Measuring and Monitoring Your Bodyfat: Improves Overall Health

With so many diets and fads being offered on the market today, it is no wonder why people are not just confused about weight loss and health, but in many cases, actually doing their body more harm than good. Unfortunately, one of the aspects of dieting that you see most often is the reduction or elimination of fat. The problem is that the body needs a certain amount of fat to function but without going over a healthy level. As you will see in this article, knowing what the right level is and how to monitor it are crucial to overall health and wellness.

Studies have been able to link certain conditions such as heart disease, diabetes, and high blood pressure with high levels of body fat. The key is to ensure your body has enough fat to function properly but not too much, whereby disease could become a problem. The best way for a person to determine the level of body fat is by measuring it on a consistent basis with a simple tool called a caliper. In a matter of minutes, you will know exactly how much body fat you are carrying around with you. With this information, you will then be able to adjust your diet, cardio exercises, and weight training to bring the fat-to-muscle ratio in line.

Keep in mind that there are several options, one being a body fat analyzer. Additionally, there is the skin fold test whereby waist to hip ratio measurements will be taken, circumference measurements, hydrostatic weight, near infrared analysis, bioelectrical impedance, total body potassium determination, and a test recently offered called the plethysmographic measurement, which is based on the principle of air displacement. All of these tests are good indicators of your current fat-to-muscle ratio.

Now, if you want to go through a professional to determine your true body fat level, you have two excellent options, both being accurate. The first is the Dual Energy X-Ray Absorptiometry (DEXA) and the second, Hydrostatic Weighing. With DEXA, a full body scanner is used that reads and differentiates between bone mass and soft tissue mass. This type of scan can be completed in about 20 minutes and is painless, providing accuracy within a 2% error margin. Many insurance companies will cover the cost of DEXA but if not, you can have the scan performed for around $100.

With Hydrostatic Weighing, the body is weighed underwater. The test consists of sitting on a scale underneath water while blowing out as much air from your lungs as possible. Then when dunked below the water's surface, you would blow out even more air. Because fat does not weigh as much as water, the more fat a person's body has, the more they will float. Therefore, Hydrostatic Weighing works by measuring underwater weight so that body density can be determined.

On the other hand, if you want to have the option of determining your fat-to-muscle ratio on your own and every day if you like, you can simply purchase a caliper from drug stores, health equipment stores, and even on the internet. Just remember that if you are interested in losing weight, instead of depending on the bathroom scale, it is important that you worry more about the excess fat being carried. While a standard scale will tell you if you are losing weight from diet and exercise, a scale will not tell if you are losing the body's muscle or fat.

Understanding how to measure and monitor your body fat gives you a level of control to your future. The problem is that the majority of people know very little about their bodies. To become and stay healthy, you need to understand your body - how it works and what your body composition is so you can make choices that will be best for your overall health and wellness. Again, the best way to achieve this is to incorporate good diet, cardio exercise, and moderate weight training into your daily routine, along with measuring your fat-to-muscle ratio with a caliper.

While there are many different websites that provide you with valuable information and guidance, one of the best is Composition Tracker. With more than 25 different body fat formulas from which to choose, you will feel confident knowing you can and will succeed with losing unwanted fat. Composition Tracker offers tremendous benefit to all types of people, whether you are a man, woman, teenager, or elderly person. To gain more information and to get started today, simply visit http://www.comptracker.com

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What Are The Best Options For Monitoring Body Fat Levels Accurately?

People have now begun to understand that in order to become healthier you will have to develop a leaner body, which is why many people are now looking for effective ways of measuring body fat so that they can keep track of their fitness gains. Now, when you hear the term body fat, you are likely to think about it in a negative way. However, not all fats in your body are bad for you. In fact, some types of fat are actually critical to your health, provided that they are available in your body in just the right amounts, of course. Fats not only help you preserve body heat, but they also help protect some of your organs from trauma.

You begin to have problems only when your body stores too much fat. Remember that too much of anything is bad for you, and too much fat can translate into a host of health issues, which may include hypertension, insulin resistance, and glucose intolerance, among others. Perhaps the most dangerous stores of fat are the ones at your waist. This is why in your efforts to lead a healthier life, it is important to measure not just your weight, but your body composition as well. And body composition measurement necessarily involves the measurement of body fat percentages.

There are several ways by which body fat percentages can be measured, and hydrostatic weighing also known as underwater weighing is just one of them. This method measures the density of your whole body by determining its volume. There are several different types of equipment being used for this method ranging from a contraption consisting of a chair and a scale hanging over either a pool or a hot tub to a stainless steel tank containing a chair that is mounted on a set of underwater scales. In using this technique, you will first be weighed outside the tank, immersed completely in water, and then weighed again. The volume and density of your body are then calculated, and the percentage of your body fat is determined from these figures.

Another method for measuring body fat is with the use of callipers. This device is used to measure skinfold thickness at various locations in your body. These measurements are then summed up and body fat percentage calculated based on this sum. The measurements are taken by grasping your skin, being careful not to include any muscle, and then pinching the area with the caliper jaws. It is often a good idea to get duplicate readings of the same area and then averaging the results for better accuracy. This is among the easiest to perform and least expensive methods of body fat measurement.

BI, or bioelectrical impedance, is still another method by which you can measure body fat percentage. This method uses electrical signals to measure your body composition. The signals travel through your body and pass through all of its components, muscles, fats, water, and bone. The levels of conductivity or impedance of each component is already known, which is how the percentage of your body fat is determined through this method. There are now modern versions of the bathroom scale that use the BI technology and are therefore able to provide you with more information aside from your weight. These devices indicate your resting metabolism, visceral fat, and bone density, among other things.

Still another method for measuring the percentage of your body fat is called DEXA. This is a recent technology that is known for its accuracy and precision. It divides your body into three compartments, namely: lean mass, mineral, and fat tissues. The technique makes use of a full-body scanner with X-rays that read both your bone and lean mass simultaneously. The scan lasts for about 10-20 minutes and is completely safe and non-invasive. The only requirement is for you to lie still all throughout the procedure. Perhaps the only drawback to this method is its relatively high cost.

There are several other ways by which you can get measurements of your body compositions. And the method that you choose will depend largely on your individual preferences and needs. It may be a good idea for you to ask those who have tried any of the available methods for feedback as regards accuracy of measurements and the usefulness of the method in their fitness and health efforts. You could also talk to your doctor or nutritionist, or browse online forums to gather feedback for the different methods so you can decide which method of measuring body fat will work best for you.

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