Know your Body Fat Percentage at Home
Body Fat Percentage:
- Your body fat percentage (BFP) is the amount of fat tissue in relation to your total body weight.
- Usually, it is represented as a percentage and can be figured out by dividing the weight of your fat mass by your total body weight and then multiplying the result by 100.
- Understanding your body fat percentage is crucial for assessing your overall health and fitness. Having too much body fat can significantly raise your chances of developing serious health issues like heart disease, diabetes, and certain types of cancer.
- It’s important to understand that having some body fat is actually beneficial for overall health. Fat plays several important roles in the body, such as storing energy, providing insulation, and regulating hormones.
Body Composition:
- The composition of the body refers to how different tissues, like fat, muscle, bone, and water, are distributed throughout the body.
- It does more than just measure body fat ratio; it gives a full picture of the body’s make-up.
- Body composition analysis provides valuable insights into a person’s overall health and fitness by monitoring changes in muscle mass, fat mass, and other components over time.
- Various methods can be used to assess body composition, including bioelectrical impedance analysis (BIA), dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry (DEXA), hydrostatic weighing, and skinfold measurements.
Body composition and body fat percentage are both useful ways to measure health and exercise. The body fat ratio tells you exactly how much fat tissue you have, but the body composition tells you more about how fat, muscle, bone, and water are distributed in your body. Keeping an eye on these metrics can help people set and reach their goals for fitness, weight loss, and general health.
Bioelectrical impedance analysis (BIA): To estimate body fat percentage
Bioelectrical impedance analysis (BIA) is a widely used method for estimating body fat percentage. There are professional BIA devices that you can use, but if you prefer something more convenient, there are also consumer-grade scales equipped with BIA technology that you can use in the comfort of your own home. Here’s a simple method you can use to measure your body fat percentage at home using BIA:
Precautions Before Scanning
- Keep Scan machine on a dry, flat, and smooth surface.
- Find out the person’s height, age, and gender, to feed in scanner.
- The person being tested must have palm and feet free of oil and dust.
- Now, the person being tested should make sure their feet stay on the scanner’s conducting plate and hold the conducting hand carefully at a right angle.
- The person who are being scanned must breath normally, slowly and deeply than they usually would.
- Wait for the final scan reading.
Parameters associated with BIA measurement:
Bioelectrical assessment devices, generally known as bioelectrical impedance analysis (BIA) machines, utilise the principles of electrical conductivity to provide insights into many components of a person’s body composition. An outline of the parameters that these machines usually evaluate is as follows:
Weight:
Total body weight, which is the sum of all tissue masses, including muscle, fat, bone, and organs, is measured using bioelectrical assessment equipment. Although weight by itself doesn’t give a clear image of body composition, it is a crucial factor in determining general health and fitness.
Total body fat:
A person’s total body fat content is calculated by BIA machines as a proportion of their total body weight.
This measurement is useful for evaluating an individual’s body composition and figuring out whether their proportion of body fat to weight is within a healthy range.
Age of Body:
A person’s “body age,” or an estimate of their physiological age based on variables including body composition, metabolic rate, and other health markers, is determined using certain bioelectrical assessment equipment.
Age may provide people with information about their general health and act as a catalyst for changing to a healthier way of living.
Visceral body fat:
Visceral fat is defined as fat that is accumulated in the abdominal cavity around the organs. It is linked to a higher risk of heart disease, diabetes, and metabolic syndrome, among other health issues. By estimating visceral fat levels, BIA machines can guide efforts to reduce visceral fat and help people understand their risk for specific health issues.
RMR, or resting metabolic rate:
The amount of energy your body requires to sustain essential physiological processes while at rest is known as your resting metabolic rate. RMR can be estimated by some bioelectrical assessment devices, which is helpful for those who want to control their weight, maximise their nutrition, and schedule their caloric intake.
Subcutaneous body fat:
The fat that is kept under the skin is called subcutaneous fat. Although subcutaneous fat is required for insulation and energy storage, too much of it can lead to obesity and other health problems. Subcutaneous fat levels can be estimated using BIA devices, which enables people to track changes in their body composition and adjust their lifestyle choices.
Bone Muscles:
The quantity of skeletal muscle mass in the body is also estimated using bioelectrical assessment equipment.
Strength, mobility, and general metabolic health all depend on skeletal muscle mass; thus, athletes, people going through fitness training, and those trying to maintain their muscle mass as they age should pay attention to changes in muscle mass.
All things considered, bioelectrical evaluation devices provide a convenient and non-invasive means to evaluate several facets of body composition, giving useful information to those who want to get healthier, more fit, and generally feel better about themselves.
FAQ
Safe levels of visceral fat can differ between males and females because of variations in body composition and hormonal factors. Let’s talk about the recommended levels of visceral fat for both males and females:
- Typically, it is considered safe for males to have less than 10% of total body fat as visceral fat. while females to have less than 8-9% of total body fat as visceral fat
- Having excess visceral fat in your body can significantly raise your chances of developing cardiovascular diseases such as heart attacks, strokes, and atherosclerosis.
- Excess visceral fat can cause insulin resistance, which in turn can lead to higher blood sugar levels and a greater likelihood of developing type 2 diabetes.
- abnormal levels of cholesterol and triglycerides in the blood.
- can have hypertension, which is a major risk factor for heart disease, stroke, and kidney disease.
Metabolic syndrome is a significant factor that can raise the chances of developing heart disease, stroke, type 2 diabetes, etc. .