Today you won't surprise anyone with a beautiful figure — jogging in the morning, yoga and gyms are more popular than ever, and healthy eating is increasingly replacing fast food and harmful convenience foods. But it often happens that taking care of one's body brings, instead of the expected vivacity, only more and more weakness, and even the most healthy lifestyle does make us healthier.
Maybe it's because during diet and sports, it's not fatty tissue that leaves, but muscles? And how to understand that it is the amount of fat that is reduced?
Methods for measuring body fat percentage
There are several ways to measure body fat percentage. It should be understood that the most useful information is provided by methods that allow you to find out the percentage of total mass (bone and soft non-adipose tissue) and fat in general. This refers to both subcutaneous adipose tissue and visceral fat, which is located in the space between the internal organs.
Read also: Why the belly grows: causes of fat deposition in the abdominal region
Let's consider the most popular ways, in order more to less informative:
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DERA Scan. In this study, the X-ray method is used, which makes it possible to obtain a three-dimensional model of the body in the form of a ratio of the main types of tissues. DERA scanning is one of the most accurate, but also the most expensive diagnostic tools, and is used mainly for medical reasons. This is due to the fact that even minimal X-rays cannot be called 100% safe, and repeating it every few weeks to assess the progress of weight loss is not recommended.
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Hydrostatic weighing. This method is today considered the gold standard for assessing the percentage of adipose tissue. It uses the difference in density of adipose tissue and other body tissues. In fact, when weighing, the "buoyancy" is evaluated. of the body, from which it is possible to draw a conclusion about the amount of fat, which is lighter than water. The disadvantage of this method is its high cost and low availability: pools with hydrostatic weighing equipment today can only be found in large sports centers and research institutes.
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Bioimpedancemetry (BIM). This is the most popular method, in which a special function in a floor scale or a special device for holding it in the hands measures the electrical resistance of tissues. Muscle mass containing more water molecules conducts current better, and fat, with low percentage of water — worse. The disadvantages of this method include the dependence of BIM indicators on the level of hydration of the body. So, after an intense workout, when the body loses a large amount of fluid along with sweat, the accuracy of the information leaves much to be desired.
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Method of "skin fold". With this method, a fold of fat is first clamped with fingers, and then its thickness is measured with a calipometer — tool, which is a kind of caliper. The percentage of adipose tissue in the body is estimated using a special table. The indicators obtained during the measurement are compared with data from such a table.
Which of the listed methods is right for you — depends on for what purpose you decide to get to know your body better. If the main role is played by health issues and the treatment of any diseases, it is better to choose the most accurate methods. If the goal — weight loss, it is better to choose BIM or the skinfold method, which allows you to regularly re-measure and thus track progress.
Read also: The best fitball exercises for weight loss and strengthening muscles
Adipose tissue: what to do if it too much
First of all, you should adjust the diet in accordance with the age characteristics of the body and level of physical activity. Already after 30 years, the metabolism slows down, and many of your favorite foods are transformed into fat instead of energy.
And the level of physical activity determines the daily caloric content of the diet.
Thus, people with a sedentary lifestyle should reduce the energy value of their menu by 150-200 kcal from the average recommended calorie content. For example, if at your age and with your body mass index, you should keep these indicators within 2300 Kcal — sedentary lifestyle "cuts rations" up to 2100-2150 kcal per day.
Depending on the amount of adipose tissue and its location physical activity may vary. People with a large amount of visceral fat are not recommended for intensive sports. Instead, give preference to natural, but regular aerobic exercise — Hiking, swimming, cycling.
If the main percentage of adipose tissue is subcutaneous fat — cardio loads or other exercises recommended by an instructor or trainer allow you to get rid of unnecessary wrinkles on the body in a short time and not harm your health.
Read also: How much you need to walk a day to stay healthy
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