Skinny Fat Revealed - Understanding Your Body Composition

Being "Fit" is about more than just what size you wear...Sure, vanity is what lures most of us to the gym at first (Gotta get into that bikini before spring break, right!) but the effects are so much more far reaching than that!  After all being "Skinny Fat" is just as bad (probably more dangerous) than being "Fat Fat"... Why, you ask? Well, when you don't look fat, its easier to ignore your over all health.  Sure, I don't look fat.  I wear a size 4/6 (sometimes even a 2 these days) but who would have guessed that my body was storing 41 POUNDS OF FAT!  That's right!  I finally got my body fat percentage measured yesterday and it turns out that I am at a whopping 29.5%...so what does that mean?  Well, it means 29% of my body composition is fat!!!! I also learned that my muscle composition was low (although I have been working on it!) at 36+/-, my water percentage was also low a 51%, and my bone density was dangerously low at 3.3%.  All of this is BAD, BAD, BAD.  


For now, I am only going to address the body fact percentage, and I'll save explanations of the other components for another post, but I will explain why its important to know what your body composition is.  As you are losing weight, it is important that you are losing FAT and not MUSCLE!  If you are not eating enough of the right kind of food, and if you do not have a balanced workout plan that includes cardio AND STRENGTH TRAINING (thats right ladies, don't let the grunting men at the gym scare you away from the weight area), you could be burning muscle, and this is very dangerous.  The negative effects of a high fat content go without saying, and increasing your muscle is by far the best way to decrease your fat!!!


Okay, so my body fat percentage is not horrible.  The chart below gives some "recommendations" for ideal body fat percentages in women vs. men (these will vary slightly depending on the source, but not by much).  You can see that my body fat percentage would put me at the high end of "Acceptable" which I read as borderline unhealthy!  This news was a bit discouraging, but on the other hand who knows what it would have been if I had checked it 5 weeks ago when I first started! YIKES!!!  I'm afraid to even think about it.  So instead of being discouraged, I am using this new information to set new goals!  I've got to get down into that Fitness Range of 21 - 24%!!!  WOOHOO! I'm on my way!

Classification	Women (% fat)	Men (% fat)
Essential Fat	10-12%	2-4%
Athletes	14-20%	6-13%
Fitness	21-24%	14-17%
Acceptable	25-31%	18-25%
Obese	32%+	25%+

The Ab Exercise of the Day! 

(downloaded from http://www.womenshealthmag.com/)