Body Fat & Fitness Levels
Body fat is one recognized way to check your fitness
levels: dress size is another. But dress size varies
vastly by individual and also by the clothing designer,
and it really can’t tell you anything about how healthy
you are.
Editor's Tip:
Fit Healthy Eating Into Your Busy Schedule Without Feeling Starved
So many women struggle every day with weight loss issues. Even after you’ve achieved your goal weight, it can be difficult to maintain your healthy diet and lifestyle. Don’t let your busy life interfere with your ability to stay healthy.
Find online tips, suggestions, and plans for keeping yourself slim and staying fit. Online diet plans, maintenance plans, recipes, online meetings, and more can help busy women fit healthy eating into their active lifestyle. Whether you’re just starting to turn over a new leaf and stick to your diet resolution, finding support online can make it so much more convenient (and, therefore more successful) to fit into your schedule.
Whether you’re trying to lose weight or keep it off, online support is available for you anytime!
|
|
On the other hand, body fat measurements can
give you an excellent idea of not only how good you
look, but of things like how fit your cardiovascular
system probably is, how much weight you could lose to
maximize your health (and no, “as much as possible”
is not the right answer), and whether you might just
be in better shape than you thought.
Body fat is usually measured in one of three ways: you
may use body fat calipers to determine your ratio of
fat-to-muscle, or you may visit a professional and have
yourself weighed in water
Called hydrostatic weighing,
this method is acknowledged to be the most accurate. You
are submerged in a tank of water, and the amount of
water you displace is measured. By applying a special
formula, the hydrostatic technician can calculate how
much of that displacement is due to body fat.
You can also buy a scale or monitor that estimates your
body fat using Bioeletrical Impedance Analysis (BIA).
The footpad of the monitor sends a slight electrical
signal through your body, measuring the resistance of
your body to the signal. Because muscles contain more
water, they conduct the signal better than fat, which
has higher resistance. To arrive at a body fat
percentage, the scale uses a formula based on factors
such as your height, age, weight and body type, which
you input to the computer. BIA monitors are
considered very safe and reliable, but they should not
be used by people with pacemakers or other medical
implants.
. |
