Maybe you are an athlete looking to achieve new goals and results. Or maybe you are trying to lose some weight for health reasons. In either case, there is a great way to help you keep track of your progress.
You may be fooled like many others to think that just tracking your weight will tell you whether you are getting rid of excess fat. However, if you are exercising and training then you will likely lose fat tissue and replace it with muscle.
And you should know that muscle is heavier than fat, and you can actually gain weight while getting rid of fat.
With that in mind you might be wondering how you can have a real measure of your actual progress. Weight is out of the question, but how about that excess fat that is the culprit? Is there an easy way for you to keep track of it?
The simple answer is yes and all it will take is about 5 minutes of your time once or twice a week.
What Is Body Fat?
Everybody, even athletes at the peak of their fitness levels has to have a minimum level of body fat. It is crucial for the functioning of your body and is a way for your body to maintain the functioning of things like muscles organs and even your central nervous system.
This is what you will see referred to as essential fat.
On the other hand, you have storage fat. It is a way for the body to store energy that can be used during periods of low food supply and fasting. These days though, food is abundantly available all year round. Therefore, storage fat can be very unhealthy and if you are an athlete it can result in reduced performance.
As mentioned you should remain above essential levels of body fat. For men the essential fat value is between 3 and 5%, while for women it is up to 12%. This is due to the fact that women require more fat to be stored mainly in breast tissue.
Falling below these values can have serious consequences for your health. But that doesn’t mean that you have to aim for such a low level. The healthy and fitness range are perfectly acceptable and will ensure that you do not develop diseases related to excessive amounts of fat.
What Does It Tell You?
Your body fat measure essentially tells you how much fat your body currently contains. If you have a value of 20%, which is in the healthy range, then 20% of your total body weight is fat. That may sound like a lot but it is still quite a bit away from levels that would make you obese.
Just working off weight and height has led many people to falsely think they are or are not obese. Those measurements on their own simply do not tell you enough of the story.
What you are interested in is the exact amount of fat your body contains, and whether that value is going up or down.
How Can You Use It?
Are you trying to lose weight, or make drastic changes to your health as you may be in the obese category? Then keeping track of your fat percentage is the best way to see real progress. It is totally possible that you will start exercising and not lose weight, but at the same time be losing fat.
That is because fat is lighter than muscle which will start developing again.
If you know your starting point for body fat, then over time you can see how things are improving. This is a great moral boost and can help overcome being upset because the weighing scale is not telling you want you are expecting.
Or maybe you are in the fitness category and exercise several times a week. You want to prepare for a competitive event… maybe a triathlon or half marathon? Getting your body into a better body fat category is a great way to make such preparations.
And with daily or weekly measuring you can see your progress in detail, which will eventually tell you when you have reached your goal.
And goals like that will really get you motivated to take the next steps you need to achieve your dream goals.
How Do You Measure It?
The simple answer is that you need a device that can take a measure of how much fat is stored below your skin. This is where the vast majority of storage fat is found and measuring it is actually wonderfully simple.
With the help of a fat caliper you will take measurements at different parts of your body. The most common are the arm, shoulder, chest and thigh. The values are then used in quite complex formulas to give you an average for your body.
Don’t worry, you will not have to go back to school to work out these formulas. There are some great apps and online resources available that will do all the calculation for you.
Once you have all the measurements taken, and your phone has told you your percentage, then you are ready to check a chart to see what category you are in. Charts are split into 4 categories and your gender and age has to be taken into account as well.
There are 4 main categories:
- Essential
- Fitness
- Healthy
- Obese
Obviously being in the obese category means you have to take action to avoid some serious health issues developing. But you also need to make sure that you do not fall below the essential category as this can lead to equally serious issues.
To get started today you should check out the product recommendations that we have for you. Don’t be fooled into buying a cheap caliper, or into paying hundreds of Dollars for a digital device that is no better than a mechanical one. We have designated pages for products that will suit both men and women. Head over now and you can get the best caliper delivered to your door in a matter of days.
Leave A Comment