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BODY FAT OVERVIEW
WHAT'S BODY FAT?
Information: body fat issues. Fat is one of the basic components that make up the structure of your body. The other components include muscle, water, bone and your organs -All are necessary for normal, healthy functioning.
Body fat can be divided into two categories: Essential fat and storage fat.
Essential fat is necessary for normal, healthy functioning. It is stored in small amounts in your bone marrow, organs, central nervous system and muscles.
Storage fat is the fat you accumulate beneath your skin, in certain specific areas inside your body, and in your muscles. It is desirable to have some storage fat due to the protective role it plays in your body. However, most storage fat is considered "expendable". It increases when you gain weight . It is what you want to lose when you lose weight. Too much or too little storage fat is unhealthy.
HEALTHY RANGE OF BODY FAT
Information: body fat issues. A certain amount of fat is good because fat helps regulate body temperature, store energy, and cushion and insulate organs. According to the American Council on Exercise, "essential fat" is around 4% of body weight for men and 12% for women. According to the American Dietetic Association, men should have 20% body fat and women should have 25% body fat.
It is important to know percentage of body fat for 2 reasons. First, the higher the percentage of fat above average levels, the higher the health risk for weight-related illness, like heart disease, high blood pressure, gallstones, type 2 diabetes, osteoarthritis, and certain cancers. Second, the higher the body fat percentage the fewer calories you need to maintain your weight (or gain weight).
BODY FAT THROUGH LIFE
Information: body fat issues. Body fat does not remain constant all through life. It changes through different phases of life.
Adolescence
- During adolescence, significant changes in body composition occur - both body fat and lean body mass.
- Boys add more lean mass and less body fat than girls during adolescence.
- Girls put on more body fat than boys during adolescence. This is perfectly normal and healthy. A female should always have a higher percentage of body fat than a male of equal fitness because her amount of essential fat is higher and her reproductive function requires more energy.
BODY FAT & HEALTH RISKS
Information: body fat issues. It is unhealthy if you have too little or too much body fat because obesity can lead to health risks.
Too little body fat
To little body fat can affect normal healthy functioning in both men and women.
It can lead to reproductive problems in women like interruption in the menstrual cycle.
Too much body fat
Too much body fat increases the risk of many diseases, including type 2 diabetes, high blood pressure, stroke, heart disease, and certain cancers.
Abdominal fat increases the risk of heart disease, high blood pressure, and diabetes.
BODY FAT MEASUREMENT
Information: body fat issues. Body fat percentage is measured through different methods. Some methods of estimating body fat are expensive, require special laboratory equipment, and are not readily available.
1. Skin-fold Callipers / Body Fat Calipers.
Body fat can be measured using simple skin-fold calipers. It is used to measure the amount of fat just under the skin at areas like: upper-arm, upper-back, lower-back, stomach and upper thigh. These fat-measurements are then averaged and put into a formula to determine the total body fat percentage. It relies on as assumption that the thickness of the fat below the skin is proportional to the fat stored deeper in the body.
BASAL METABOLIC RATE
Information: body fat issues. Your basal metabolic rate, or BMR, is the minimum calorific requirement needed to sustain life in a resting individual. It can be looked at as being the amount of energy (measured in calories) expended by the body to remain in bed asleep all day!
BMR can be responsible for burning up to 70% of the total calories expended, but this figure varies due to different factors. Calories are burned by bodily processes such as respiration, the pumping of blood around the body and maintenance of body temperature. Obviously the body will burn more calories on top of those burned due to BMR.
FAT PEOPLE
Information: body fat issues. Fat people, be it fat men or women should try to lose weight safely in order to live a healthy life. Fat men and fat women should slim down for Better Health. Fat people have an increased risk of high blood pressure, heart disease, and other illnesses. Losing weight reduces the risk.
Your doctor or other health worker can help you set sensible goals based on a proper weight for your height, build and age.
Men and very active women may need up to 2,500 calories daily. Other women and inactive men need only about 2,000 calories daily. A safe plan is to eat 300 to 500 fewer calories a day to lose 1 to 2 pounds a week.
CELLULITE
Information: body fat issues. The term "cellulite" was coined in 1973 to refer to the dimpled appearance of the skin that some people have on their hips, thighs, and buttocks. This appearance is much more common in women than in men because of differences in the way fat, muscle, and connective tissue are distributed in men and women's skin. Although female hormones may play a role in contributing to this fat distribution, cellulite is not treatable by hormone therapy.
All the muscles of the body are wrapped in a padding of fatty connective tissue. The fatty cells of the padding, bathed in a liquid medium, are held in place by a network of
fibers, nourished and cleansed by body fluids. These fluids cleanse the fatty tissue, when this process is slowed down; the tissue is flooded with waste materials that thicken into gelatin-like substance and hardens to form immovable pockets.
WEIGHT LOSS PROGRAMS SHOPPING
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Body Fat Issues