The Skinny On Body Fat

Body composition is important not only for physical aesthetic but also for performance and longevity. Here’s what you need to know to swing the percentages in your favor.

- Erin Calderone MS, NASM-CPT

FAT.

No group of women fears this word more than those in the fitness industry. Body fat is the target of nearly all workout programming, and all efforts are directed toward burning it, cutting it and losing it. Not that wanting to haul around less body fat is bad — quite the contrary: Obesity is the scourge of both the individual and society at large, and losing a ton of fat would literally do a world of good.

Yet for some, fat loss becomes a slippery slope, and often women push it a little too far when chasing that lean ideal. Because in the end, body fat is still a vital part of our physiology and too little can be just as dangerous as too much.

What the F…

First, let’s get this straight: Bodyweight and body composition are not the same thing. Your bodyweight is simply the number you see on the scale and is really only a measure of how hard gravity is pulling you toward the earth’s center. It measures the total weight of your body — muscle, bones, skin, organs, water weight, hair — even lunch — and what you weigh can fluctuate from day to day depending on what you ate, the time of the month (for women), how much sodium you’re ingesting and stress levels.

Knowing your weight is useful as a gauge of health in some ways, and several studies have shown that people who weigh themselves every day are more likely to stick to a health program than those who don’t becasue the scale keeps them accountable for their actions. However, it does not take into account the composition of your body — the ratio of fat to lean mass in your person — and is not really a good indicator of health.