If you are like me, you may have noticed that you look fine in the mirror or the number on your scale hasn't gone up too much in the past few weeks. But why can't the pant size I wore a month ago fit the same way it did then? Have the stores changed their sizing policies? This invariably leads to frustration and embarrassment.



Now that obesity has been identified as a serious health issue among all age groups, people have taken a much more aggressive position about getting and keeping in shape. The unfortunately reality about obesity is that it doesn't just affect children or senior-management types. It affects us all. But to what extent? How close are we to that danger zone where body fat threatens our lifestyle and, possibly, our life?

Sure, a scale can tell you how much you weigh and by diarizing your weight over a period of time you can create a pretty trend line. But weight has little to do with your body fat measurement. In some cases, you can look okay in the mirror and your weight might not increase much (or at all) but your health could still be just as much at risk as someone with a serious weight problem. See, when they said it was what is on the inside that counts, they weren't kidding. Body fat, which resides under the surface, is really what threatens your health and increases your prospect for weight-related health problems.

The way to properly measure body fat is with a body fat monitor. These devices help us determine just how obese we really are, even if our scale says we're not too heavy.

In the past, you might have had to see a doctor or fitness specialist to properly calculate your body fat content. Over the past twenty-eight years or so, these machines have evolved to the point where they can capture biometric impedance. As high-tech as it sounds, today's body fat monitors are actually simple to use.

A body fat monitor does its job by sending an electrical impulse through your body. It then measures resistance faced by this impulse; in the same way it is easier to cut through butter with a hot knife than it is to cut through wood, the impulse will encounter resistance as it travels through different types of body mass. By measuring total body water (TBW), calculating the difference between muscle and fat content, and taking into account your scale weight, the body fat monitor will come up with your body's fat-free mass.

With so many monitors on the market today, how do you choose a body fat monitor? With prices ranging from under forty dollars to over seven hundred, the choices are plenty. Luckily, they are all easy to use for the most part, allowing even children to use their basic features.

The basic features you should consider are whether your body fat monitor can make simple calculations like daily caloric intake and perform basic weight monitoring calculations. You should also look for a model that comes with the option of changing settings (e.g. from child to adult, from athletic to moderately athletic to non-athletic, and so on). While seemingly unimportant when you get started, these features can make a difference in how well the monitor performs over a longer period of time, particularly as your habits shift (our activity levels tend to change over time). As well, the more accurate a reading is, the more it will help you remain focused with your longer-term fitness objectives.

You should also consider the device's storage limits. A body fat monitor that saves readings and allows multiple users will keep track of your progress so that you don't have to do it by hand. As people get busy (it happens to all of us) or less interested in the record keeping aspect of trending their progress (this also happens to all of us), the storage feature becomes increasingly important.

Unfortunately, a body fat monitor only provides a reading. The active ingredient in becoming healthier is the user (us). By keeping track of our readings on a daily basis, we are not only better equipped to stay on track with our fitness goals, but by keeping us focused on obesity, a body fat monitor might actually help us avoid that frustration when trying on a pair of pants that really should fit.