What’s Your Body-Fat Index?

We often have the head of the term body fat percentage or BFP. Doctors clinically use this percentage to study your health vitals in detail. The Body mass index helps you understand the corrective health measures you need to take to get a healthy body both from inside and outside.

Knowing your body fat is the first step towards staying fit; it can help you overcome obesity, prevent the chances of heart diseases, and enables you to maintain a perfect balance of fat, which is essential to keep your body warm.

However, the word fat puts us all in a negative space, but let’s get this concept clear, not all fat is bad; there are good fats and bad fats. Some fats help in the proper functioning of hormones; without these fats, your body will lose all the energy needed to lead an active life. BMI is an ideal method of examining the bodyweight of a person compared to the overall body composition.

• How To Calculate Body Fat?

You can measure your BMI using the body circumference measurement method. You need to first add your hip and waist measurement, next minus the neck measurement, to know your total circumference value.

• What Are The Methods Of Calculating Body Fat?

There are various methods adopted clinically to measure the body-fat ratio. Some of the most preferred approaches are:

1. Hydrostatic Weighing

Underwater weighing helps in measuring body density. The theory behind this method is that people with a higher percentage of body fat will weigh less underwater.

However, this method is not very easy to perform, especially for non-swimmers are the person will have to sit underwater and expel all the air from the lungs. You will have to be submerged in water until the underwater body weight is measured.

The best part of this method is that the results of this process are precise and dependable.

2. Air Displacement Plethysmography

The air displacement method is performed using the Bod Pod technology. Here, instead of water, the air is used to measure the body-fat percentage.

Here, the body fat is measured before sitting in the pod; after sitting in the pod, the body density is measured, following the air evacuation in the pod.

The best part of this method is that it is fast, safe, and is fit for people of every age. Additionally, this process is easy to execute as compared to the underwater weighing process.

3. Skinfold Callipers

The Skinfold method is by far the most used technique for calculating body fat. The Skinfold calipers are used to measure the fat lying under the skin.

 In this method, muscle is pulled away from the fat from 3 spots of the body, and the fold of the muscle is measured using the calipers. This process is repeated from 2 more parts of the body to get more accurate results.

The best of this method is that it is cost-effective, easy to perform, and the device is portable so that it can be achieved even outside the clinical set-up. In terms of accuracy, also, this process ranks the chart.

4. Bioimpedance Spectroscopy

Bio-Impedance method is popularly called smart scales because this smart device not only calculates your body fat percentage but many other body compositions.

In this method, electrical instincts are sent across your body, and the frequency with which these impulses return is used to measure body fat.

This process is extremely simple and can also be used as a fitness app on your mobile.

The Bottom Line:

Body fat percentage is just a number, and with some minor corrections in our lifestyle, these numbers can change. Thus, do not stress over the percentage. The body fat percentage calculation is performed to evaluate our health parameters correctly.

Although there is no definite percentage that can define your fitness, yet 10-19% body fat is termed as healthy for males; for females, the percentage can go up to 20-30%. You can avoid many illnesses at an early stage if you know your body fat. Of all the measures, the skinfold method is the most preferred technique used in the health industry.

The height vs. weight index has been in talks for a long time, but before we jump into declaring fat as a villain, let us understand its importance. Good fat is essential as it lowers the risk of stroke, reduces bad cholesterol, and provides warmth to the internal organs. Thus, BMI is an important test to understand how much fat is good for our body type. Every person’s body type is unique, and no one number is correct. Know the best methods of calculating your BMI and stay fit forever.