Body composition, not weight, is the key.

All the time these days you hear about the issue society has with weight, how obesity is a huge and growing problem. It is undoubtedly true that this is an issue, and one that has a effect on all of us, even if not directly. Using weight is not the best metric when focusing on this. Body composition is a much more important indicator of what is going on in your body. The issue with using measuring weight is that lean, metabolism boosting muscle actually weighs more than fat. Therefore losing weight may actually mean that you are loosing muscle mass, possibly even actually increase your body fat percentage while your weight is going down.

Having lean muscle is known to have a heap of benefits, but this does not mean that you should focus solely on having as little fat as possible. Body composition is effectively a measure of the amount of lean muscle compared to fat in your body. Keeping your body fat percentage in the healthy range for your age and gender should be the primary focus of your diet/exercise regime. Don’t focus on losing weight, focus on having the correct body composition.

One of the most commonly used methods for checking body fat composition is called bio electrical impedance. This is usually measure using smart scales that send electrical impulses through the soles of your feet and see how fast these impulses return. There are more accurate devices, usually found at gyms that also send impulses through your hands.

Other ways of measuring body composition include body fat calipers, devices that grab the fat around your waist and work out a percentage from that. Hydro-static weighing, this has you weighed both in and out of water. The fat floats, so your weight will change while submersed, this is then used to calculate composition.

Now you know that weight is not the most important body metric to keep track of.