As human beings there are three basic structures that determine our body composition. They are bone mass, fat and muscle. The percentages of fat versus muscle determine our overall fitness and in the next few paragraphs we’ll discuss why is body composition important to our health.
You see there can be two people of the same height and weight, however each person can look entirely different dependent on their fat levels. Generally speaking, a body composition analysis is used to measure how lean a person is and how much lean body mass they carry. The more fat they carry the more unhealthy and prone to disease that person would be.
Learning what your body composition is quite important to your health. For general fitness, it is recommended that a healthy man should have between 10 – 17 percent body fat. Females tend to carry a little more fat naturally and a healthy percentage for them would be between 20 – 25%. If you’re looking at becoming more of an athlete or body builder then you would usually strive for between 4 – 10% body fat and 10 – 20% for females.
There are several methods to measuring your body fat and no one method you may hear of is entirely accurate. The most common method used, where you can also do this is at home, is with body calipers. They basically just measure the skinfold of certain areas of your body, generally anywhere between 4-7 areas. You’re always best to get a professional such as a personal trainer to measure and track this but after getting your reading ensure you take measures to reduce your body fat level and increase lean muscle mass if you don’t fall in any of the healthy percentages mentioned above.
Other method to measure your body composition could include body fat weight scales that use bioelectical impedance analysis (BIA), which measures the resistance of electrical flow through the body to measure body fat. These can also give you an accurate reading but it’s important to measure yourself always at the same time first thing in the morning on an empty stomach.
Why is body composition important to our health? Because high fat levels for both male and females can be detrimental to our health and can be the cause of many diseases out there that attack overweight and obese people. People who are looking to lose weight or put on muscle are also much better off using their body composition to set and achieve body fat goals, rather than just rely purely on body weight. Even though not always that accurate, lean muscle mass weighs heavier then fat, so don’t be fooled by the scales alone as putting on lean muscle and reducing fat levels should be a goals for all of us.