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Body Fat Tip:  Diet & Exercise

Your eating and exercise habits determine whether you lose (or gain) body fat.  They determine how many calories you take in and how many you use up.  To lose body fat, you need to control the number of calories you eat from a balanced diet and increase the amount of calories you burn through exercise.

Research shows overwhelmingly that combining the proper diet with exercise is much more effective for losing body fat than dieting alone.  Even the most nutritious low calorie diet without exercise will cause some of your losses to be from muscle.  A pound of muscle has only 600 calories – or about 1/6 the calories in a pound of fat – and can be lost much quicker than fat.  Since a pound of fat has 3500 calories, you should expect to lose no more than ½ to 1 percent body fat per month or 1-2 pounds of fat per week.  If you lose any more than that, you’re losing muscle too.  You simply can’t rush fat loss.  You don’t gain fat overnight and you don’t lose it that way either; but the losses you do get will be permanent.  And with the accompanying changes that exercise will make to your body, the results can be remarkable.

Remember to consult your doctor before starting a reduced calorie diet and exercise program, especially if you have a history of health problems or haven’t had a physical checkup recently.

Body Fat Q & A

Why is Body Fat important?

The primary purpose of body fat is the storage of energy to be used by muscles.  Subcutaneous fat (under the skin) also helps provide warmth and protection for our bodies.  Internal fat helps support and provide protection for the spinal cord, heart and vital organs.  Body fat is also crucial in the utilization of vitamins A,D,E and K by the body (these vitamins are fat soluble).  In short, you wouldn’t be able to survive without some body fat.  The real problem isn’t body fat, it’s excess body fat.

Isn’t the Body Mass Index a better measurement indicator for body fat?

Body Mass Index, or BMI, is simply a correlation between a person’s height and weight.  BMI does not measure body fat.  Just like any bathroom scale, BMI cannot distinguish between people who are heavy with fat and those who have a large amount of muscle.  Since muscle weighs more than fat, BMI could give you a wrong result.  One could start a fitness program, trim inches off one’s waist, maybe even add a few pounds of muscle, BMI would go up, but you could actually be in better shape!

What are some of the health risks with having too much body fat?

Excess body fat is associated with increased chances for heart disease, high blood pressure, high cholesterol, diabetes, stroke, and some cancers.  Emotional health and well being are also unfortunately often at risk due to societal pressure on being thin.

Can you also have too little body fat?

Yes.  Just as with having too much body fat, there are also health risks associated with having too little body fat.  Some of these include hypothermia, vitamin toxicity, and cessation of menstrual cycle and osteoporosis for women.  Remember, some fat is necessary.  The fat which surrounds the spinal cord, heart and vital organs is called “essential” fat and is necessary to sustain life.  As people age, essential fat makes up approximately 9-10% of total body weight in females and 2-3% in males. The difference in the amount of essential fat between men and women is due to reproductive and hormonal factors.

Does testing body fat percentage mean weighing is not important?

No.  But you should think of the information that the scale gives you in a different way.  The reason a scale is often criticized is because by itself, it can’t differentiate between fat or muscle and can only tell you a very small part of the story.  When combined with a body fat test, however, your scale becomes much more meaningful.  By simply multiplying weight by body fat percentage you can determine the pounds of fat and pounds of lean body mass.  This allows you to make sure that any pounds lost are from fat, not muscle.  With regular exercise (which is an absolute must to lose body fat), you may find that losses in fat are offset by gains in muscle and the scale might not show a change.  When combined with a body fat test, however, you’ll see that you are on the right track and indeed losing fat and improving the fat/muscle ratio.  The same applies in cases where women may retain water weight temporarily before menstruation, yet still be losing fat.  By using the scale along with the Accu-Measure Personal Body Fat Caliper, you get the whole story.  You’ll know the quality of your weight as well as the quantity!

Tips from Accu-Measure

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Shelly Haag

Certified Personal Fitness Trainer,       

Certified Lifestyle & Weight Management Specialist

Certified Fibromyalgia Muscle Management Specialist