Many consider the scale as the best tool to measure the amount of weight gained or lost. But being overweight and ?over fat? is definitely not the same. Being ?overweight? usually refers to the excess of total body weight as compared to your height and body frame. Being ?over fat? however, is completely different and is defined as the excess of body fat, regardless of the person's weight.
Did you know that ?skinny? people can still have a high percentage of body fat?
So, what is a body fat calculator, and just how do you use it?
Your body fat percentage is an average of the total percentage of fat your body carries.
For instance, if your total body weight is 200 pounds, and you have 20 pounds of fat, your body fat percentage would be about 10 percent.
There are plenty of methods you can use to measure your body fat. Some of them would include the use of skin fold calipers, and home body fat scales. Skin fold calipers are devices that look like giant tweezers and are used to hold on to your skin at different specific points on your body. They are designed to measure the thickness of your skin folds at these strategic points. After you write down the measurements you can use a standard chart that is usually provided when you buy the skin fold calipers to find out what percentage of body fat you have.
Home body fat scales are able to measure your body fat percentage quickly. These scales operate by passing a low level current through the body and the impedance is measured. These are not always very accurate, so always use them with caution.
And of course, there is also the body fat calculator. Definitely handy for those math whizzes out there!
Otherwise, you can use the Body Mass Index (BMI) to estimate whether you fall into a healthy range.
Here is a mathematical way to calculate your BMI:
Write down how much you weigh (in pounds). Then, simply multiply your weight by 703.
Then, write down your height (in inches) and multiply by 703. Next, divide your weight number by your height number. That will be your BMI.
Based on your final product you measured, you now have your BMI.
It is estimated that for both men and women, a healthy BMI range should be from 18.6-24.8.
This is just one method that will give you a rough idea of where you are.
BMI is not the best indicator of overall health, and it does not give you your body fat percentage. In fact a lot of professional bodybuilders with very low percentages of fat still rank high on the BMI just because their muscle weighs so much.
Also keep in mind, there is no such thing as a perfect body fact percentage. Your gender and age affect the body fat percentage greatly.
Some people might do well with a lower body fat percentage, while others may do better at slightly higher percentages.
It is highly advised to give your doctor a visit to best find what the ideal body fat percentage is best for you.
Did you know that long steady cardio exercise, like running, has now been scientifically proven to be detrimental to your health? According to research by Dr. Al Sears all those long jogs can result in cardiac distress, a shrinking of the heart, a reduction in bone density (causing osteoporosis) and a general gain in fat once exercise ceases.
First, let's look at the distress that long steady distance running puts on your heart. Evolving from our hunter gatherer days we had no real necessity to run long distances, in fact the only running we ever did was in short bursts to avoid predators or to catch food. Our body simply isn't designed to run long distances and the stress you put your heart under during this time can set you up for a heart attack. It's a fact that many marathon runners do die of heart attacks.
Second, this type of cardio reduces the size of our heart rather than strengthening and increasing its size. Our body is a fantastic machine capable of adapting to anything with time; if we run long distances our body adapts to be more efficient at this activity. Fat is the preferred energy source from our body and so the more you train long distance the more efficient the heart becomes at using less fat. To be more efficient the heart will shrink in size, just like the engine in a scooter is more efficient than a 4x4.
Third, repetitive forces that are put through your joints like the ankles, knees, hips and back not only create repetitive injury but also reduce the bone density. Strength training is the key to improving bone density, keep the exercises short and with plenty of resistance. This type of training forces the bones to grow stronger, remember the body is a master adapter, so that next time you perform your strength exercises your bones are more capable of dealing with the strain. Long steady cardio puts your bones under undue distress and causes them to prematurely break down.
Finally, losing fat is about becoming less efficient with your fat energy supply so you use up more and produce less. Long steady cardio does use more fat than any other type of training during the exercise itself. However, as the body uses a lot of fat as energy it then turns all further calories into fat ready for the next long cardio session. This is fine when you are training regularly because you are burning the fat during exercise but as soon as you stop that extra fat is going to keep on being produced. Back to square one! So long cardio sessions are not good for fat loss in the long term.
So what is the answer? You must start training your heart like any other muscle in your body and in a way that it was designed to be used – short bouts of quick exercise with high exertion. This type of activity is exactly what we evolved to do, think back to our hunter gatherer days. As I said earlier, our body is a master adapter and hard short bouts of exercise will induce an increase in heart strength and size. Also, as our body no longer requires the excess body fat to fuel our runs it will be used as energy for long term body maintenance. Combine this type of quick activity with some strength training and you are well on your way to better health and fitness.
Copyright (c) 2007 Greg Brookes
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Both Sean Bissell & Greg Brookes are contributors for EditorialToday. The above articles have been edited for relevancy and timeliness. All write-ups, reviews, tips and guides published by EditorialToday.com and its partners or affiliates are for informational purposes only. They should not be used for any legal or any other type of advice. We do not endorse any author, contributor, writer or article posted by our team.
Sean Bissell has sinced written about articles on various topics from Diabetes, Health and Lose Weight. Sean Bissell is a certified sports nutritionist providing easy diet tips at