lose weight. This method is also not recommended for the following reasons –
(i) Without any diet control, one may have to work out a lot, maybe for hours every day. This may result in overtraining and injury. One may not have the luxury of so much time also.
(ii) One may be psychologically charged up and overestimate the amount of caloric expenditure during exercise. The worse, he may have a tendency to reward himself with more food after exercising! The end result will be weight gain only.
Read more: Most Recommended Methods of Weight Gain
Read more: 4 Exercises to Increase Flexibility at Home
METHOD -3
By both diet control and exercise:
Exercise more, eat less, and lose weight --
This is the healthiest and most lasting method of fat loss. However, it is not recommended to lose more than 500 grams of weight per week.
Unless you are going to participate in some weight category-specific sport, go slow. This method will ensure that your health and fitness never get compromised in the process of weight loss. Rapid weight loss affects the immune system, reduces muscle strength and glycogen level, and adversely affects physical performance.
Important–
(i) Interestingly, it may happen that once you are into serious strength training, you may actually gain weight due to gain in your muscle mass.
Don’t be alarmed by this. This is a healthy weight gain. Be
happy and celebrate this weight gain!
(ii) Take up activities that burn more energy in less time. For example, running will burn more energy than walking. Running on a hill will burn more energy than running on a track. In short, all activities performed at a higher intensity and for a longer duration will burn more energy.
(iii) Initially, minimum caloric intake per day should not be less than 1800 – 2000 kcal which is required for the maintenance of our body system.
(iv) Did you ever wonder why during recent years your body fat percentage increased even though you maintained the same exercise routine and ate the same amount of food? The fact is that as you age, your body undergoes certain irreversible changes.
Adults lose about 0.2 kg of muscle per year during their 30s and 40s. This process is known as sarcopenia. The rate of muscle loss increases to 0.45 kg in their 50s and 60s9.
With decreased muscle mass your caloric needs will also decrease as muscles consume more calories. If you continue with the same amount of food, extra calories will be now stored as fat and will add to your weight.
Therefore, bring changes in your diet accordingly, and take fewer calories as you age. Exercise combined with an adequate diet will reduce the process of sarcopenia.
(v) The decrease in dietary fat. However, do not go to the other extreme. Severe restriction of fats may deprive your body of some vital fat-soluble vitamins (Read the article on Fats).
(vii) Be comfortable with your age, exercise, and food. If you no longer enjoy your exercise or food, it is time to stop and review your routine. It is quite possible that you are overtraining or over-restraining yourself.
Remember, both exercise and food have very wide-ranging psychological implications. You will not gain much, rather you will harm yourself, by sticking to a regimen of exercise and food that allows you no stimulation or satisfaction.
Read more: How much Protein Needs Per Day - Importance, Benefits
Read more: Guidelines for Proper Water intake and daily nutrition summary
Read more: How to burn fat 10 times faster and lose weight
SWEATING AND WEIGHT LOSS
It will not be out of place to mention here that there are many among us who innocently believe that the more they sweat, the more they would lose fat.
The fact is that there is no relation between sweating and fat loss. Sweating is just a cooling mechanism of the body. It brings out water and salts, not fat. Had there been any relationship between sweating and fat loss, there would have been more cozy sauna baths in the world than the gyms with their monstrous equipment! Mother nature always favors only those who believe in hard (and harder) work (outs)! Weight loss caused by sweating is a false and temporary weight loss.
This is actually a loss of body fluid. Firstly, one should not dehydrate himself to ‘lose weight’ as there are many harmful effects of dehydration. Secondly, the moment fluid is replenished, one would regain the original weight.
Read: How to Improve Muscular Strength and Endurance (Complete Guide)
Read: 13 Great Full-Body Stretching Ideas For Better Flexibility
EATING DISORDER
Eating disorders originate from an individual’s distorted self-body image.
Studies have shown that these disorders are more prevalent among adolescents and young women, who are highly conscious of the shape and size of their bodies.
Skinny models, cinema idols, dolls, etc. reinforce the idea among these vulnerable sections of the population that ‘thin is beautiful.
Anorexia Nervosa
The the term literally means ‘loss of hunger on a psychological basis. In this condition the person, though hungry, stops eating for fear of gaining fat and starts to starve.
There are two types of anorexia:
a) Restricting type –
In this type, the kind and amount of food is severely restricted;
b) Binge eating/purging type –
In this type one firstly eats the food and then throws it out by spitting, vomiting, using laxatives, or enema.
Warning signs of anorexia include rapid loss of weight, obsession with weight, obsession with exercise, sensitivity to cold, decline in work/school performance.
Besides this growth of baby-fine hair over face and body, dry hair/skin, yellowish skin, irregular menstrual periods, constipation, the abnormally slow pulse rate at rest.
In Bottom Line:
Exercise more, eat less and lose weight. This is the healthiest and most lasting method of fat loss. However, it is not recommended to lose more than 500 grams of weight per week.
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