Body Fat Water Scale

The body fat water scale may prove helpful to the over 60 percent of Americans aged 20 years and up who are overweight. In the last 20 years children have increased body fat levels. This is a concern because the earlier the onset of obesity the greater their chance of remaining obese permanently. Monitoring body fat levels is the first step to dealing with the problem. Excess body fat increases the risk of poor health problems and disease, restricts movement and places greater physical demands on the body.

Many people have used height and body charts to find out what their correct body weight should be. The problem with these charts is they are not able to take into consideration the unique body structures of different people. Each person's bones and mucsle vary in size. Bathroom scales are unable to determine body fat. Just looking at someone isn't a good way to determine body fat either because fat is distributed differently in each person and internal fat around organs can't be seen.

This method of determining the level of fat in the body is considered to be one of the most accurate. Bioelectrical Impedance is able to locate fat throughout the body. It sends a safe and unfelt electrical signal from one contact point on the body to another. As the signal travels it makes a measurement of the amount of resistance it encounters. These devices measure the speed the signal travels through the fat tissue and then an analyzer will use this information to calculate the weight of body fat and the percentage of body fat in regard to weight, height, age and gender.

Thanks to some breakthroughs in data analysis and medical testing technology there is now available equipment that is able to do body composition measurements at home. This equipment is able to provide feedback, analysis and estimates related to body health.

Body Fat - has a number of useful purpose for the body. it protects against heat and cold, stores energy and nutrients and allows proper funtioning of hormonal and immune systems, but too much body fat is linked with cardiovascular disease, high blood pressure, diabetes, sleep apnea and osteoarthritus.

Resting metabolism - the amount of energy that is needed by the body when at complete rest, to sustain all the body functions. Increasing mucsle mass allows for a faster metabolism.

Weight - knowing how much you weigh is no indicator of how much body fat you have.

Body Mass Index - this method of determining a person's height to weight ratio is slightly more accurate than knowing your weight alone but isn't a good body composition indicator because it is unable to take into consideration things like muscle mass and bone density which varies from person to person.

Skeletal muscle - this is the muscle around the skeleton that allows us to move. Increasing this muscle mass has a positive impact on weight loss.

Visceral Fat - this fat is located around the internal organs of the abdomen. Researchers at John Hopkins University have found that fat around the organs is likely to increase the possibility of heart attack and lead to heart disease and diabetes. External fat is not a good indicator of these risks.

A huge reason to monitor your body fat is because you can be in the proper weight range for your height and have too much unhealthy fat around your internal organs. This is why knowing your weight alone is not a good way to determine whether you have a healthy body fat and muscle composition. It is important to discover this ratio to find out if they are at the desired level.

Another reason it is important to monitor your body fat level is because you may be on a weight loss program. Low calorie and starvation diets will result in unhealthy weight loss because the body holds on to calories which are stored in fat cells when it does not receive what it needs throughout the day. This will result in the body taking muscle mass for it's requirement. Proper diet, calorie intake and exercise are essential for healthy weight loss.

Low calorie and starvation diets can leave you with more body fat than you started with even though you lost weight. Take a close look at the following comparison from Tanita Omron:

Losing weight in a proper manner is the only way to maintain a desirable weight. It is important to determine and monitor body fat in order to insure healthy and effective weight loss is being accomplished.