What Does Percentage Body Fat Mean? – Plus How to Use This to Burn Fat Faster Than Ever
Article by Felix Leech
What Does Percentage Body Fat Mean? – Plus How to Use This to Burn Fat Faster Than Ever – Health – Weight Loss
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What Does Percentage Body Fat Mean? – Plus How to Use This to Burn Fat Faster Than Ever
All the new-age scientists, doctors and physiotherapists are raving on about how ‘percentage body fat’ is far more important than your actual weight, and how this is what you should focus on if you want to become slim, vibrant and healthful. But what does percentage body fat mean? And can knowing this really be the answer to achieving the body of your dreams?
Percentage body fat is simply the ratio or amount of fat on your body as a proportion of your total weight. For example, if you weighed 180 pounds and you were carrying 36 lbs of body fat, your percentage body fat would be 180/36 = 20%.
Now imagine you’re on a diet and you weigh 240lbs, with a body fat percentage of 30%. After 2 weeks, you’re at 245 pounds – you’ve gained weight! But your percentage body fat is down to 25%. What does this mean? This means that while you’ve gained 5 pounds overall, you actually lost 10.75lbs of fat (30% of 240lbs is 72, while 25% of 245 pounds is 61.25). So your diet was effective after all! This is why knowing your percentage body fat is much more important than your weight, as you can be making progress while putting on weight as muscle through ordinary exercise.
How is it calculated?
The most accurate way to measure your body fat percentage is a method known as hydrostatic weighing. This works by submerging you into a swimming pool while seated on a chair which is attatched to a special weighing machine. (It’s basically the same as if you sat on a chair placed on top of the bathroom scales). Since your fat floats, te machine only weighs your lean body weight. By taking your total weight as well, you can get an extremely accurate reading for your percentage body fat. Unfortunately most people don’t have one of these in their back yard though! The next best method (which is very clolose) is to use a set of skinfold calipers. This is a special handheld device that you or another person can use to pinch your skin and measure the thickness at various points on your body. Most of your bodyfat is stored directly under the skin, so provides an accurate way of testing. There are also other digital machines and scales that claim to be able to do it as well, but I wouldn’t recommend sometimes they can be off by as much as 10%!
So what value should I be aiming for?
Healthy ranges for percentage body fat vary depending on your gender, age and whether you take part in various sports. On the whole, the ideal figure for an average adult male is 10-20%, and for women it’s 20-35%. So what if your body fat percentage is too high? Don’t worry about it – with a simple, effective fat loss program, you can be back in shape in no time at all! * * * * * * * * Felix is a keen nutritionalist, martial artist, sportsman and overall propagator of healthy living. Over the years he’s tried countless diet combinations, but this remains his top recommendation:Learn the Simple Science of Fat Loss - Finally, the amazing fat-burning secrets of the world’s top bodybuilders and fitness models can be yours, minutes from now:Click here to start achieving the body of your dreams today! Have a question, or think there’s something I could have improved on? Email me at:felix(at)decisionproreviews.comFor more great articles on how to acheive your own personal transformation, check out my blog!
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Felix Leech
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