Body Fat Analysis - A Measure Of Health And Wellness

Just as knowing your body mass index of BMI is important, knowing your BFC or body fat percentage is also important. No scale or measurement tool is 100 percent foolproof. Because of this you should consider using both BMI and body fat analysis to measure how fit your body really is.

How To Calculate Body Fat Percentage
There are many ways you can calculate your body fat percentage. Your doctor or other healthcare provider or nutritionist can also help you with this. There are body fat calipers, which are inexpensive instruments trainers often use to measure fat at various locations on the body, including the arm, thigh and abdomen.

For many this is the easiest tool to use if you are interested in taking your own measurements. Keep in mind the measurements provided by a caliper may be one or two percent off. This is one reason it is helpful to calculate both BMI and the percentage of fat you have in your body.

Formally, body fat percentage provides you with a measurement of how much fat or adipose tissue your body has compared with the amount of lean tissue including muscle, bone and bodily fluids.

Why Is Fat Important?
Some people mistakenly believe all fat is bad; this is not the case. Our bodies need a small percentage of fat to maintain our lives and reproductive capability. This fat, called "essential" fat ranges between 2 percent to 13 percent. Generally, men have much less essential fat to carry than women.

One reason for this is hormonal, and another is simply the fact that most women need more fat to enable reproduction and other essential functions.

How Much Body Fat Do I Need?
Body fat needs as with most weight measurements, are highly individualized and vary from person to person. As a general rule of thumb, the American Council on Exercise and National Institutes of Health, working in conjunction with other agencies, suggest a person's body fat must correlate with their age.

As you get older, your body may store more fat, which is normal and sometimes necessary. Because of this, body fat "charts" provided by medical authorities including the Centers for Disease Control provide recommendations on body fat percentage relative to one's age and gender.

• For most women, the recommended body fat percentage ranges from 20-21%, and for men between 8 and 14%. Bear in mind less than this may result in medical health problems, especially for women. While athletes often have much less body fat than others, they must still maintain a healthy level of "essential" fat for their bodies to work properly.
• The average body fat percentage within the United States is slightly higher than the rates provided by the CDC. The average for women as an example, generally ranges from 22 to 26%, which some may consider "overweight".
• Formally, an obese woman would have a body fat percentage measurement that is at or above 30 percent; for men, having more than 25 percent body fat categorizes them as obese.

Remember, when thinking about your health and wellness, knowing how much body fat you have is important. If you don't have calipers to measure your body fat, you can usually go to a local fitness center or to your doctor for an examination. There are other tools one can easily use to measure body fat, including through electrical impedance measurements.

If you've ever stepped on a scale that provides you with your weight and a body fat measurement, the scale measures your body fat percentage by sending a tiny electrical impulse through your body. The rate at which this happens determines your body fat percentage. This method however, is no more perfect than other body fat analysis tools. Factors including edema for example, may mistakenly lead to a false high reading.

That means if you tend to retain water, you should refrain from measuring your body fat percentage until you feel normal again.